PROGRAMS & SERVICES

TAUNY staff work with artists and professionals from across the North Country to develop and present programs that showcase the distinct identity of the region. Programs are held at TAUNY’s center in Canton and at other venues in Northern New York.  To learn more, follow these links:

EXHIBITS

Hippie House Exhibit

We have also produced traveling exhibitions on changing St. Lawrence River decoy traditions, regional food customs, Mohawk and Amish crafts, and more, for galleries from the Lewis County Historical Society to the Frederic Remington Art Museum and the North Country Cultural Arts Center in Plattsburgh, and schools and public libraries in several counties.

Fire and Iron Sculpture

• Artists of the Forest
• The Amish: Our North Country Neighbors
• Kindred Pursuits: Folk Art in North Country Life
• Sacred Tools: The Work and Spirit of the Adirondack Trail Crew
• Sweet Beginnings: Maple Sugaring in the North Country
• Anatomy of a Packbasket
• From Bunkhouses and Dancehalls: Music from the Adirondack Wood
• Hippie Houses & Homesteads: Back-to-the-Land Architecture
• Finding the North Country: Stories of Local Life Through Photograph
• Hooked on the River: Picture Rugs by Prudence Matthew
• Funny Men of the Adirondacks: From 20 Years of TAUNY Archives
• The Birdwoman of Pierrepont: Bird Carvings by Hazel Tyrrell
  Listing of past TAUNY exhibits

demonstrations and workshops

Cait Throop weaving workshop

These events are held at either the TAUNY Center or in selected sites around the region.

Check our Calendar page for a current listing of
scheduled workshops and demonstrations.

Click here to review TAUNY’s Workshop Cancellation Policy

Publications and Recordings

Need information here.

DOCUMENTATION

TAUNY Award – Varick & Jill

By interviewing people and documenting them with audio or video recordings, photographs, and field notes, we are able to prepare and preserve a record of local life for later generations.

NORTH COUNTRY LIVING AWARDS

Nellie

NC-Award

In coordination with North Country Public Radio, TAUNY developed the Meet the Master radio series, which includes photographs and audio and video clips for each artist.

Register of Very Special Places

The Register of Very Special Places has been incorporated into TAUNY’s signature North Country Heritage Awards program. To learn more about the Very Special Places click here.

RADIO PRODUCTIONS

Working with North Country Public Radio, TAUNY has produced a number of popular radio programs:

 Meet the Masters: Conversations with North Country Traditional Artists, a series of half-hour documentary programs describing North Country Heritage Award recipients.  TAUNY received a Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History for the series.

• A series of short programs that highlight the North Country’s cultural landmarks included in the Register of Very Special Places.

• Five live, call-in broadcasts called Looking for the North Country: Radio Conversations about a Region’s Sense of Place.

• A series of 17 short radio documentaries on regional and ethnic food customs called Home Cooking: The Folk Art of Good Food.

In coordination with North Country Public Radio, TAUNY developed the Meet the Master radio series, which includes photographs and audio and video clips for each artist.

North Country Folklore

Our second website — www.northcountryfolklore.org–is dedicated to educational resource materials for school age and adult learners and teachers about the folk culture and traditional arts of our region.

It currently is the home of four modules:

• Tales of the River: Collected Stories from St. Lawrence River Communities

• Good Food Served Right: Food Traditions in New York’s North Country;

• Register of Very Special Places

• “W is for the Woods”: Traditional Adirondack Music and Music Making

ARCHIVES

Over the years TAUNY has accumulated a significant collection of primary materials from our own research projects and from contributions of folklore scholars who have worked in the region, most notably invaluable collections donated by folklorists Robert Bethke, Richard Lunt, and Edith Cutting. The collections include audio and video tapes, photographs and slides, interview transcripts, student research projects and books. These are the primary materials upon which we base our own projects, such as exhibits, publications, and radio programs.

Materials from our collections can be available to students, scholars and the general public for educational purposes. Please call ahead for an appointment.

Ice Fishing Traditions

Riley Fisherman

“Ice Fishing Traditions in St. Lawrence County,” written in 1978 by Melanie Smithers, a fieldworker for the Center for the Study of North Country Folklife at SUNY Canton at the time, is the result of interviews with numerous local men and women by Smothers and several other fieldworkers. The article was published in September 1978, by the Madison County (NY) Historical Society in their 14th Annual Traditional Crafts Days program booklet, now in the TAUNY Archives Collection.