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GST
BOCES congratulates
Chemung
Valley History Museum
The
Chemung Valley History Museum is a valuable resource for everyone
who visits or lives in Chemung County. Its holdings can
stimulate, inform and inspire students in every discipline, including
the arts, in several ways. There are three galleries, a
library, an education room and the archives in the museum. The
oldest section, formerly a bank, houses the Museum's permanent
collection.
FRANCES
BRAYTON EDUCATION ROOM
In
the Frances
Brayton Education Room, the art and poetry of local children are
on display. The
work is the result of the Chemung River School Project, initiated in
1994. CRSP was spearheaded by
the Arnot Art Museum. This nine-month multidisciplinary collaborative
program combines fourth grade science, natural and social history, and
ecology curricula with writing, performing and visual arts. The Chemung
River School Project integrates all of these concepts into a thematic
whole with the river at the center and the arts as the vehicle used for
expression of information learned. It places emphasis on the
environmental concerns of the Hudson River School, a group of 19th
Century landscape painters, and how this relates to the future of our
own Chemung River. Students have the opportunity to recognize the
balance, which exists between local history, ecological communities, and
the dynamic impact of past and living artists on society. Students use
the arts as a vehicle to express their understanding of nature,
especially as it relates to the Chemung River. The Arnot Art Museum
works with the Chemung County Historical Society, Tanglewood Nature
Center, Chemung County Environmental Management Council, and the
following school districts: Elmira, Elmira Heights, Horseheads, and
Chemung. Poets, artists, dramatic artists, historians, naturalists and
water environmentalists serve as instructors.
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Students
were asked to reflect on nature. "How am I like this
animal?"
What can I learn from animals?
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The
Brick Barn Gallery
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it….
George Santayana (1863–1952)\
The Brick Barn Gallery
hosts temporary exhibitions such as "Conflict of Claims,"
currently on exhibit, drawing on local history as subject matter. Since historical
accuracy is often important for students of the visual, performing and
literary arts. The Chemung Valley History Museum is the place to get it!
 CONFLICT
OF CLAIMS: THE SULLIVAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE IROQUOIS, 1779
in the Brick Barn
Gallery
The Chemung Valley History Museum will observe the 225th
Anniversary of the Sullivan-Clinton Revolutionary War Campaign
with a new exhibit titled "Conflict of Claims: The Sullivan
Campaign Against the Iroquois, 1779."
The exhibit features artifacts and documents from the Society’s
collection, including the marching orders that began General
Sullivan’s mission. Also featured is a reproduction of a
Continental army soldier’s campsite and a multi-media display
about the Battle of Newtown.
This exhibition was produced by the Chemung Valley History Museum
and is sponsored in part by the New York Council for the
Humanities, an agency of the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield of Central New York.
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Sullivan's
"scorched earth" campaign against the Iroquois
significantly weakened the Native Americans but did not force them
from the war. After spending a brutal winter around Niagara, 900
warriors led by Joseph Brant, Cornplanter,and Major Butler would
return to the frontier in 1780 and 1781 attacking a series of
military garrisons and villages. By 1782 the situation was bad
enough for Pennsylvania's Governor to draw up a plan for another
raid against this enemy But, with the war coming to a close,
Washington requested Reed abandon this plan when he received
assurances from the British that they would use their influence to
stop the incursions. Still receiving support from the British, the
Iroquois had a continuing hope in repairing the damage to their
homelands.
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The Archives
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Jason
Harmon, Education Coordinator
Above,
Jason stands among rows and rows of boxes in storage. At right he
displays the many racks of clothing from various times and places.
Among
these artifacts, was a magnificent lilac dress from 1838 which had belonged
to none other than Olivia Langdon, the woman who became Mark
Twain's wife. Read more about Olivia, Mark Twain and the dress
below.
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During
my recent visit to the museum, I had the pleasure of meeting some museum
staff, including Jason Harmon, Education Coordinator, at left and Pat
Owen, receptionist, below.
During
my visit, I was able, not only to view
the holdings in the main galleries, but also to check out the archives
where many artifacts are stored.
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Looking for
Reference Material?
It's in "The
Bank" (The Oldest part of the Museum)
The Permanent Collection
Teachers of Literature,
Drama the performing and visual arts can find a wealth of
information - and inspiration - in becoming familiar with the museum's
holdings on Mark Twain and community resources. The
long-term exhibition A Community Album , focuses on two themes:
"preserving the past" and "how lives were changed."
Visitors are encouraged to consider what they personally collect and how
those objects reflect important events in their lives. Themes include:
ethnic groups and neighborhoods, Elmira in the Civil War, and Mark
Twain's Elmira. "Hands-on" interactive units, such as a
listening station that features our music CD, help bring history alive!
