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2024 Year in Review

 

 

 

 

We welcomed two new employees – Heather Olander (Business Manager) and Bob Ritter (Facilities Manager)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our collections care encompassed a variety of activities including digitizing archival materials, answering research requests, conducting inventories, creating finding aids, processing donations, rehousing artifacts, data entry, taking photographs of objects and around the community, and filing. Special projects included digitizing our VHS tape collection and beginning an inventory at Rose Hill Mansion.

 

 

 

On April 16 the Geneva History Museum closed to the public for a major renovation project. The project includes creating a new, accessible front entrance; installing an elevator, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and ADA compliant bathrooms; and improvements to the primary exhibit spaces.

 

 

 

 

Our financial support came from a variety of sources in 2024 – donations, support campaigns, Rose Hill admissions, gift shops sales, publicly and privately funded grants, an online auction, Rose Hill Cottage, trips to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Philadelphia, Every Building Tells A Story: Cornell Agritech, and the Holiday Market. Thank you to our supporters, grant funders, and others who generously supported Historic Geneva in 2024.

 

 

 

Preparing to close the Geneva History Museum was a major undertaking. Spaces on the lower level and first floor were cleared out, cases, artifacts, and other items were relocated within the museum or moved to off-site storage. We also took this opportunity to clean out the attic. For a week, we’d fill a dumpster and by the next day most of the items would be gone so we would fill it up again. One of our dumpster dives became The Lady of the Finger Lakes. One of our discarded mannequins was turned into a piece of art by a 3rd and 5th grader which was featured in the Geneva City School District Art Show at the Dove Block

 

During the year we host a variety of school programs.  2,106 students attended programs held inside and outside the classroom in 2024.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the New York State History Conference in Albany Archivist Becky Chapin shared our efforts to chronicle the enslaved people at Rose Hill.

 

 

 

 

 

Maintenance projects at Rose Hill included exterior and interior painting; replacing the windows in the Carriage House Visitor Center and Gift Shop; repairs to the mansion’s chimneys and back porches; replacing the roofs on the Well House and Garden Shed; and implementation of the Rose Hill Landscape Plan.

 

 

 

To help tell Geneva’s stories we relied on a variety of collaborators. Among our partners were the 148th New York Volunteer Infantry, Antiques Club of the Finger Lakes, Blueprint Geneva, City and Town of Geneva, Cool Club and the Lipker Sisters, Cornell Agritech, Dove Block Project, Finger Lakes Times, Friends of Parrott Hall, Genesee Country Bobbin Lace Guild, Geneva BID, Geneva Center of Concern, Geneva City School District, Geneva Housing Authority, Geneva Public Library, Geneva Reads, Geneva Rotary Club, HWS, Ithaca Maple Works, Lake Drum Brewing, Reynolds Battery, Seneca Falls Historical Society, Three Girls Named Ginny, Three of Us, Time Travelers, Town of Fayette Historical Society, Two Peace Banc, Ward W. O’Hara Agricultural and Country Living Museum, and Waterloo Library and Historical Society

 

 

Throughout the Geneva History Museum renovation project staff continued to work in the building except for three days in August when there wasn’t electricity. When we did have to work from home the Archives got a new assistant, Toby.

 

 

 

 

Rose Hill Cottage Guest Review – My family and I loved this cottage! We needed a dog-friendly place for our trip to the Finger Lakes and we booked pretty close to our travel date, so I was worried we wouldn’t get a great property but this place well exceeded our expectations! The cottage itself is adorable and on the grounds of the Rose Hill Mansion… There is a pond on the property, and you can hear the frogs croaking when you’re outside at night, which was fun for my kids to hear (and my dogs, haha)!

 

 

Our 2024 public programs included the spring and fall program series, bird walks, specialty tours of Rose Hill, walking tours, Family Day, summer concerts, History Happy Hours, Civil War Day, and cemetery tours.

 

 

 

 

Rose Hill intern and William Smith student Zooey Gastelo, developed an art themed tour of the mansion.

 

 

 

By partnering with other community organizations and participating in community events we shared Geneva’s stories with the broadest audience possible. Our outreach activities included “Looking Back Articles” for the Finger Lakes Times; programs for Geneva Housing Authority, area libraries, and Geneva Women’s Club; class visits and internships for student from Hobart and William Smith Colleges; and participating in Geneva Reads’ Bookfest, Geneva Farmer’s Market, Finger Lakes Pride Festival, Plow Day, and Mingle with Kringle.

 

 

 

We hosted a variety of exhibits in 2024 including Lift Every Voice: Geneva’s Black Community Since 1966, Comet Finder: Dr. William Brooks; One House, Many People: Workers at Rose Hill and The Good Death: Illness and Death in the 19th Century.

 

 

 

 

We could not accomplish all that we do without the time, talent, and treasure of community members. In 2024 we witnessed the passing of several dedicated supporters and friends including Walter Gable, Paul Kirsch, Barbara Lamb, Mary Lawthers, and Barb Vanderveer.

 

 

 

 

Our activities are brought to you in part by our supporters. Be our partner in telling Geneva’s stories by becoming a Historic Geneva supporter.