Tioga Point Museum

09/02/2026

Wednesday Object: Before He Was Famous
What did one of America’s greatest bird artists draw before he was famous?
Cornell University describes Louis Agassiz Fuertes as “the nation’s most notable ornithological painter after Audubon.” His remarkably lifelike paintings and illustrations helped shape the way generations of Americans saw and understood birds.
Before all of that, he was a schoolboy in Ithaca who liked to draw animals, and Tioga Point Museum may have some of those early drawings.
Two objects in our collection have long been identified as schoolboy sketches by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. One sheet is filled with birds—woodpeckers, a blue jay, and others in various poses. Another features a young artist’s attempt at a lion.
The lion also gives us a remarkable clue about how these drawings came to be associated with our museum. Written on its reverse is a note identifying it as a “Schoolboy sketch by Louis Agassiz Fuertes of lion.” The note goes on to say that the drawing was presented to Elsie Murray by Louis’s sister Katherine about 1907.
That brings the story home to Athens. Elsie Murray was the daughter of Tioga Point Museum founder Louise Welles Murray and would later serve as the museum’s director. She also had strong ties to Cornell, earning her bachelor’s degree there in 1904 and her Ph.D. in 1907. She became a research associate at the University in 1927.
Fuertes was part of the Cornell world as well. His father, Estevan Fuertes, was an important figure in Cornell’s early civil engineering program and its first dean; Cornell’s Fuertes Observatory was later named for him. Louis attended Cornell himself (Class of 1897) and remained closely associated with the university and Ithaca throughout his life, eventually serving as lecturer from 1923 until his death.
Around the same time Elsie was completing her doctorate at Cornell, Katherine Fuertes apparently gave her one of her brother’s childhood drawings. The second piece in our collection doesn’t have the same documented connection to Elsie. It is accompanied, however, by an old label identifying the drawings as having been done during Fuertes’s school days, along with his signature and an obituary dated August 23, 1927, the day after his death in a car accident near Unadilla.
Did Katherine also give the bird sketches to Elsie? Did the two pieces originally belong together? We don’t know. Both received their current museum numbers during much later collection inventories, and we have yet to find any earlier accession information.
What we can do is put these little drawings beside the work Fuertes eventually produced.
For comparison: Woodpecker, Cream-colored; Woodpecker, Yellow, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, circa 1925. The Lincoln, Salon Number, Nov.-Dec. 1925, p. 28. This artwork is not part of the Tioga Point Museum collection. It and other works are in the Cornell University collection.
From a page of schoolboy birds to the artist Cornell calls the most notable American ornithological painter after Audubon, it’s rather wonderful to be able to see where someone may have started.

08/30/2026

Real Letters, Written by Lafayette Himself — With a Local Connection
On display: two letters written by the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution, in his own hand.
In 1821, Lafayette sent François Joseph Pesse, André Delpuech, and Joseph Menardi off from Switzerland to America with his personal letters of introduction. The three young immigrants settled on a bluff along the Susquehanna between Sheshequin and Wysox — the spot known today as Hornbrook. In 1822, Pesse wrote to tell Lafayette that his daughter had married Delpuech; Lafayette wrote back from his estate at La Grange, warmly recalling over 45 years of affection for Pennsylvania.
The letters stayed in the Delpuech family for a century, eventually passing to a descendant living in the South. They came home to Bradford County through Howard Bishop of Sayre, a museum director whose own family from Wysox, was connected by marriage to the Menardi family named in the letters.
A remarkable thread tying Lafayette himself to our own Bradford County soil, and a reminder of how much history is woven into the families still rooted here.

