Fenimore Museum
5798 NY-80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
(607) 547-1400
Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm (check hours during the seasons)
Admission: Adults (13+) $17.50/Children (12 and under) Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Fenimore Museum at 5798 NY-80
The museum at the start of the holiday season
I was in Upstate New York visiting Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame and when I finished, I travelled up the road to see the Fenimore Art Museum. What a unique museum packed with interesting art from all aspects of the medium.
The Portrait Collection
The Lady in White
The middle level of the museum specialized in early American works and paintings from the Hudson River School. Across the hall was the history of the Cooper family who once owned all the land in the area, developed it to the town known as Cooperstown as a planned community.
The collection of Folk Art Paintings
The lower level was dedicated to the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art which was pretty extensive.
The clothing from the Native American display from the Thaw Collection
The Thaw Collection gallery
I liked the collection of spiritual masks that could scare away any evil spirit. The collection of small dolls and icons makes you wonder how they if ever captured any spirits. Their collection of clothing was interesting too.
The Thaw Collection
The Thaw Native American Collection
The ‘Looking Back’ exhibition
The paintings in the exhibit
One of my favorite paintings from this exhibit (note-some of the buildings in this painting from 1860 still exist).
The upper floor in 2025 was the exhibition of the ‘’Calvin and Hobbes’ cartoon. I loved this comic strip when it was out and found myself laughing the whole time.
The opening of the Calvin and Hobbes exhibition in 2025
(From the Fenimore Art Museum website)
Exploring Calvin and Hobbes revisits the beloved comic strip created by Bill Watterson from 1985 to 1995. This exhibit explores his mastery of the comic strip art form through engaging characters, thoughtful writing, and creative layouts.
The exhibition features original Calvin and Hobbes daily and Sunday strips as well as specialty pieces by Watterson from his collection of more than 3,000 originals housed at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at The Ohio State University. Calvin and Hobbes appeared in 2,400 newspapers worldwide at the height of its popularity. Watterson won the National Cartoonists Society’s prestigious Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” in both 1986 and 1988.
The History of the Fenimore Art Museum:
The Fenimore Art Museum originated as the New York State Historical Association, founded in 1899 by New Yorkers who were interested in promoting greater knowledge of the early of the state. They hoped to encourage original research, to educate general audiences by means of lectures and publications to mark places of historic interest with tablets or signs and to start a library and museum to hold manuscripts, paintings and objects associated with the history of the state.
The Fenimore Art Museum in the Fall of 2025
In 1939, Stephen Carlton Clark, offered the organization a new home in the village of Cooperstown, NY. Clark, an avid collector, took an active interest in expanding the holdings of the Association and in 1944 donated Fenimore House, one of his family’s properties, to be used as a new headquarters and museum. The impressive neo-Georgian structure was built in the 1930’s on the site of James Fenimore Cooper’s early 19th century farmhouse on the shore of Otsego Lake, Coopers Glimmerglass.
The Weathervane Collection
Fenimore House was large enough to have both extensive galleries as well as an office and library space. The collections and programs continued to expand and a separate library building was constructed in 1968.
The Cigar Store Indian
In 1995, a new 18,000 square foot wing was added to the Fenimore House to accommodate the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection, which is one of the nation’s premier collections of American Indian Art. In 1999 in recognition of our world class collections, we renamed the Fenimore House to the Fenimore Art Museum.
The Collection includes The Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, Fine Art & Folk Art, Photography and the Research Library.
Early American Portrature
Mission:
Preserving-Engaging-Educating
Fenimore Art Museum is dedicated to welcoming and connecting people to our shared cultural heritage through exhibitions and programs that engage that engage, delight and inspire.
(This information comes from the Fenimore Art Museum’s website and I give them full credit for it)
The ‘Humming Bee’ portrait
This was one of my favorite paintings in the collection when I visited in 2025.
The Thaw Collection gallery
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 