Greater Oneonta Historical Society

"Precautions Urged":
Public Health & Pandemics in Oneonta

(February 16, 2024 – May 3, 2024)

“Precautions Urged”: Public Health and Pandemics in Oneonta, is a small panel display on the history of public health and pandemics in Oneonta in the 20th and 21st centuries. Opening Friday, February 16, in the Brzozowski Special Exhibition Gallery and in our SUNY Oneonta Alumni window on the Dietz Street side, the panels will explore the Great Influenza of 1918, tuberculosis, polio, HIV/AIDS, and the Covid-19 pandemic and their impact on Oneonta.

Precautions Urged coincides with the recent release of SUNY Oneonta’s new edited volume, Chronicling a Crisis: SUNY Oneonta’s Pandemic Diaries (November 2023), focused on SUNY Oneonta’s experiences with Covid-19.

GOHS would like to thank the SUNY Oneonta history undergraduates who helped to research and gather information for the display. 

This exhibit is sponsored and fabricated by SUNY Oneonta.

Small Community, Big Ideas: Greater Oneonta

(May 2022 – Present) 

GOHS’s permanent exhibition, Small Community, Big Ideas: Greater Oneonta, explores the history of the town and city of Oneonta, New York. The exhibit includes modern, interactive, and digital features and a variety of different, formerly unseen objects from GOHS’s object and archival collections.

Small Community, Big Ideas features five chronological modules, each shedding light on the everyday people, places, and events that have shaped the town and city of Oneonta over the past three centuries. It tells the stories of how Natives, settlers, immigrants, and residents created a community, and how they built and rebuilt Oneonta to become a destination city—one that was adaptable and evolved with the changing geography, economy, culture, and society.

Throughout the exhibit visitors can explore floor maps, ambient sound, audio, and visual content. They can also contribute their own ideas of what they believe the next “big idea” for Oneonta might be. The permanent exhibition is continuously growing and changing with expanded content, new objects, and interactives, ensuring visitors a different experience each time they visit. 

D&H Special Exhibition

Part I (April 22, 2023 – August 5, 2023)
Part II (August 8, 2023 – November 4, 2023)

Released in two parts, the exhibition commemorated the bicentennial of the D&H Canal Company charter, which provided over 100 years of railroad service to the town and city of Oneonta.  

Part I, Building Up Steam: The Rise of the D&H Railroad in Oneonta (April 22 – July) and Part II, Leaving the Station: The Fall of the D&H Railroad in Oneonta (August – November) explored the rise and fall of the D&H Railroad and its operations in Oneonta from the 1850s through modern day, including the invaluable impact the railroad had on Oneonta’s economic, social, and cultural landscape.

On display in the Brzozowski Special Exhibition Gallery and the SUNY Oneonta Alumni and Buckingham windows, it featured a variety of local D&H artifacts, documents, and photographs from GOHS’ collection. 

The exhibit was curated by GOHS’ Executive Director, Dr. Marcela Micucci, and Associate Curator Bhanu Gaur, with the help of a talented team of exhibition designers, docents, advisors, and collections staff.

This exhibition was made possible in part by a 2023 New York State Council of the Arts Support for Organizations grant,  with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Oneonta -- On the Road to Major League Baseball 

(June 1, 2023 – September 30, 2023)

Oneonta – On the Road to Major League Baseball  explored baseball’s Major Leaguers who played for Oneonta teams.

Oneonta has a storied baseball history, including dozens of major leaguers who played for Oneonta teams. Major leaguers played for Oneonta High School; Hartwick College; SUNY Oneonta; the Canadian-American League’ Oneonta Indians; the New York-Penn League’s Oneonta Red Sox, Yankees, and Tigers; the Oneonta Outlaws of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, and more! 

The display featured baseball cards of some of those players, including Frank Malzone, Don Mattingly, Curtis Granderson, and many more.  GOHS’ Bob Brzozowski and Chris Vredenburg curated this display of baseball cards from the GOHS collections.

Town & Gown: SUNY Oneonta and the Local Community, Past and Present

(September 16, 2022 – November 12, 2022)

Town & Gown: SUNY Oneonta and the Local Community, Past and Present, explored SUNY Oneonta’s long history of partnership and collaboration with the Oneonta community.

The exhibit helped mark the inauguration of SUNY Oneonta’s ninth president, Dr. Alberto Cardelle, in October 2022, with an emphasis on his institutional agenda and commitment to increased community involvement and participation.