08/27/2026

Wednesday Object Spotlight: A Portrait Full of Surprises
At first glance, this appears to be a simple profile portrait of Mary Tyler Long (1811–1890), but a closer look reveals several unexpected details.
The portrait was created by Mary's brother-in-law, Edward Curran Herrick, making it not only a likeness of Mary but also a treasured family keepsake.
Museum records identify this as a crayon portrait. While that may sound surprising today, "crayon" in the 19th century referred to an artist's drawing medium made from materials such as chalk, charcoal, or graphite, not the colorful wax crayons we know today.
Then there's the biggest surprise. Along the bottom of the portrait, you'll notice real dried botanical specimens preserved beneath the glass. In fact, our collection records specifically note that the portrait contains dried plants.
Why were they included? We don't know for certain.
What we do know is that family history describes Mary as being active on the family farm, maintaining extensive gardens, and enjoying horticultural projects within her community, as well as being active with the Troy Presbyterian Church. Whether these botanicals came from her own garden or were added for another meaningful reason remains one of the portrait's mysteries.
Can you help solve the mystery?
We'd love to hear from our followers. Do you recognize any of the dried plants preserved in the portrait? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Fun Fact: When most Pennsylvanians hear the word crayon, they probably think of Crayola®, whose famous crayons have been made in Easton, Pennsylvania, for more than a century. However, long before wax crayons filled school desks, artists were creating beautiful "crayon portraits" using specialized drawing materials to achieve the rich, soft shading seen in works like this one.

08/23/2026

A Wonderful Day at French Azilum
Yesterday, Tioga Point Museum was honored to be a guest of French Azilum, where we had the opportunity to share a little bit of our own local history with visitors.
We brought five Revolutionary-era artifacts from the Tioga Point Museum collection and set up a visitors' table so people could see these pieces up close and hear the stories behind them.
Among the artifacts were a Revolutionary War spyglass from the Gore family collection, a powder horn, a sword belonging to Captain Simon Spalding, a flintlock pistol connected by family tradition to Major John André and a buckle that was found on the grounds of Fort Sullivan in 1853 only in 1931 to find in a journal written in 1779 that there was a reward for it.
Each object has its own story—and each one helps tell the larger story of the people who lived, fought, traveled, and settled along the Susquehanna Valley during the Revolutionary era and the years that followed.
It was wonderful to talk with visitors, share these pieces of our collection, answer questions, and hear the enthusiasm people have for the history of our region. History really comes alive when we can take these artifacts out of the museum and share them with the public.
A very special thank you to our friends at French Azilum for inviting Tioga Point Museum to be part of the day. We truly enjoyed ourselves and appreciated the opportunity to introduce visitors to some of the treasures preserved at our museum.
If you haven't visited Tioga Point Museum in Athens, Pennsylvania, we invite you to come see these stories for yourself. There is so much fascinating history right here in our own backyard!
Thank you, French Azilum, for a wonderful day! ❤️

08/22/2026

08/19/2026

Mystery Object: Wooden Dagger (Accession 61.4)
Some of the most fascinating objects in a museum are the ones that still have unanswered questions.
This unusual piece entered the Tioga Point Museum collection in 1961, where it was recorded simply as a "wooden dagger." Later, an exhibit label described it as a "bird-headed dagger," a name inspired by its remarkable handle. Beyond that, very little documentation survives.
At first glance, the object is full of intriguing details. Measuring about 16 inches long, it features a carefully carved dark wooden blade, a grip wrapped in natural plant fiber, and seven small beads tied near the handle. The beads may be made of nuts or seeds. Most striking of all is the genuine skull and beak of a bird, incorporated into the handle by the maker.
So where did it come from? That's the mystery.
The dagger is displayed alongside objects from several Pacific cultures, including Fiji and the Marquesas Islands, but that does not tell us that this object shares the same origin. So far, we have not found another documented example quite like it.
For now, we can confidently describe what it is but not yet where it was made, who made it, or how it was used.
Museum work isn't just preserving history. Often, it is researching it. Every so often an object reminds us that collections still have stories waiting to be uncovered.
Have you seen anything similar, or do you recognize the bird or the style of construction? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Fun Fact
Not every museum mystery is hundreds of years old. Sometimes the mystery begins the day an object is donated. In this case, the original 1961 register tells us only two words: "wooden dagger." Everything else is a puzzle we're still working to solve.

