The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region".Albany Institute of History and Art It is located on Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) in downtown Albany. Founded in 1791, it is among the oldest museums in the United States.
Several other institutions have merged over time to become today's Albany Institute. The earliest were learned societies devoted to the natural sciences, and for a time it was the state legislature's informal advisory body on agriculture. Robert R. Livingston was the first president. Joseph Henry delivered his first paper on electromagnetism to the Institute. Its collections of animal, vegetable and mineral specimens from state surveys eventually became the foundations of the New York State Museum. Later in the century it became more focused on the humanities, and eventually merged with the Albany Historical and Art Society. It has had its present name since 1926. Over the course of the 20th century it has become more firmly established as a regional art museum.
The institute's three-building complex includes the late 19th-century Rice Building, the only freestanding Beaux-Arts mansion in the city, designed by Richard Morris Hunt and donated to the institute by one of its former benefactors. Its main building is a 1920s Classical Revival structure designed by local architect Marcus T. Reynolds. A more modern glass structure connects the two. The original two buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. At the beginning of the 21st century, the institute completed an extensive renovation in which the entrance building was constructed and new climate-controlled storage space for the collections was built.
Buildings and grounds The institute occupies the parcel of Dove Street between Washington and Elk Street. It is surrounded by buildings mostly of a similar scale and vintage, some of which are also listed on the National Register. Facing it across Dove Street is the University Club of Albany, itself a complex of brick buildings dominated by a Colonial Revival main building by local architect Albert Fuller that complements the institute's. Across Washington are some smaller commercial buildings. On the southwest corner of the intersection is another Fuller brick Classical Revival building, the former Harmanus Bleecker Library. ()
A block to the east is the large New York State Department of Education Building, and the park behind the New York State Capitol, a National Historic Landmark that also contributes to the Lafayette Park Historic District. The Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, a contributing property to the Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District south of Washington, towers over the block from the southeast where it faces the capitol. A block to the west is the Washington Avenue Armory, with the Italianate Walter Merchant House across the street from it. North of the institute, across Elk, is a large parking lot with the small Sheridan Park beyond.
The Rice Building sits on the southwest corner of the institute lot, on the intersection of Washington and Dove. To its east is a small lawn with mature trees and a walkway from the connecting building to the street, and a modern sculpture. A low metal railing on a stepped stone base sets off the property from Washington. In the middle of it is a tall modern stone entryway with two pillars of blocks similar to those on the Rice Building supporting a modern steel and glass hood. The larger main building occupies the northeast corner, with a large parking lot in the northwest. Between the two is a modern hyphen of large stone blocks with steel and glass on both sides.
The main building is a two-story brick structure with quoins and a limestone belt course and Renaissance Revival cornice. A hipped roof with green metal cladding and a flat central tower is above. On the south side, the main entrance is located in a projecting octagonal pavilion. There are a few large 18- and 24-pane windows. An auditorium wing protrudes from the first floor.
Inside the building a large main hallway, with exhibit halls on either side, runs from the foyer at the main entrance to a large hall in the north just south of the auditorium wing. Double staircases from the foyer go to the second floor, which has a similar plan but without access to the auditorium wing. Some entrances are decorated with Doric columns, but otherwise the walls are plain sheetrock.
Four bays by three, the Rice Building sits on a raised stone foundation supporting golden Roman brick walls with quoined corners topped by a flat roof. A slightly lower three-by-three-bay wing extends from the north facade. The east elevation has a balustraded porch on the three northern bays serving what is now the main entrance; the original main entry on the opposite side has been bricked in.
There are rectangular windows in the exposed basement wall. The first floor has round segmental-arched French windows with plain transoms; there are only three on the east elevation and the middle bay of the south is blind on all stories. In front they have a decorative ironwork railing; at their tops a molded stone course runs around the building.
The second story has double one-over-one double-hung sash windows everywhere except the middle two bays of the east side where they are single. They have plain stone sills and splayed-brick lintels with each splaying multiple bricks long. Another continuous stone belt course serves as the baseline for the attic windows; one-over-one like the ones below but shorter. A decorative stone carving replaces the corner quoins above the course. Above the windows the roofline is marked by an elaborate cornice with egg-and-dart molding and brackets holding up a wide overhanging eave. A parapet encloses the entire roof.
