Traders and Culture: Colonial Albany and the Formation of American Identity

Ongoing

The character and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley have roots in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the early inhabitants of the region, their beliefs, relationships, and interactions.

This exhibition looks at those diverse peoples who shaped colonial Albany and the objects that reflect their interests, values, commercial, and social interactions. The values they held and culture they shaped have defined us today as Americans.

The exhibition is organized around four themes:

• Trade, Commerce, and Conflict
• Cultures
• Life and Work
• Social Identity

Highlights include limner portraits (likenesses made by self-taught painters), Albany-made silver, branded furniture, ceramics, textiles, maps and manuscript materials with documented family histories.