faculty
and staff
and staff
cynthia g. falk
Associate Professor, Material Culture
Email: falkcg@oneonta.edu
Ph.D. University of Delaware
M.A. Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, University of Delaware
B.A. Pennsylvania State University
current projects
- “Of Dwelling Houses, Painted Chests, and Stove Plates: What Material Culture Tells Us about the Palatines in Early New York” in A “Peculiar Mixture”: German-Speaking People in the Greater Mid-Atlantic Region from 1709 to the Revolution, edited by Oliver Scheiding and Jan Stievermann (currently proposed for the Max Kade Institute German-American Research Series, Penn State University Press).
- “When Tourism is History: Travel and the Construction of the Past in Cooperstown, New York,” accepted for publication in Buildings and Landscapes
major publications
- Barns of New York: Rural Architecture of the Empire State (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012).
- Architecture and Artifacts of the Pennsylvania Germans: Constructing Identity in Early America (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press/Pennsylvania German Society, 2008).
- “Forts, Rum, Slaves, and the Herkimers’ Rise to Power in the Mohawk Valley,” New York History 89, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 221-234.
- “Personal History for the Visiting Public,” Pennsylvania History 75, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 54-66.
- “Celebrating Years Together: Personal Commemorations and the Colonial Revival,” Winterthur Portfolio 40:1 (Spring 2005): 1-16.
- “‘The Intolerable Ugliness of New York’: Architecture and Society in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, ” American Studies 42:2 (Summer 2001): 19-43.
- “Symbols of Assimilation or Status?: The Meanings of Eighteenth-Century Houses in Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania,” Winterthur Portfolio 23:2/3 (Summer/Autumn 1998): 107-134.
museum work
- Chair of the Henry Allen Moe Prize for Catalogs of Distinction in the Arts selection committee, New York State Historical Association, 2007-present.
- Strategic Planning for Hanford Mills Museum (East Meredith, New York), 2011.
- Consultant for the Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse Historical Society’s furnishing plan for the 1863 lighthouse keeper's residence funded by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2010-2011.
- Panel member for the Ohio Historical Society Collections Learning Center planning project, November 2010.
- Fieldwork for the Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project, funded by PENNDOT, 2009 and 2010.
- Furnishing plan for Herkimer Home State Historic Site, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, 2009.
- Planning for the restoration, interpretation, and furnishing of the Jonas and Deborah More House, The Farmers Museum, 2006-2008.
- Exhibition planning for “Beyond the Pennsylvania Dutch: Localism of Furniture in Rural Southeastern Pennsylvania,” Winterthur Museum funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Consultation Grant, 2006.
- Reinterpretation planning for the Golden Plough Tavern, the General Gates House, the Barnett Bobb Log House, and the Colonial Court House, York County (Pennsylvania) Heritage Trust, funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Consultation Grant, 2005-2006.
- Self-study team member, Museum Assessment Program (MAP), Collections Management Assessment, The Farmers’ Museum, 2003.
- Interpretive Planning for the Shaker Museum and Library (Old Chatham, New York), 2001.
- Campaign Coordinator, Campaign for the Winterthur Library, 1996. Curator and Interpreter, Chadds Ford (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, 1991-1993.
- Assistant Director, Summer History Camp, Brandywine Battlefield Park, 1993. Intern, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1992.
- Collections Processor, American Baptist Historical Society, 1991-1994.
professional societies
- Committee on Museum Professional Training, American Association of Museums
- Treasurer, 2010-present
- Mid-Atlantic Representative, 2006-2010
- Program Chair, 2008
- Vernacular Architecture Forum
- Board Member, 2008-2011
- Chair, Fellowship Committee, 2008-2009 and 2010-2011
- Chair, Papers Committee, 2009-2010
- Member, Papers Committee, 2010-2011
- National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Society of Winterthur Fellows
- Phi Beta Kappa
community service
- Planning Board, Cooperstown, New York—advisor, 2005-2006; member, 2006-2009; alternate 2009-present.
- Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Board, Cooperstown, New York, 2009-present.
- Parent Volunteer, Girl Scout Troop 286, 2007-present.
- Financial Secretary and Benevolence Treasurer, First Baptist Church of Cooperstown, New York, 2006-present.
- Volunteer, Haiti Housing Network, Grand Goâve, Haiti, 2011.
- Representative to the Cooperstown Ecumenical Council of Churches, 2006-2007.
awards
- Ashok Kumar Malhotra Seva (Compassionate Service) Award, SUNY Oneonta, Fall 2011
- New York Scholar, National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Fall 2011
- Faculty Leadership Program, SUNY Oneonta, Spring 2009
- Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2006.
courses
- Culture and Collections I and II
- American Material Culture I and II
- Topics in Museum Studies
- Thesis Research and Thesis Writing
Cynthia G. Falk
Cindy at the Corning Museum of Glass.
Cindy and the Class of 2006 make wallpaper at the Farmers' Museum.