Paul Szmal: It's our monthly review of all things historic Geneva with Carrie Lippincott joining us. Carrie, good morning. How are you?
Guest: Good morning. I'm very good. How are you?
Paul Szmal: Good. Let's jump right into the list here because there is a lot going on. Starting with the first activity that's happening here in a few days, old time music and dance in the Finger Lakes at the Geneva History Museum.
Guest: Yes, we partner with the Antiques Club of the Finger Lakes a couple times a year. They host programs at the museum and their last one of the spring is going to be this Thursday at seven and it's going to include Jim Kimball and Karen Canning who I guess are music historians for lack of a better word and they're going to be using Jim's collection of diaries, dance cards, newspaper articles, and other sources to do a little bit of a concert of music of the Finger Lakes on Thursday night.
Paul Szmal: Dance cards, I haven't heard of those in ages.
Guest: They are. They are very interesting. So I think it's all, as I said, it's all from his collection so it's going to be things. He's a professor at Geneseo so definitely dance cards, diaries, and things from the Finger Lakes so it should be a pretty interesting program.
Paul Szmal: And that is a free program too I want to add.
Guest: It is. It's free and open to the public and all the programs of the Antiques Club are free and open to the public.
Paul Szmal: Now happening the following week, May 14th at the Geneva History Museum, a conversation about historic preservation in America.
Guest: Yes, this is going to be our third and final program in our spring program series and John Marks, who's our curator, is going to kind of examine the purpose of historic preservation. Why do we preserve buildings? How has preservation changed over time? What's the difference between preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation? And he's going to use Geneva as an example to do that and that program is open to the public and we do have a suggested donation of five dollars to attend.
Paul Szmal: That should be a fascinating conversation too looking at the difference between preservation, restoration, and those kind of things because I think a lot of people think that's one and the same. They're actually a little bit different.
Guest: Yeah. Yeah, they are. They are different. So preservation, you're basically you're trying to maintain a structure. Rehabilitation, you're adding or you're altering a structure so you can still use it and restoration is perhaps the most interesting one of all because you are taking a building or a structure back to a certain time period and I think Rose Hill is probably the perfect example. It was decided years ago that 1839 was the most important year for the mansion. That's when it was built. So when it was restored, anything after 1839 was basically removed. So those are the difference between preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration and we definitely have a lot of examples of rehabilitation or adaptive reuse throughout Geneva.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I would kind of draw comparisons to restoring a car back to its original condition. It's kind of the same thing. So yeah, that's a good one.
Guest: Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Paul Szmal: We're talking with Carrie Lippincott from Historic Geneva about some of the activities that are coming up here not only at the Geneva History Museum but also since it's May we're getting things rolled at Rose Hill.
Guest: Yes, Rose Hill opened for the season on Friday and we're very excited about that. So Rose Hill is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 4 and then on Sunday from 12 to 4. We do have two exhibits that folks are more than welcome to come out and see. We have our long-term exhibit, One House, Many People, The Workers of Rose Hill and our new exhibit for this year is Historic Preservation at Rose Hill. So you can learn what it takes to maintain a house like Rose Hill. And then along with our regular guided tours we do have two specialty tours. Our behind-the-scenes tour is back. It's our most popular tour. So if you want to go from our basement all the way up to the Belvedere, which is the highest point of the mansion, you're more than welcome to do that on the first and third Saturday of the month. And then we do have a new tour which is Preserving Rose Hill and that is outdoors. And that you'll explore how the house and the grounds have changed over time. And that tour is offered on various Wednesdays and Sundays of the month in May through October. Now reservations are required if you want to do these two specialty tours.
Paul Szmal: As Carrie said, the behind-the-scenes tour is one of the most popular ones. So spaces tend to fill up quickly.
Guest: Oh my goodness, yes. Yes, I think people like to see our nooks and crannies. And if you think you've missed out on our regular tour, you have to come on the behind-the-scenes tour because you get to see practically everything on that tour.
