Yager Museum of Art & Culture: Custodians of Legacy Build the Future for an Industry
Noted traveler, author and scholar of Native America, Willard Yager understood how resources transform ideas into programs. In 1929, he
bequeathed his private collection to Hartwick College. His sister, Marion, created an endowment to support the museum in 1959. Since then, the museum has served as a research and preservation hub, and an incubator for future museum professionals.
Quentin Lewis, the museum’s curator, implements initiatives to protect and sustain the Yager collection. The museum studies curriculum calls upon the expertise of alumni to instill the importance of becoming a sustainable unit. Most recently, two alumnae, Stacey Viebrock Grady ’03 and Leanne Schmadtke ’15, presented a session on developing fiscal acumen — a skill just as important as exhibit preparation or community relations.
Preserving the almost 20,000 objects under its stewardship often calls for external expertise and additional funding. Lewis cited one example; the conservation of a 16th-century Italian Renaissance painting by Andrea Previtali, which was given to the museum in the 1960s, needed the expertise of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. This work was made possible with a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and Greater Hudson Heritage Network.
The museum’s next initiative is to establish an artist-in-residence program to honor Professor Emeritus Phil Young. The program will host an Indigenous artist for a four-week residency to create works reflecting the history and the vibrant future of Indigenous residents. The residency will end with an exhibit of the guest artist’s work.
Art-Politics exhibition (2019), students with the Andy Warhol Sitting Bull screen print, ca. 1985.
Another initiative is the collaboration with the Cooperstown Graduate Program (CGP). CGP students, Yager staff, Hartwick students and community stakeholders are engaged in strategic planning to deliver an administration roadmap for a sustainable future. “The program provides essential experience for CGP students, and is a necessity for a healthy, lively organization like ours,” said Lewis.
From its inception, Yager has been the magnet that brings patrons to the college. Dorothy Rowe and Jeannette Waterman left gifts in their wills, creating an endowment to fund art major students at Hartwick. They were generous supporters of the Yager during their lifetimes.
