2015 Exhibitions and Events

Historical Society of Woodstock

Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

On December 14th, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that the Historical Society of Woodstock has been awarded an NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions.

The grant, totaling $6,000, will go to the purchase of archival supplies, materials and equipment to enhance the Society’s continued efforts to preserve its extensive collection of photographs, original documents, textiles, genealogies, paintings and drawings.

Much of its fine art collection is represented by the works of noted artists created during Woodstock’s rise as a premiere art colony.

Winter 2015

Historical Society of Woodstock Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

Historical Society of Woodstock Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

Woodstock, N.Y. – On December 14th, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that the Historical Society of Woodstock has been awarded an NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions. The grant, totaling $6,000, will go to the purchase of archival supplies, materials and equipment to enhance the Society’s continued efforts to preserve its extensive collection of photographs, original documents, textiles, genealogies, paintings and drawings. Much of its fine art collection is represented by the works of noted artists created during Woodstock’s rise as a premiere art colony.

Founded in 1929, the Historical Society of Woodstock continues to fulfill the mission set forth by its founders to document, preserve and make accessible to the public Woodstock’s unique story. Its archives serve to support a wide range of exhibitions, public programming and research. The Society also works collaboratively with other Woodstock cultural institutions in support of their public programming. In addition, works from the collection have been on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the New York State Museum and the Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. In making the announcement, NEH Chairman William D. Adams offered, “NEH provides support for projects across America that preserve our heritage, promote scholarly discoveries, and make the best of America’s humanities ideas available to all Americans. We are proud to announce this latest group of grantees who, through their projects and research, will bring valuable lessons of history and culture to Americans.”

The Historical Society of Woodstock, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, operates through a dedicated, all-volunteer staff and Board of Directors. During the course of its recently concluded 2015 season, the Society, while serving a variety of research requests and offering a number of presentations on local history, also exceeded recent attendance records through such exhibits as, “Living Large: Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason” and “Woodstock – The Way We Were,” a photographic essay. 2015 also saw HSW launch its first-ever building fund campaign with construction of an accessible bathroom and other building improvements currently underway.

The Historical Society of Woodstock Unveils Annual Holiday Exhibit and Sale

Opening: December 4, 4-8 pm

… continuing Saturdays & Sundays, December 5 & 6 -12 & 13, 12-4 pm

Beginning this weekend, all Woodstockers of good cheer are invited to enjoy what has become a Woodstock holiday tradition as the Historical Society of Woodstock opens the doors on its annual Holiday Exhibit and Sale. It all begins this Friday evening, December 4 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and continues on Saturdays and Sundays, Dec. 5, 6, 12, & 13 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Reflect on past Woodstock holidays through an all-new display of original holiday cards crafted by a number of Woodstock’s most noted artists. This year’s exhibit also offers special tribute to the work of Woodstock artist Marianne Appel and a recently donated collection of her work, including charming handmade toys that will delight children of all ages.

In addition to the holiday exhibit, HSW’s annual sale offers a variety of local items that will incorporate “Woodstock” into your holiday gift giving. In addition to a complete line of local history books, Woodstock maps, DVDs and CDs, visitors will also find tins of homemade cookies prepared from the “famed” HSW Cookie Collection cookbook, locally produced maple syrup, handmade aprons, afghans and mittens. The sale also offers Woodstock-themed note cards, holiday cards, locally crafted jewelry, candles, ornaments and baked goods. And, through your support of HSW’s holiday sale, you are helping to support the preservation of Woodstock’s unique story.

This season make sure you include a visit to the Historical Society of Woodstock as part of your holiday plans and take time to remember the joys of holidays past and the possibilities of those yet to come. The Historical Society of Woodstock is located on Comeau Drive, directly across from Woodstock Town Hall. As always, admission is free and parking is available either at the Historical Society or in the Lower Comeau parking lot. HSW is also online at www.historicalsocietyofwoodstock.org or on Facebook at Historical Woodstock. For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Fall 2015

Exhibition: “SELDOM SEEN”

The Woodstock School of Art & The Historical Society of Woodstock present:

“Seldom Seen” – works from the collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock

September 13 – November 1, 2014

Woodstock School of Art, Route 212 Woodstock, N.Y

Selected by Susana Torruella Leval

OPENING RECEPTION: Sat, Sept 13, 3-5 pm

Seldom Seen features 63 paintings in the categories of landscape, bestiary and self-portrait. The time period of the work spans from the early to late 20th century and includes artists long associated with America’s first artist colony who are known nationally as well as lesser known local artists who called Woodstock home. Work includes drawing, painting and printmaking by artists such as Charles Rosen, Otto Bierhals, Clarence Bolton, John F. Carlson, Marion Bullard, Richard Segalman, Eva van Rijn, Tor Gudmundsen, Eduardo Chavez, Ernest Fiene and many more. Each piece chosen reflects the time period of its creation and the embodiment of that intangible quality, the Woodstock “spirit.”

