Shaker Museum and Library

The Shaker Museum and Library is located in Old Chatham, New York which is in rural Columbia County. The Shaker Museum and Library is the premier center for the interpretation and exhibition of Shaker life and culture. The Shaker Museum displays the diversity of Shaker genius. Their tools and machinery as well as their furniture, oval boxes, baskets, buckets, and stoves provide extraordinary examples of beauty achieved through functional simplicity. The same fine craftsmanship extends to wood and iron working tools, farm equipment, sewing implements, looms, and other objects used in daily life. All of the major Shaker industries are represented: broom and chair manufacturing, cloak making, garden seeds, and pharmaceuticals.

The Shaker Museum's collection includes many examples of Shaker inventiveness: a seven-ton double trip-hammer from Mount Lebanon, NY; a horse-drawn fire engine from Canterbury, NH; the first tongue and groove machine invented in 1828; and the patented washing machine from Canterbury, NH, that won a Gold Medal at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876.

Between 1935 and 1965 John W. Williams, Sr., acquired the vast majority of the Shaker Museum's object and library collections with the help of the Shaker leadership. Their purpose was to provide a complete picture of Shaker life and culture from as many Shaker communities as possible. Today the Shaker Museum is acknowledged to be the premier Shaker study collection . In 1972 the Shaker Museum was one of the first to be accredited by the American Association of Museums and it was reaccredited in 1985.

HOURS

• In our effort to direct limited resources to our long-planned move to Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, in New Lebanon, NY, we will not be opening the Old Chatham museum to the public in 2009.
• We are excited about our future at Mount Lebanon, and will host important restoration projects, public programs, tours, exhibits, and events at the site in summer 2009.
• Please check back frequently for updates, including a completely new website coming in Spring 2009.  Thanks for your patience as we make these changes.

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS

The Shaker Museum and Library is located minutes from the Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway in Old Chatham, New York.

From New York City: Taconic Parkway north to Rt. 295 exit, follow signs to Rt. 295 east, left at Albany Turnpike Rd. (at green Old Chatham 3 miles sign). In old Chatham, follow Rt. 13 one mile west to Shaker Museum Rd.

From Albany and NY Thruway: Interstate 90 to exit 11E, right on US 20, right on Rt. 66 south (at green bridge). Take a left at the stop sign then take an immediate right turn onto Shaker Museum Rd.

From Boston: Massachusetts Turnpike to B2 exit, follow signs to Rt. 295 east, left at Albany Turnpike Rd. (at green Old Chatham 3 miles sign). In old Chatham, follow Rt. 13 one mile west to Shaker Museum Rd. In Old Chatham follow Rt. 13 one mile west to Shaker Museum Rd.

View (and print) a map courtesy of Mapquest.

INFORMATION

Shaker Museum and Library
88 Shaker Museum Rd
Old Chatham, New York 12136
Telephone: 1-518-794-9100
Fax: 1-518-794-8621
Email: contact@shakermuseumandlibrary.org

Web Site: www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org

For information on activities and events
at Shaker Museum and Library,
please go to our Calendar of Shaker Events