By John Antonowicz
Correspondent
In celebration of the Chenango County Historical Society’s 50th anniversary of being open to the public, the first five articles have been a history of the museum. However, all of those fifty years would not have been possible without the endless efforts of dedicated volunteers. Without the late Minnie Mae Smith, the historical society would not exist on the scale it does today.
Mae, a native to Norwich, was born on September 28, 1923, and became a graduate of the Norwich High School class of 1942. After graduating, Mae advanced her education by taking history classes at Morrisville State College and also by attending numerous seminars on local history at the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. She also took part in numerous workshops by the Regional Conference for Historical Agencies. Mae later worked for the Chenango & Unadilla Telephone Corporation. After leaving this company, she gained interest in the newly formed museum.
Mae began at the museum when she wanted to research her grandfather’s efforts in the Civil War on the 100th anniversary of the Civil War. Mae was then asked to present an exhibit on the information she had compiled. With Mae’s keen interest in history, Mae was well-known by local historians, including Albert and Goldie Phillips.
In 1962, Albert Phillips became president of the historical society. As president, Albert appointed Mae as curator of the museum’s collections of historical relics. Mae accepted the position and recorded the artifacts as they were donated to the society. Each object was recorded in notebooks with a detailed description of the individual object and was then given a number. After the object received a number, a donor card was made for the object so visitors can view who donated the objects to the collection. On October 15, 1966, Mae was appointed to the position of Chenango County Historian to replace Louise Shinners. Although Mae worked for the County in the Historian’s office, located in the museum’s basement, Mae continued to act as curator of the historical society to oversee all donations and exhibits.
Mae worked in the early years fixing the old Ward School from its days of disrepairs. The building’s roof leaked through to lower floors, the original plaster walls cracked, and the walls all needed painting. Despite all of these issues, Mae helped continuously to make the school into a building that would be suitable for historical artifacts. Throughout the early years, Mae even shoveled coal into the original fireplace to keep the building warm so the building could be repaired all year long.
After the opening of the museum to the public, Mae toured thousands of visitors around, describing the artifacts to tell the story of Chenango County. Mae especially enjoyed giving children tours of the museum, and she allowed them to interact with the artifacts in a hands-on approach. Children sat in the horse-drawn sled, stood in the general store, and even held antique cookery to pretend they were pioneers and cooked over an open fire. Mae favored the Pioneer Room, where she focused on the early settlers of Chenango County. A general store and post office from Beaver Meadow gave the illusion of being in a small town in early Chenango County. Mae also created an exhibit on churches and early farming techniques in this room. The exhibits were interpreted with photographs and documents that supported the exhibits that Mae had created.
Along with tending to exhibits on Rexford Street, Mae traveled to local homes in Chenango County collecting historical artifacts. With Mae being so active in the community, she was often called to receive artifacts for the museum and picked them up on countless occasions. Mae would take the artifacts back to the museum, catalogue the pieces, and display them properly. When local buildings were being razed during the urban renewal era in America, Mae often convinced the construction companies to give the architectural pieces to the society. Included in these efforts were many pieces from the former Palmer House and Hotel Norwich. Today, the architectural pieces tell a story of the former massive hotel that once was on East Main Street.
Throughout Mae’s career, Mae wrote many articles for the local newspaper entitled “What’s New at the Museum.” The column spotlighted on new items that were donated to the museum and the history behind the items. Mae also wrote for the paper a series of articles entitled, “Over the Years,” where Mae traveled around the county and found old relics that were historically significant, including structures and buildings. She would then find photographs of where she had traveled to and researched the history of her location, as well. In later years, Mae spoke on a local radio program entitled “Chenango Chronicles,” which informed listeners of local history.
Throughout Mae’s career with the society, she helped with repairing the old school building to convert it to a museum, assisted with the creation of new exhibits, managed the expanding collection, directed the craft fairs on the museum grounds, purchased 41 and 43 Rexford Street along with 77 Silver Street, chaired the antiques shows, advocated for the 175th anniversary of the counties, moved the one room school house from Preston to the museum grounds, acquired the “Lillie” canal boat replica, acted as coordinator of the Norwich bicentennial project, helped to preserve the rare railroad watchman’s tower on East Main Street, and much, much more. Without the efforts of Minnie Mae Smith, the Chenango County Historical Society would truly not be as large as it is today in 2012. Many artifacts of Chenango County would have been lost and the public of the county would not have a resource available for preserving history. As we look back in the past fifty years, the society owes Mae many thanks of gratitude.