Preservation of the Collections of the Historical Society of Woodstock

FAIN: PG-233602-16

Historical Society of Woodstock (Woodstock, NY 12498-1466)
JoAnn Margolis (Project Director: May 2015 to September 2017)

Purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and storage furniture as recommended in a 2010 conservation survey. The Historical Society of Woodstock is an all-volunteer organization responsible for the care of over 12,000 items and the historic Eames House. Founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, and local citizens, the Historical Society represents the dual identity of a small town as well as an art community of national interest. Its collections are primarily early works of local artists with additional personal scrapbooks, memorabilia, and photographs. Smaller collections of textiles, audio and visual recordings, and photographs document both the industrial history of the town as well as the artists’ colony. Photographs and artwork from the collection have informed numerous national and local exhibitions, and the society regularly sponsors activities for historians, filmmakers, and genealogists.

The Historical Society of Woodstock, founded in 1929, is an all-volunteer organization committed to preserving, documenting, and sharing our history. We are seeking funds to purchase preservation supplies to improve the storage of historical works in our collections based on the recommendations of Gwen Spicer, Conservation Assessment Survey, funded by a CAP Grant in 2010. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive (more than 12,000 items) consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books and manuscripts, correspondence, documents, and film/sound recordings, and is unique in the quality and size of its fine art collection, which includes over 700 paintings, prints, and drawings, many representative of Woodstock's rise as a premiere art colony. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.