By John Antonowicz
Correspondent
In celebration of the Chenango County Historical Society’s 50th anniversary open to the public, we honor a person who dedicated an endless amount of time to the Society to develop a well thought out and well interpreted exhibit on the story of Chenango County. Theodore Whitney spent 25 years as a museum trustee, including serving as president from 1971 – 1976. Without Ted Whitney, the historical society would not exist in the scale it does today.
Ted, a native of Columbus, was born on November 15, 1905, and graduated in the Sherburne High School class of 1922. Ted advanced his education by attending several colleges after his high school career. From 1943 – 1945, Ted served in the United States Army, where he drew caricatures and cartoons of his experiences. These were reproduced in 1991by the historical society for resale.
Ted had a great interest in the Native Americans who once lived in these lands and he tried to describe their lives. Ted often used his own skills to analyze how the Natives lived. Ted was able to demonstrate how stone tools were made and how they were used. He would spend hours chipping away at flint to make reproduction arrowheads, so that when school children would visit the museum; they had a small souvenir to take with them.
In 1973, Ted painted large murals that covered the whole east wall of the Native American room. The murals depicted Natives with mammoths and progressed to their encounter with the white man. The murals remained on the museum’s walls until the summer of 2010.
Ted greatly enjoyed school children’s tours of the museum and letting them handle Native artifacts. He also showed off a rare dugout canoe made from a single tree that was carved out by the Natives. Ted allowed students to sit in the canoe and imagine that they were natives.
On crafts days sponsored by the Historical Society, Ted showed children how to chip away at flint to produce products like arrowheads, stone drills, and pendants. He also let visitors use rock tools on logs to inscribe designs on the wood.
Along with showing children the Native American exhibit, Ted gave tours to any visitor who requested one. Ted described many of the artifacts, as he knew the significance of the objects. Ted often gave the tours with his wife Mercian. Visitors would often come back with their friends and family and request a tour from the Whitney’s, as they knew it would be interesting and informative.
When Ted wasn’t teaching others about the museum, he was always fixing the exhibits. He made sure that informational signs were placed with the objects, along with the donor’s name. Ted also painted the exhibit rooms, to keep them looking fresh to the public eye. Ted used his attention to detail to make each exhibit appealing to the visitor’s eye.
Ted lived not far from the museum, in the house next door at 43 Rexford Street, which is now the society’s James S. Flanagan Research Center. He was always available to help the museum and often opened the museum for community meetings. Groups like the Chenango Chapter New York State Archaeological Association held meetings within the museum which gave the group an understanding of the museum’s collection of Native artifacts. Because Ted lived next door, he agreed to do maintenance for the museum.
In July of 1990, Ted and Mercian celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the museum and were honored with a plaque on the door to the Indian Room. The plaque dedicated the room to Ted and Mercian’s service to the society. The plaque named it “The Whitney Room.”
Without the efforts of Ted Whitney, the Chenango County Historical Society would not be a large as it is today in 2012. Ted’s attention to detail maintained the reputation of museum as a site worth visiting. He cared greatly for the museum and the collection and made sure to represent it as such. As we look back on the past fifty years, the Society owes Ted a huge debt of gratitude.