Erie Canal Museum Sign Up Information

"We wanted to give children and families a fun, creative activity while we were closed to the public," said Natalie Stetson, the Museum's executive director. "Summer and navigation season were approaching, so we thought people would enjoy a contest they could enter online."

Children, teens, and families from New York and three other states submitted pictures of their models. Judges from the MOST-Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, the Buffalo Maritime Center, and Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will select top entries. The Museum will announce them after the exhibit opens. Builders will receive ribbons and recognition on the Museum website.

The public will also have the opportunity to vote for their favorite boat through the digital exhibit. People can select their top entry through September 24, and the People's Choice winner will be announced on September 25.

Contest rules allowed original works made with building toys like Legos and Lincoln Logs. The Museum offered inspiration on its website with pictures of different kinds of boats, and everyone who registered received a digital copy of A Canal Boat Primer. 

"We hope this contest will become a yearly tradition for builders, boat and Canal lovers, and families around the country," Stetson said.
 

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Established in 1962, the Erie Canal Museum protects and showcases the 1850 National Register Weighlock Building, and shares the history and impact of the Erie Canal through displays, permanent and changing exhibits, and original artifacts. It is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. by reservation at https://eriecanalmuseum.org/tickets/. The Museum is partially funded by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
 

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David I. Spanagel is a science historian and associate professor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. On July 25 he will discuss how the scientific thinking of early New Yorkers including DeWitt Clinton, Stephen Van Rensselaer, and Amos Eaton guided and was influenced by excavation and construction of the Erie Canal. 

Construction of the Erie Canal was the centerpiece of a radical transformation of American understanding of earth's history, and an extraordinary  opportunity for American geologists to do internationally respected work in natural history and explore dynamic geological processes. Spanagel will explore the connections between the Canal and these men and other thinkers, and the impact that all had on culture and scientific thought during a time of tremendous change in New York State. 

David Spanagel earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and American Studies from Oberlin College, a Master's in Education from the University of Rochester, and a doctorate in the history of science from Harvard University. His first book, DeWitt Clinton and Amos Eaton: Geology and Power in Early New York, explores the broader cultural history of geological ideas and practices in early 19th century New York State.  

For more information email contactus@eriecanalmuseum.org. Be sure to join us at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 25 for this fascinating presentation!
 

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In response to the COVID-19 crisis and to protect visitors, volunteers, and staff, in-person programs at the Museum are postponed until further notice. This online event is a great way to learn Canal history as we all do our part to stay safe and healthy. Until we resume in-person events, we are working diligently to serve you through these types of programs. We greatly appreciate your support as we face financial uncertainty. If you'd like to make a donation to the Museum, please click here.

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Each year the Erie Canal Museum transforms into a festive 1800's canal town street scene with gingerbread creations on display in storefront windows. The exhibit, which began as a one-day architecture display in 1986, celebrates the holidays, local landmarks, and Central New York''s Erie Canal heritage with confectionery creations by professional and amateur bakers of all ages.
The 35th Annual Gingerbread Gallery is on display through January 10, 2021. Reservations are required and are available daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum does close early on December 24 and 31, and is closed all day December 25 and January 1.
Admission to the Erie Canal Museum, which included the Gingerbread Gallery, is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors (65+), $4 for children (3-18) and free for children 2 & under. Reservations can be made at eriecanalmuseum.org/tickets or by calling (315) 471-0593 during business hours.
For the first time this year, we have produced a Virtual Gingerbread Gallery that is available as a link or on DVD for $15. It is available in our Museum shop and also on our website at eriecanalmuseum.org/store.
To learn more about how we are keeping our visitors safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit eriecanalmuseum.org/re-opening-information. 

Carol Sheriff is a professor of History at William & Mary. She is the author of The Artificial River, The Erie Canal and the Paradoxes of Progress, 1817-1862. On May 30 she will discuss the social and cultural history of the Erie Canal, focusing on what the original and enlarged canals meant to the everyday lives of individuals working and living along their banks. Even as the Erie Canal caused divisions in the state's physical and human geography, it nonetheless drew middle-class New Yorkers together in what she calls "a culture of progress." Sheriff will explore the ambivalence with which these New Yorkers responded to the artificial waterway. Even as they embraced it as a great work of progress, they also lamented what they saw as the cost of progress.

Sheriff won the Dixon Ryan Fox Prize from the New York State Historical Association for The Artificial River. She also wrote 'Not the True Centennial': The Politics of Erie Canal Celebrations, 1917-1926, which appeared in New York History. With Scott Reynolds Nelson, she wrote A People at War: Civilians and Soldiers in America's Civil War, 1854-1877. She is a co-author of Mary Beth Norton, et al., A People and A Nation, a United States history textbook that recently appeared in its eleventh edition. She is currently working on a book tentatively titled 'Not a Brother's War': America's Embattled Textbooks, which examines how state-history textbooks have portrayed contested historical events from the 1860s through the present, and the grassroots activism they have provoked.

Be sure to join us at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 30 for this fascinating presentation!

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In response to the COVID-19 crisis and to protect visitors, volunteers, and staff, the Museum is closed to the public until further notice. This online event is a great way to learn Canal history as we all do our part to stay safe and healthy. Until we open our doors, we are working diligently to serve you through these types of programs. We greatly appreciate your support as we face financial uncertainty. If you'd like to make a donation to the Museum, please click here.

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The Erie Canal Museum is partially supported by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

 

We''re proud to partner with Erie Canal author and boatman Robert Graham to make his newest book available to readers. Click here for a link to the book, titled 21st Century Kids Along the Erie Canal.

This book features 102 photographs documenting the lives of young people living in the contemporary Erie Canal corridor in Upstate New York. It also includes photographs of kids from the Barge Canal Construction era (1905-1918) and the mid-twentieth century, with introductions by the author and Museum Curator Ashley Maready. We''re  releasing the digital version of Bob''s book on the day that a related exhibit was supposed to open at the Erie Canal Museum. 

Robert Graham is the author of several books about life on the Canal, including Erie Canal Abstract, Three Generations on the Erie Canal, and From Clyde to Buffalo. He is a good friend of the Museum, and we''re happy to introduce his new book to readers. 
 

We hope it will lighten your hearts as we ply the waters of turbulent times.

After the museum reopens, there will be an exhibit of 21st Century Kids in one of our galleries.
 

Important information for readers

After you click on the link, click on "PREVIEW" and then go to full screen mode. Use a desk-top monitor for best results.