Woodstock Town Historian Richard Heppner writes, “Woodstock is a small town and yet our history is writ large with the contributions of those who would see life through a slightly different lens. It is also a history that has seen those views shaped by connections formed between newly arrived artists and those who drew life and livelihoods from the very landscape that would find its way onto a multitude of canvases over the years. As a result, it is a history that has transcended great change while remaining grounded in its original purpose; a history in which we understand that we are not separate from our past but are an integral part of a combining experience that becomes our community.”

More information: “Seldom Seen”

You are cordially invited to join us in the Angeloch Gallery at the Woodstock School of Art for the opening reception of SELDOM SEEN Saturday, September 13, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Bob Steuding will talk on life of John Burroughs.

Saturday, September 18, 2:00

HSW will host noted local historian Bob Steuding for a talk on the legendary life of John Burroughs. The talk will begin at 2:00 pm. (Note – to accommodate the talk, the exhibit, The Way We Were, will be closed from 2:00-5:00 pm.) Steuding is the author of The Last of the Handmade Dams: The Story of the Ashokan Reservoir, Rondout: A Hudson River Port and The Heart of the Catskills. After the talk, Bob will take questions and sign copies of his books. Steuding is a native of the Catskills and has been writing about them since the 1960s. Suggested donation to the talk is $5.00. All proceeds go to benefit the

Summer 2015

Living Large: Wilna Hervey & Nan Mason

Saturdays & Sundays, June 12 – September 6, 2015, 1-5 pm

This exhibition features works by Wilna Hervey (1894-1979) and Nan Mason (1896-1982), an artist couple who lived, worked, and socialized in Woodstock in the heyday of the Woodstock art colony. The exhibition, curated by Letitia Smith, includes paintings, prints, drawings, and a continuous screening of one of Wilna Hervey’s silent Toonerville Trolley comedies: “The Skipper’s Narrow Escape” (1921)

Opening reception: Friday, June 12, 7 pm

refreshments will be served

Gallery talk and book signing: Saturday, June 13, 2 pm

Joseph P. Eckhardt, author of Living Large: Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason

It was the movies that brought Wilna and Nan together. Nan’s actor father, Dan Mason, was Wilna’s co-star in a series of 1920s silent comedies that showcased Wilna’s astonishing size—six foot three and three hundred pounds. Nan was nearly six foot tall herself, and the two artists were affectionately known around Woodstock as the “Big Girls.” Wilna and Nan got along instantly—both were free spirits, artistically creative and musically talented. From 1924 on they were rarely apart and together they enthusiastically explored every opportunity for expressing their boundless creative energies, enjoying life for all it was worth.

Curator Letitia Smith talks about “Living Large”

Great book trailer produced by Woodstock Arts will introduce you to Wilna Hervey & Nan Mason … and “Living Large”!

Author Joseph Eckhardt on “Living Large”

When the Historical Society of Woodstock (HSW) was founded in 1929, its goal was to preserve the stories of the town. Members wrote essays and gathered in people’s homes on Sundays to read their stories aloud over tea and cookies. Over time, townspeople started giving historical items to the Society. “Because of Woodstock’s history, our collection is unusual,” commented Richard Heppner, the current town historian. “It’s about a little mountain town and an artists’ colony and how they blend.”

The collection of artifacts and writings has lived in a series of local buildings, settling in the Eames House on the Comeau Property in the 1980s. The HSW is seeking to raise $60,000 to upgrade the historic building by putting in a much-needed ground-floor bathroom, a small kitchen, and other improvements. An outreach letter to members and local businesses has already gleaned a third of the required monies. The fundraising drive will continue over the next few months with a series of events, including a wine-tasting at Oriole9 on May 2.

“We’d like to break ground in the spring,” said Heppner. Approvals are already in place from the town board, planning board, Comeau Stewardship Advisory Committee, and Woodstock Land Conservancy, but more money is needed.

