Cooperstown Graduate Program

10/05/2026

CGP’s Volunteer Week is o-FISH-ially underway! This week, our second-year students who are not attending the MAAM conference will be volunteering in their community! To kick off the activities, students Natalie Benenati and Camden Breckenridge assisted the staff at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Maine during this past weekend’s SardineFest 🐟
We are proud of our students, who make efforts to contribute to institutions that are meaningful to them, both in Cooperstown and beyond!

09/28/2026

Happy Fall from CGP! Several of our first-year students created a scarecrow for the Fenimore Farm and Country Village. Of course, the scarecrow had to pay homage to America’s Pastime ⚾️
The Scarecrow Village is open now until November 1st and features 34 scarecrows made by local artists and residents. Visitors are also able to vote on their favorite scarecrow during their visit. More information is available on the Fenimore’s website: https://www.fenimorefarm.org/scarecrow-village/

Many thanks to students Jack Payne, Gretchen Tschetter, Emma Sprigle, Sarah Entner, Kylie Goldade, and Emma Strobel for their hard work, and we encourage you to stop by the Fenimore sometime this fall to see the Cooperstown Graduate Program’s scarecrow!

09/23/2026

Headed to Alabama! CGP’s director Dr. Gretchen Sorin will be giving a talk this Saturday about her book 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬: 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴. The author talk will be followed by a book signing, block party, and book drive! If you are in the Montgomery area, these events are free and open to the public, so we encourage you to come by to support Dr. Sorin and learn more about black history in Alabama!

Event Details:
Book Talk and Signing – 10am to 11:30am
Block Party and Book Drive – 12pm to 4pm
Address: Civil Rights Memorial Center
400 Washington Ave
Montgomery, AL

09/18/2026

One of the highlights of Cooperstown’s autumn festivities happened this past weekend: the Harvest Festival at Fenimore Farm and Country Village 🍁 Our very own CGP first-year student Leah DeHaan, who works there, provided a hands-on demonstration of the printing press for her classmates and other attendees. Looking forward to sharing more seasonal events like this with our students as the semester progresses!

09/17/2026

CGP’s Professor Will Walker and CGA board member Erin Richardson '01 are at the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) and National Council on Public History (NCPH) conference this week in Providence, RI! CGA and CGP hosted an alumni meet-up yesterday, with food and refreshments provided by CGA. Thank you so much to those who were able to attend! It was lovely to catch up with Rebecca and Geoffrey Hunt '78, Tramia Jackson '12, Kelsey Mullen '11, Jodi Polsgrove '00, Linnea Grim '04, Cyndi Tolosa '15, Barbara Franco '67, Alex Dubois '15, Stephanie Rowe '08, PJ Norman '17, Ilene Frank '01, Audrey Wolfe '11, and Christian Overland '93.

09/17/2026

Our second-year students visited Shelburne Farms in VT last month, where they met with many members of their incredible staff as our students gained firsthand knowledge about interpretation, education, and the administration of this unique historic site. Students also visited Kate Malmstrom and Danielle Harris-Burnett at the Vermont Historical Society Museum, who shared their experiences in the fields of museum programming and education at their institution. Many thanks to all the wonderful people at Vermont History and Shelburne Farms who made this trip one to remember!

09/10/2026

The newest CGP students have arrived! Please join us in welcoming the Cooperstown Graduate Program’s Class of 2028 as they begin their studies with us this Fall. They now have both their orientation and the first week of classes under their belts. Professors Falk, Walker, and Stengler got to show them around the Cooperstown and Oneonta campuses to get them familiar with the breadth of resources available to them for the next two years. We are looking forward to getting to know them and seeing what they accomplish during their time here at CGP and beyond!

07/22/2026

Congratulations to CGP alumna Laura Laubenthal on her new antiques business in Little Falls.

05/05/2026

The students in Cultural Encounters have been working on an America 250 project related to Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Otsego County. Check out some of their work here: https://cgpartifact.wordpress.com/

And if you are in Cooperstown, stop by Welcome Home at the Village Library of Cooperstown to learn more tonight, May 5, from 5:30-7pm

Ordinary and Extraordinary Things

04/29/2026

The Cooperstown Graduate Association would like to invite you to join us on Friday, May 1st from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm as we listen to a fascinating seminar by Deborah Schwartz, former Director of the Brooklyn Historical Society and CGP alumna and her husband David Tykulsker, an Employee Rights Attorney for New Jersey and New York. In this seminar Deb and David will lead us on a fascinating discussion on the relationship between museums and labor unions.

Cooperstown Graduate Program is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Pro-Sem: Museums & Labor Unions, Deb Schwartz
Time: May 1, 2026 09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83558369683?pwd=8M067iZrVbDFyFDyJ0z6bklg8r65Sd.1
Meeting ID: 835 5836 9683
Passcode: FYq5iX
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