Paul Szmal: And on select Saturdays this year we're going to have neighbor days at Rose Hill. First one is coming up Memorial Day weekend, right? May 23rd?
Guest: Yes, May 23rd. We're very grateful for KeyBank for being a sponsor of our neighbor days. And basically neighbor days means that if you are a resident of Ontario or Seneca County, you get a free admission at Rose Hill on that Saturday. So we'll be having a couple throughout the season. And as you said, our first one is on May 23rd.
Paul Szmal: I can't believe we're talking about Memorial Day already.
Guest: I know it's like I blinked and I missed like April. Unbelievable.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, it's like I blinked and I missed like April. Unbelievable. Yeah, I think we can blame the weather on that one.
Guest: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
Paul Szmal: And the weather certainly had some juxtapositions. I mean, we're going to get that this week where it's going to be 70 today and tomorrow and then it's going to be, you know, cold, damp and rainy on Wednesday. Different kind of juxtaposition though with some selections from the historic Geneva collections at the Geneva History Museum that are on display now.
Guest: Yeah, so this was this is an exhibit curated by students from Hobart and William Smith. And the exhibit is on view until May 16th. And this is the second year for this project. So it's the museum, critical museum studies class, which is basically an introduction to the history and theory of museums. So the course primarily focuses on the museum's role in memory making, nation building and opportunities for museums to offer social advocacy. So what the students did is they spent the semester working with our curator, John Marks, an archivist, Becky Chapin, researching and selecting objects from our collection under the theme juxtaposition. So they were divided into groups and each chose two objects and they examined how the objects together reflect issues in history and collecting. So they picked, there's a Arthur Dove painting with a Victorian quilt. They have a firefighter's badge paired with an American Red Cross nurse's badge. So it's really interesting. So again, you have until May 16th to see the exhibit.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, the neat thing about this is you're getting to see some curated stuff and the reason why it's been curated. But then from a student standpoint, I mean, you want to talk about learning your history and doing a deep dive. This is definitely one way that that can be done.
Guest: It is. And I have to say this is completely done by the students. They selected out the objects. They wrote the exhibit text. There's an exhibit catalog that goes with it. They installed the exhibit. So you should come out and see the students work.
Paul Szmal: All right. Now we're going to do kind of a help wanted thing. This is Historic Geneva looking for community members to join the Board of Trustees.
Guest: Yes, we're looking for community members to join our board. We're looking for community-minded individuals who believe in the power of local history and want to help Historic Geneva thrive. So if you have a background in finance, education, communications, community engagement, non-profit work, your expertise will help drive our success. And of course, diverse perspectives and lived experiences are more than welcome. If individuals are interested, they can send a letter of interest to director at HistoricGeneva.org by May 15th. We also have on our website, HistoricGeneva.org, we have a complete job description for our Board of Trustees. So again, if you're interested, you can send it to director at HistoricGeneva.org by May 15th.
Paul Szmal: And we mentioned Rose Hills open for those guided tours Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 4 and Sunday noon to 4. Let's toss out the hours for the Geneva History Museum as well.
Guest: Sure. So we're still sort of in our winter spring hour. So we're open Tuesday through Friday 10 to 4 and then on Saturday 12 to 4. And again, a lot of the activities, if not all of them are free. There are some suggested donations for some of the presentations like the Historic Preservation in America one on May the 14th. But if you're looking for something fun to do with the kids, especially if they've been studying American history, to get the local perspective on it, the Geneva History Museum offers a lot in that context.
Paul Szmal: It does. We have our long-term exhibit, Geneva's Changing Landscapes, which I think is a nice overview of Geneva's history. And because we are in the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we have a series of exhibits that are open kind of just chronicling how Geneva has celebrated different anniversaries. And we'll have some other exhibits opening up this summer.
Guest: Beautiful. And what's the website people can find more information at, Carrie?
Paul Szmal: Again, the website is HistoricGeneva.org and it has a list of our exhibits and all of our events. So HistoricGeneva.org.
Guest: As always, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks, Carrie. Appreciate it.
Paul Szmal: Thank you. Thank you.
