The Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) is a non-profit, historical society and museum, to promote the study of the history of the Rensselaer County, NY. RCHS was founded in 1927, and originally operated out of a single room in the

Troy Public Library The Troy Public library is the main public library building in the city of Troy, New York, and is located across the street from Russell Sage College in downtown Troy. Currently, the library has one other location, the Lansingburgh branch, which h ...

, collecting manuscripts and published materials related to the county's history. It is located in the

Central Troy Historic District The Central Troy Historic District is an irregularly shaped, area of downtown Troy, New York, United States. It has been described as "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the ountry with nearly 700 properties in a var ...

, in

Troy, NY Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

. The Rensselaer County Historical Society operates a museum, and offers public programs from its location at 57 Second Street, Troy, NY.

Incorporation

RCHS was incorporated to: # Promote and encourage historical research, # Disseminate a greater knowledge of the early history of that portion of the State of New York known as

Rensselaer County Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...

, # Gather and preserve books, manuscripts, papers and relics relating to the early history of Rensselaer County and the contiguous territory, # Suitably mark places of historic interest, and acquire by purchase, gift, devise or otherwise, the title to, or the custody of historic spots and places and to receive gifts, bequests and devises of any kind to be used for the purposes of the incorporation.

Hart-Cluett Mansion acquisition

In 1952, the Hart-Cluett Mansion (1827) was turned over to the Society by Mrs. Cluett to serve as a historic house museum and repository for the county's historical artifacts and archival materials. In the mid-1950s, the Trustees recruited professional help to create a museum. In 1957, H. Maxson Holloway, formerly a Curator at the New-York Historical Society, was hired as the Society's first director. Holloway's immediate plans included the careful acquisition of fine and decorative arts as well as period furnishings to fill the fourteen rooms of the Hart-Cluett Mansion. Over the next decade raising money and acquiring objects continued with the highlights of this effort were objects and furnishings from the Hart and Cluett families and their descendants.

Joseph B. Carr House expansion

By the mid-1970s, the Rensselaer County Historical Society had outgrown the Hart-Cluett Mansion and the associated Carriage House. Growth of the collections and demands for programs had outpaced the building's space. In 1976, the RCHS acquired the Carr House (1838), the building to the north of the Museum. RCHS undertook a capital campaign to begin making it into an educational and administrative center. The first phase of the 57 Second Street project was finished in 1982, providing a meeting room, gift shop and temporary exhibition gallery on the first floor of the building.

Carr House renovations

In 1995 the New York State Council of the Arts funded an initiative to look at how RCHS manages its collections, to undertake the first computerized inventory of collections, to assess storage needs with an eye to making collections more accessible to the public, and to develop a set of collecting themes that would help to assess current collections and direct future collecting. In October 2001, RCHS opened a renovated Carr Building. To support the extensive renovation, $2.7 million was raised from individuals, corporations and state grants, to create new galleries and collections storage space, install new environmental systems, consolidate staff offices, and fully renovate the Carriage House.

Collections and museum

RCHS is the primary collecting institution in Rensselaer County and contains in its museum collections approximately 60,000 objects ranging from the fine to the domestic arts. Items represent the history of Troy, the largest urban center in the county, and Rensselaer County at large, and include information about the city's families and buildings. Troy and Rensselaer County were major contributors to the growth of the United States in the 19th century and one of the primary sites of the American Industrial Revolution. The prominence of the area was due to the influence that the iron, steel and textile industries created. Foundries produced vital products for growth and expansion of the United States westward. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Troy's garment industries produced over 90% of America's detachable collars and many of its finest shirts.Carole Turbin, ''Working Women of Collar City: Gender, Class, and Community in Troy, 1864-86'' (University of Illinois Press, 1992.) The museum collections are also closely connected to RCHS's research library collections which include, in part, personal, organizational and business records, photographs, maps, ephemera, etc., as well as the largest collection of secondary resource material on the county's history.

Collections

The RCHS has over 60,000 artifacts, documents, and photographs in its collection. RCHS also houses archives and records for a number of community organizations such as local YMCA, and Troy Chromatics. These collections are used in programs such as the "Historians in Training Programs" conducted with schools in Rensselaer County. The collection has been used in by Charles Osgood for his program CBS Sunday Morning and have been used by Ken Burns, The History Channel, and other media and publishing outlets.

Highlights of the collection

* Uncle Sam Collection - archeological artifacts from the Congress Street dig at the

Samuel Wilson Samuel Wilson (September 13, 1766 – July 31, 1854) was an American meat packer who lived in Troy, New York, whose name is purportedly the source of the personification of the United States known as "Uncle Sam". Biography Wilson was born in the ...

home. A mural by George Gray (1937) and a variety of other materials of other research objects and materials relating to

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (which has the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general. Since the early 19th century, Uncle Sam has been a popular symbol of ...

. *

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Collection - Rice Cook Bull Diary, county military uniforms and artifacts, photographs, personal accounts, 1863 Draft Riot collection. * Rensselaer County Surrogate Court Records - estate files for over 30,000 residents of the county between 1791 and 1915 used for genealogy and other historical research projects. * Burden Iron Works Archives - documents the company's impact worldwide from this 19th-century manufacturing company. * Photographic Collection - 10,000 images of people, places, events from the early 1840s to the early 2000s. * Hart and Cluett Family Records - records and artifacts extensively documenting the Hart-Cluett Mansion, including the Howard-Hart Coach, and Cluett Sleigh. * View of Glass Lake by Joseph Henry Hidley (1830-1872), a folk artist and landscape painter. * Historical Clothing and textiles, furniture and decorative art objects, tools, stoves and cast iron collection, dating from the late 18th century to present. * Maps, city and county directories, cemetery records, church records, community organization archives, county home records and numerous other newspapers, and records.

Collection use

The collection has been extensively used for education, by artists, and as primary source materials in numerous productions. Among the uses have been: * Curriculum-based RCHS education programs and adult programs focused on

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

Women Suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, community studies,

labor history Labor history or labour history is a sub-discipline of social history which specialises on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other fac ...

, etc. * Primary Research Sources for academic research,

family history Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

projects, architecture and

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

, public service commission project background studies, environmental impact studies. * Inspiration for art projects by artists such as Len Tantillo, Wren Panzella, Mark Priest, Jim Flosdorf and others. * Primary Sources for children's books, elementary and high school text books, historical novels and plays, the New York State Encyclopedia,

Blizzard of 1888 The Great Blizzard of 1888, also known as the Great Blizzard of '88 or the Great White Hurricane (March 11–14, 1888), was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. The storm paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake B ...

, etc. * A variety of film and TV projects including,

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

's ''

The Age of Innocence ''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. App ...

'', Ken Burns' Civil War and Baseball Programs, C-SPAN's Underground Railroad and Uncle Sam productions, and

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

' The Hudson River, CBS Sunday Morning's Uncle Sam program, and numerous other programs and films.

Operations

RCHS uses its humanities collections in a number of ways to promote broad public participation and interest in the history of Rensselaer County. Collections-based exhibitions are focus of the RCHS exhibits, and public programs. RCHS uses artifacts from its collection to demonstrate how they are made, how they are used, how they express human needs and values, and how they influence society and the lives of individuals.

References

External links

Rensselaer County Historical Society
{{Authority control Historic house museums in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Troy, New York Buildings and structures in Troy, New York Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Museums in Rensselaer County, New York Rensselaer County, New York Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in New York (state) Historical societies in New York (state) Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)