Cayuga Museum Celebrates 75 Years
The Cayuga Museum is celebrating its 75th Anniversary of being open to the public and serving as the repository and archive for our City and County’s history. Their new exhibit focusing on the Museum’s own history was unveiled in mid-October and will be on view through the end of the year.
Let’s Make a Deal
The Cayuga Museum of History & Art opened to the public on October 16, 1936, the work of many who wanted to create a permanent home for the arts in Cayuga County. When the Museum opened, the Seward House was still a family home, the Willard Chapel was still a school building, and the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center did not exist. Walter Long, an art professor at Syracuse University helped convince Theodore Case and his wife Gertrude to donate their mansion on Genesee Street to house the new museum. A formal barter was stuck for $5 and box of cigars!
Four Divisions
The Museum was started with four divisions: Art, History, Industry and Children’s Activities. These divisions later gave rise to other great arts institutions in our community. The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse started in the Children’s division, and the Art division was critical in founding the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.
Collection
Over the years, the Cayuga Museum has played a vital role in defining, preserving and celebrating the history and culture of our area. Tens of thousands of people have visited the exhibits; and thousands of families and businesses have donated objects to the Museum collection. The 75th Anniversary exhibit will include the very first object donated to the Museum collection, a doll donated by Mrs. H. Sutton Noble, Jr. in 1936, and the most recent gift to the collection, an Auburn bicentennial banner donated this month in memory of Vivian W. Rothschild.
Theater Mack
This is an exciting time for the Museum; it is coming full circle back to its earliest years, when the Case Carriage House was transformed into a theater through collaboration between the Museum and the Community Players. Known then as the Cayuga Museum Annex, the theater was a popular venue for a variety of programs from the 1940s through the 1970s. Used primarily for storage for the past several decades, the carriage house is presently undergoing a major restoration that will return it to vibrant life. The second floor sound studio, where Theodore Case filmed some the world’s first sound movies, will be open to the public for the first time! The main floor theater will be open for shows, concerts and events year round, as well as one of the venues for the Musical Theatre Festival.
Please join the Cayuga Museum in celebrating the 75th anniversary of this important community asset. See some of the treasures that have been donated to the Museum collection over the past seven decades. View the photographs and read the stories of the characters, exhibits and events that have made the Cayuga Museum the important community asset it is today.
Pewter Christmas Ornament & Membership Package
This Christmas, give the gift of history. Even the person who has everything will appreciate a fine pewter ornament and hometown pride. The full lead pewter ornament features the three museum buildings on the front, beautifully-detailed in raised relief, and a commemorative 75th Anniversary notation on the back. Every $35 ornament comes gift-boxed and ready to hang, with a prepaid 2012 family membership to the Cayuga Museum -- a year’s worth of invitations to opening receptions, lectures, exhibitions, special events and much more. Make your holiday shopping easier, and support a valuable community asset at the same time. Call 315.253-8051 for more information, or pick up your gift ornaments at the Cayuga Museum, 203 Genesee Street.
http://www.cayuganet.org/cayugamuseum/
