Community Days Return to Hartwick’s Yager Museum

Hartwick College’s Yager Museum of Art and Culture will host its annual Community Days to mark the end of the fall semester and celebrate the holiday season. The museum will be open through Saturday, Dec. 14, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

Museum Director Doug Kendall said the timing aligns well with the close of the academic term.

“Hartwick’s Finals Week concludes on Thursday, so the campus quiets down and is the perfect time for folks to visit the museum,” Kendall said. “We know it can be challenging visiting the museum while the College is in session, so we especially invite visitors from the Oneonta, Otsego County and Delaware County communities to visit. There will be some special activities and plenty of parking adjacent to the museum.”

Historian Harry Bradshaw Matthews will offer a curator’s tour of the exhibition Memorializing the Underground Railroad on Friday, Dec 12, at 3 p.m. Matthews is a retired associate dean at Hartwick, the founding director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs and the U.S. Pluralism Center, and the recipient of the College’s Doctor of Humane Letters in 2024. In September 2025, Hartwick dedicated its Belonging Center in his honor.

Kendall will give a special tour of Discovering Our Place: Working, Learning, and Playing Among These Hills on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. Activities for children will also be offered throughout Community Days.

“Admission to the museum is free to all,” Kendall said. “During Community Days, we encourage visitors to bring nonperishable food items that will be distributed to local food pantries.”

Cider and cookies will be available on both days.

Additional exhibitions currently on view include Masterpieces of European and American Art: Hartwick College’s Art Treasure Room, featuring works from the Italian Renaissance through 20th-century artists such as Rockwell Kent and Childe Hassam, and The Study of One Thing: The Zen Arts of Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei.

The Yager Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. when the College is in session and is closed Sundays, Mondays and College holidays. The Yager is the Oneonta area’s only museum of art and culture. Admission is free and parking is available near the entrance on the first floor of Yager Hall. Visitors may reach the museum by taking West Street to Clinton Street, turning right onto Cayuga Drive and following it to Yager Hall.

For more information, visit the museum’s website, Facebook page or Instagram page, call 607-431-4480, or email Kendall at [email protected].