The north wing has a similar treatment to the main block but is more restrained. It lacks the upper belt course and corner carvings. In its place is a plain stone frieze. The roof cornice is narrower and unbracketed, with only denticulated stone below.
Inside many of the original finishes remain. They include salons with decorative wall art, carved mahogany fireplace mantels and the library's built-in bookcases. A stairway with iron balustrade goes up to the third floor. The marble in the bathroom is also original.
History From its beginnings as a learned society that advised the state legislature on how to improve agricultural production, the Institute has evolved into a regional art museum. Twice in the 19th century it went into serious decline, revived by a change in direction. In the later 20th century it finally found a permanent direction and its own home.
1791–1823: Society for the Promotion of the Useful Arts
The Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, the earliest predecessor organization to today's AIHA, was established in New York City in 1791 as a learned society. At that time the city was both state and national capital, and the Society served as an informal advisor to the state legislature, which later funded it, on ways to improve the state's economy, primarily the agricultural sector, and better the lives of its citizens. Among the 72 founders who met in Federal Hall, 25 had served in the legislature and every sitting member of that body was considered an honorary member of the Society. Robert R. Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was chosen as the Society's first president. Other early members of note included John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States and a future governor of the state, and George Clinton, another later governor who would eventually become Vice President.
When Albany was permanently designated as the state capital in 1796, the Society moved with it. It met in the former City Hall at first. In 1804, as its original charter expired, it was renamed the Society for the Promotion of the Useful Arts. Livingston continued to serve as president. Ten years later, it established a Fine Arts Committee. Among its members were architect Philip Hooker and painter Ezra Ames. Its first act was to commission from Ames a portrait of Livingston, who had died in 1813. It was the institute's first arts accession.
In 1819, New York became the first state to establish a government agency devoted to agriculture when the legislature created the Board of Agriculture. The state no longer needed the Society, and withdrew its funding. Many of the founding members had grown older or, like Livingston, died, and the Society became less active.
1823–1850: Albany Institute
It was rejuvenated by a merger with the Albany Lyceum of Natural History, a year after that organization was founded in 1823 with Stephen Van Rensselaer, a former lieutenant governor then serving in Congress. The members of the Lyceum were younger, and focused on the natural sciences, especially geology and mineralogy, paleontology, and astronomy. In accordance with the first three fields, it had devoted itself to preserving mineral and botanical specimens collected on state surveys.
The merged organization became known as the Albany Institute, with a membership of over a hundred. At its meetings over the next few years many scholarly papers were presented in advance of their eventual publication. In 1829 Joseph Henry, curator of the Institute's natural-history department, delivered his first paper on electromagnetism, an area in which he went on to make significant contributions. By the following year the Institute's libraries had almost doubled in size when Governor DeWitt Clinton willed most of his books to it.
Henry left in 1832 to teach at Princeton; later he would become the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. His departure did not affect the Albany Institute, which recorded over a thousand members the next year. For other reasons, this would nonetheless be a peak year for the Institute as it was in the early 19th century.
Between 1834 and 1837, attendance declined at meetings due to the excessive output of the Institute's chief meteorologist, Matthew H. Webster, who took enthusiastically to the duty of coordinating the state weather surveys for the Board of Regents. He presented many papers on the subject, sometimes three at a single meeting, and attendees became increasingly bored and stopped attending. Financial problems resulting from the Panic of 1837 limited the Institute's publications. During this time it continued to collect scientific specimens, accumulating more than 15,000, and started the state Natural History Survey, both activities that led to the establishment of the New York State Museum.
Van Rensselaer's death in 1839 was another setback for the Institute. Its functions were also duplicated by newer institutions, particularly colleges and universities such as Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, that had been established in the Albany area. Throughout the 1840s it remained dormant.
1851–1899: Albany Historical and Art Society The Institute was again revived in 1851, when the new American Association for the Advancement of Science held its third annual meeting at the Albany Academy. As had happened before, the addition of members changed the nature of the organization, making it a learned society interested in many areas besides the natural sciences. John V. L. Pruyn, a Congressman and officer of the New York Central Railroad, became president in 1857 and reoriented the society toward the public rather than the interests of its members. Ten years later, in 1867, the Institute donated its science and natural-history collections to the state Cabinet of Natural History, a predecessor of the state museum. Later it would donate its geological collection.