The Weeksville Collection

The Weeksville Collection consists of approximately 450 items, ranging from furnishings to tools of the 19th and 20th centuries. Collection objects fall into two categories. Items used to interpret the houses and site-specific artifacts.

Objects in the houses include clothing, musical instruments, books, decorative arts, household appliances and tools. Most of the 207 objects are acquisitions related to the restoration and reopening of the site. Gretchen Sorin, director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program, conducted a furnishings research project, for which she interviewed 20th century residents of the houses and reviewed early photographs to determine appropriate furnishings.

Approximately 200 site-specific were primarily collected as part of a National Science Foundation-funded archaeological dig at the site in 1970-71. The dig took place in the rear yards of the houses. Objects found include ceramic, metal objects, glass, and even tin-type photographs.