Rockwell Museum
The Rockwell Museum, 2015
|
|
 Location within New York
|
|
| Established | 1976 |
|---|---|
| Location | Corning, New York, USA |
| Coordinates | 42°08′34″N 77°03′10″W / 42.14278°N 77.05290°WCoordinates: 42°08′34″N 77°03′10″W / 42.14278°N 77.05290°W |
| Type | Art museum |
| Accreditation | American Association of Museums, Smithsonian Affiliate |
| Key holdings | Albert Bierstadt's Mount Whitney |
| Collections |
American art, Native American art |
| Collection size | Roughly 5,000+ |
| Visitors | Approximately 48,000 per year |
| Founder | Bob and Hertha Rockwell |
| Director | Brian Lee Whisenhunt |
| Nearest parking | On site, behind building (no charge to park) |
| Website | rockwellmuseum |
The Rockwell Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate museum of American art located in the Finger Lakes region in downtown Corning, New York. Frommer's describes it as "one of the best-designed small museums in the Northeast." In 2015, The Rockwell Museum was named a Smithsonian Affiliate, the first in New York State outside of New York City.
The museum founder, Robert F. Rockwell, Jr., moved to Corning in 1933 to run his grandfather's department store. Rockwell bought his first Western painting in 1959. Over the next 25 years he amassed a significant collection of paintings, bronze sculptures, etchings and drawings, and Native American ethnographic materials. Another collecting interest for Rockwell developed from his longtime friendship with Frederick Carder, founder of the Steuben Glass Works. He and his wife, Hertha, accumulated more than 2,500 pieces of Carder Steuben glass. In addition, they assembled a small collection of antique toys.
From 1960 to 1975, Bob Rockwell’s growing collection of art was displayed to the public in the Rockwell Department Store on Market Street in Corning, New York. In 1973, Corning Glass Works executives Amory Houghton, Jr., Thomas S. Buechner, and George W. Douglas pledged company support to provide a proper home for the Rockwell’s collection of western art and artifacts, Carder Steuben glass, and turn-of-the-century toys. The plan was to restore and renovate City Hall as the home for the collections as the company’s bicentennial gift to the community and as a major tourist attraction.
The museum opens under the name The Rockwell-Corning Museum in the Baron Steuben Hotel on November 13, 1976. In 1981, the name of the Museum is changed to The Rockwell Museum.
In 1980, The City of Corning offers its former 1893 City Hall, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, to house the Museum collections. Corning Glass Works funded the substantial exterior and interior renovation costs. June 19, 1982 the museum re-opens as The Rockwell Museum in the restored Old City Hall.
In 1991, The Museums West consortium is established and the Rockwell Museum is a founding member. In 1995, The museum is awarded accreditation by the American Association of Museums, and subsequently awarded in 2005.
...
Wikipedia