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 For
teachers of English and Literature, a field trip
to the Chemung History museum would provide a wealth of
information and inspiration for aspiring young writers.
This interactive activity board above asks viewers to determine
whether or not a certain piece of literature authored by Twain
was written in Elmira or not.
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Olivia
and Sam (Mark
Twain and Olivia Langdon) He
(Charles Langdon) had two sisters at home; and of Olivia, the
youngest, he had brought a dainty miniature done on ivory in delicate
tints--a sweet-pictured countenance, fine and spiritual. On that fateful
day in the day of Smyrna, Samuel Clemens, visiting in young Langdon's
cabin, was shown this portrait. He looked at it with long admiration,
and spoke of it reverently, for the delicate face seemed to him to be
something more than a mere human likeness. Each time he came, after
that, he asked to see the picture, and once even begged to be allowed to
take it away with him. The boy would not agree to this, and the elder
man looked long and steadily at the miniature, resolving in his mind
that some day he would meet the owner of that lovely face--a purpose for
once in accord with that which the fates had arranged for him, in the
day when all things were arranged, the day of the beginning..
from Mark Twain, a Biography Part 2 1866-1875, page
21http://firsthttp://mark-twain.classic-literature.co.uk/mark-twain-a-biography-part-2-1866-1875/e
book-page-21.asp
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Mark
Twain in his study. |
Olivia
and daughters. |
The
photographs above show the exterior and interior of the Langdon mansion here in Elmira. Jervis and
Olivia Lewis Langdon, an upstate New York couple whose business ventures
in coal finally prospered and caused them to settle in Elmira. They
became a leading family in town, their mansion splendid by standards of
the time. Jervis Langdon was connected to Elmira College, the first U.S.
college to grant baccalaureate degrees to women, and the family also
supported a branch of the Underground Railroad that came through Elmira.
http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/reviews/har1-rev.html
REVIEW Harris, Susan K. The Courtship of Olivia
Langdon and Mark Twain.] (Cambridge Studies in American
Literature and Culture.) New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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 ELMIRA, NEW
YORK. Since we have perched away
up here on top of the hill near heaven I have the feeling of
being a sort of scrub angel & am more moved to help shove
the clouds around, & get the stars on deck promptly, &
keep all things trim & ship-shape in the firmament than to
bother myself with the humble insect-interests & occupations
of the distant earth.
- letter to Charles E. Perkins,
May 8,
1874 http://www.twainquotes.com/Elmira.html
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 OLIVIA'S DRESS: It
is said it cost Olivia as much to have this dress made as it did to pay her
butler's salary for an entire year. Olivia's clothes were created by
designers in NYC and other cities. In this case, the stockings
that matched this dress were made in Paris. To the left, Jason is
pictured carefully unwrapping the dress. Below is the dress itself, shoes that
matched and a close up of the skirt.
OUR COMMUNITIES
Students of
the arts can find an abundance of
reference
material hard to obtain in other venues.
There are many interactive
displays in the museum. This one highlights the various
architectural styles that can be found in the he city of Elmira, which, we
learn from the display, "became known as the Queen City in
the late 1800;s with new bridges, paved roads, and public water and
electrical systems. Factories and warehouses dotted the valley. Large
private homes, commercial buildings, and institutions were built which
used ornate designs and classic architectural details."
Visitors are asked to "Build your own building on the magnetic
board with the pieces below." Applications to the Arts are obvious!
The Chemung History Museum
does not only focus on the past, but realizes that history is being made
every day and each of us can be historians. "You are a
part of history in the making...contribute to the community's album by
writing in our memory book."
This
display beseeches us "You volunteer to be the
family historian...the keeper of the family secrets, its past, its
treasures - and the curator of your family's "museum" of
material culture. Russell Earnest, Grandma's Attic: Making
Heirlooms part of your Family History - 1991.
MUSIC STUDENTS TAKE
NOTE!
Take a musical journey back in
time. Put on the headphones and push the play button to hear the
Community Album CD. What is the time period of the music which you hear?
Use the track button to listen to a different musical selection.
Howell
Gallery
New York’s Route 17
This new traveling exhibition, looks at the history of the Southern Tier
Expressway, the effect it had on economic development in our region and
offers nostalgic images of our best-loved roadside architecture. The
exhibition was organized by the Liberty History and Art Center in
Liberty, NY, and was developed using research contributions from the
Chemung County Historical Society. New York’s Route 17 will be
traveling to several towns along this historic highway. A current hot
topic, the old Route 17 will soon be the new Interstate 86. Don’t miss
this chance to pay tribute to a disappearing roadway!
At the Chemung
Valley History Museum, The Future is History too!
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