“The overarching problem is the bathroom,” said Janine Mower, chair of the fundraising committee. Visitors must climb 18 steps to get to the facilities, walking through the archive storage areas. “It’s a barrier to people to come and learn about Woodstock history,” she noted. “It’s inhospitable to someone in a wheelchair or a person who has arthritis and can’t climb the stairs. You’re also coming into the archive space, so it requires an escort to make sure the archives stay where they are. And we don’t want water near the archives, in case there’s a leak.”

A 12-foot by 16-foot one-story addition will include a handicapped-accessible bathroom and a small kitchen for preparing snacks to be served during openings and other events. The exterior of the addition will be clad in the same style as the rest of the building. Other improvements will include updating the electrical system, installing better lighting in the exhibition room, and shoring up the foundation, which has had water issues.

The last building upgrade was done ten years ago, when insulation, new windows, and a heating system made the structure usable year-round for research and events. The new changes will enable the Society to expand programming, particularly for children. “We had a children’s club at one point,” noted HSW president Deborah Heppner. “We did a building project where each child picked a building in Woodstock and made a model of it and researched its history. We also did a garden project with them, and one on roads. But kids need to have a proper bathroom.”

The all-volunteer board and members have already conducted grassroots funding efforts, including cemetery walks, bake sales, handmade items sold for the holidays, and the production of a picture book entitled Legendary Locals. The next round of fundraising events will begin on Saturday, April 4, as wilderness guide Dave Holden leads a hike at California Quarry. Hikers will meet at the Andy Lee Field parking lot, by the Community Center on Rock City Road, at 10 a.m. The $10 donation will go to the building fund.

The May 2 wine-tasting will be conducted by two experts, Dr. David Baggett and Tina Grill, who met in 1972 while working at a summer camp on Sawkill Road. Baggett taught wine evaluation at Modesto College in California, produced and judged commercial wines, and established and managed the college’s 14-acre vineyard. Grill, a retired art teacher, was a sensory analyst at E & J Gallo Winery in Modesto. The couple currently live in Woodstock.

“Dr. Baggett is in a wheelchair, so he’s excited about helping to make our building handicapped-accessible,” said Deborah. Baggett will lecture on the wines offered for tasting, and hors d’oeuvres will be prepared to go with the selected wines. The event will be sponsored by New York City attorney Kathy Crost, who grew up in Woodstock and has become involved in the HSW. Attendees will receive a wine glass with the Society’s logo. The wine-tasting will be held from 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at Oriole 9, 17 Tinker Street, and will cost $30.

Ars Choralis, the highly praised Woodstock choir, will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary with a concert at the Eames House on Saturday, May 23, at 2 p.m. “Merry Madrigals in May,” honoring the choir’s past as a madrigal society, will feature roving minstrels and a display of Ars Choralis memorabilia.

On Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m., HSW will open its summer exhibit, “Living Large,” about Woodstock artists Nan Mason and Wilna Hervey. Over six feet tall, Hervey was a silent film star who appeared in shorts based on the Toonerville Trolley comic strips. She had studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan and in Woodstock. After meeting Mason, a painter and the daughter of her co-star, Hervey gave up her screen career to live with Mason in Woodstock. On Saturday, June 13, at 2 p.m., there will be a book-signing by Joseph P. Eckhardt, author of a book about Mason and Hervey, also entitledLiving Large.

The fall exhibit will present seldom-seen photos of old Woodstock from slides and glass negatives. HSW members are restoring the pictures, now that technology is available to print them easily. Other events in the works include Sunday afternoon lectures at the Eames House and concerts at the former Art Students League building, now the Christian Science church.

“Every year we grow a little bit,” said Deborah. “Last year, we had 600 visitors. The Comeau Property has beautiful new signs that will make it easier to find us. We’re hoping that through these renovations, we’ll be able to serve even more people.”

By the way, many of the essays written by those early HSW members were published as booklets and have been kept in print by the present Society. Mower and the Heppners are among the members who continue to research and write volumes on Woodstock history, all of them available for purchase at the Eames House.

The Historical Society of Woodstock museum, located at 20 Comeau Drive, is open to the public on weekends in summer and fall and during scheduled events year-round. The archives are open to researchers by appointment. For information, or to make a donation to the building fund, see https://historicalsocietyofwoodstock.org or contact Richard and Deborah Heppner at 845-679-2143. Checks may be mailed to PO Box 841, Woodstock, NY 12498.

Note cards from the collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock

“Portrait of Hervey White”, 1910