08/16/2026

A Family Connection to the French Asylum
Did you know that Louise Wells Murray, one of the most important historians of Tioga Point, had a remarkable family connection to the French Asylum at Asylum, Pennsylvania?
The story begins in France with Omer Talon, a French royalist who was fleeing the turmoil of the French Revolution. According to the account preserved by Louise Murray, Talon met a young Frenchman named Bartholomew LaPorte, who helped him escape. LaPorte concealed Talon aboard an English vessel, hiding him in a wine cask while soldiers searched the ship. Talon escaped safely and eventually made his way to America, with LaPorte following him.
Talon became one of the leading figures in establishing the French settlement of Asylum along the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. Bartholomew LaPorte became closely associated with Talon and served as his trusted agent and land steward.
Talon built the great house at Asylum known as La Grande Maison — “the Queen’s House.” Family memories recorded by Louise tell us that Bartholomew LaPorte lived in this remarkable house, and his granddaughter Elizabeth LaPorte was born there. Elizabeth always remembered that her grandfather called it “the Queen’s House.”
Elizabeth later passed these family stories on to her daughter, Louise Wells Murray.
And Louise did much more than simply preserve her family's memories. In 1898, she helped establish the Tioga Point Historical Society and Tioga Point Museum, where she served as director and archaeologist for decades. In 1903, she published The Story of Some French Refugees and Their “Azilum,” 1793–1800, preserving an important history of the French refugees and the settlement of Asylum.
So when we look at Louise Murray's work today, we can see an extraordinary connection:
A man who helped Talon escape France → the founding of Asylum → the Queen's House → Bartholomew LaPorte → his granddaughter Elizabeth, born in that house → and finally Elizabeth's daughter, Louise Murray, who preserved the story for future generations.
Louise Murray wasn't simply writing about history.
In many ways, she was writing her family's history.
1st Picture is AI generated and 2nd from Louise's book Azilum

08/12/2026

Featured Item: A Closer Look
At first glance, these appear to be four framed bird pictures that have quietly hung in our museum for decades. It wasn't until we recently took a closer look while photographing them that we realized they aren't paintings or prints at all. They're made from real bird feathers.
Each of the four panels displays seven birds labeled in Spanish. Individual feathers were carefully trimmed, layered, and arranged to create the birds' colorful plumage, while painted details complete the branches, legs, and other features. The reverse of one frame is inscribed "Elmer Collection – Mexican Birds – 4/20/36," showing the set was part of the Elmer Collection by at least that date.
Feather art has a long history in Mexico. Indigenous feather workers created extraordinary works centuries before European contact, and later artisans continued the tradition by producing decorative feather pictures like these, which became especially popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Sometimes the most fascinating objects in a museum are the ones we've walked past countless times without noticing. These feather pictures reminded us that there's always something new to discover when we stop and take a closer look.
Fun Fact: The brilliant colors of a hummingbird aren't always created by pigments. Many hummingbird feathers appear to shimmer and change color because their microscopic structure reflects light differently as your viewing angle changes.

08/09/2026

Come and join us this Wednesday

08/05/2026

Collection Spotlight: Hat Pins
At first glance, they look like miniature works of art, but these beautiful objects had a practical purpose.
During the late Victorian and Edwardian eras (roughly 1890–1915), women's hats became larger, more elaborate, and often very expensive. A long steel hat pin passed through the hat and hairstyle to hold everything in place. While practical, hat pins quickly became fashionable accessories, with women choosing designs to complement their clothing and personal style.
Our collection includes dozens of hat pins, ranging from elegant jeweled designs and hand-painted porcelain to whimsical butterflies, shimmering sequins, and carved mother of pearl. They are displayed in three porcelain hat pin holders, just as they might have been arranged on a bedroom dressing table around the turn of the century.
These family heirlooms were donated to the Tioga Point Museum by Robert S. Aronstam, whose family lived in nearby Waverly. Museum records also include photographs of the Aronstam home and an optometrist's instrument case associated with Dr. Aronstam. As with many local collections, we continue researching the family's story and the history behind these treasured objects.
Did You Know?
Take a look at the final photograph. Several of these hat pins measure more than 10 inches long! Their length made them excellent at securing large hats, but also created unexpected problems. By the early 1900s, some cities passed "hat pin laws" requiring women to place protective caps over the sharp ends while riding streetcars or walking through crowded public spaces.
Which hat pin catches your eye? Is it the jeweled butterfly, the cobalt blue glass, the sparkling purple stone, or the unusual sequined design? Let us know in the comments!