Suggett House Museum and Kellogg Memorial Research Center

Cortland County Historical Society

Suggett House Museum and Kellogg Memorial Research Center

Address: 25 Homer Ave, Cortland, NY

Phone: (607) 756-6071

Website: www.cortlandhistory.com

Approaching the home of the historical society on a side street in Cortland, you might be doubtful at first that you have found the right place. A Victorian house with a small sign in the front yard greets you. There is no parking lot. However, parking on the street is free and you just need to follow the signs for the correct side. Down the side street, you will find an addition on the back of the house. Here is the entrance to the society- both the museum and the research center. The door will be locked, but as the small sign reads, just press the doorbell and someone will buzz you in.

The entrance is a small hallway where it would be impossible to have a desk for a staff member or volunteer to sit at. A few years ago, there were a number of robberies of libraries and museums across New York State. The Suggett House was one of the victims. This is why the door is now locked.

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday
Gift Shop 9:30 - 5:00
(Saturday 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm)
Museum and Research Center 1:00 - 5:00PM

There is a charge for using the Research Center as follows:

Assisted research free for members and students
For non-members, $8 for first hour,
$5 for each additional hour
Research by staff is $15 per hour.
Photocopying and postage additional

(It is 25 cents per photocopy.)

Restrictions, photocopies etc.:

You are not allowed to make copies yourself. However, I found that the staff and volunteers were very quick to make copies for me and did their best to get good copies. For example, one paper I wanted a copy of had writing close to the top and bottom edges. They made me two copies (for the price of one) of the page to make sure both top and bottom weren’t at the edge of the paper and cut off on my copy.

The Research Center, although small, contains a wealth of information about early Cortland. Cemetery records and early histories are on the shelves. If you are looking for general information about New York State or New England, they have many of the standard resources you would expect to find in larger libraries as well.

One of the great things about this center, as in many of these small historical societies are their vertical files. Information about families in Cortland are filed by their surnames. Correspondence by people from many years ago is kept and can be found in these files. If they grow too large, another folder is made or a notebook created to contain all the information. These can be goldmines for secondary research if someone was doing work on your family many years ago. Also, many newspaper articles are found within these files that you might not otherwise be able to find today.

Wordless Wednesday- Brockway

Central New York Living History Center

Kitchen display in museum

Name: Central New York Living History Center

Address: 4386 US Route 11, North Homer Ave, Cortland, NY

Phone (607) 299-4185

Website: www.cnylivinghistory.org

Hours:

Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm

also

Sunday 1pm-5pm Memorial Day to Labor Day

This is not exactly a research center, although they are working on developing one within the museum itself. However, if you want to explore what life was like in the past in the Cortland area, or even all of Central New York, this is a good place to start.

Some of the military memorabilia

 The museum is housed in what was once the A. B. Brown department store. Now it houses history of the area. Exhibits vary, but there are a number of exhibits currently about military history. Kenneth Eaton, a local resident, collected a huge amount of military artifacts as well as railroad memorabilia. The Sons of the American Revolution are mentioned from the Revolutionary War and various artifacts including many, many uniforms are there through at least the Second World War. I believe I missed some of the exhibits pertaining to Korea and the Vietnam Wars, but there is definitely a tank parked outside that would be from that era. These exhibits are fascinating and included amongst them are some of local businesses from the area as well. The railroad items are there as well; don’t forget to ring the bell on the locomotive! However, there is even more to the museum than these exhibits that we originally saw.

The cord on the right rings the bell

A view of the trucks from the second floor

In another wing of the building are a number of trucks. Perhaps you have heard of these trucks with the husky on radiator called Brockway. If you are from the Cortland area, you certainly have and perhaps even know somebody that built them. That’s right! Brockway trucks were manufactured in either Homer or Cortland during the entire lifespan of this brand. Many a business in this area that required a big truck bought the Brockway brand. This section of the museum tells the history of Brockway and displays a number of examples of their trucks.

A Brockway on display

Just across the parking lot is an old barn that was also used by A. B. Brown Company. Today you can find an exhibit of tractors and various displays about the old one room schools as well as what the dining room and kitchen of an old house would look like. I had a grand time looking at old glassware, and kitchen utensils along with a crocheted granny square afghan on display. Many of these items aren’t so distant in the past as I have seen them in many people’s homes today! I was told that in the spring the tractors exhibit would have a theme based on the age-old debate of “green or red?” For those not aware of this debate, it is a debate of brand loyalty and farmers are definitely loyal to their favorite brand of tractor.  Is it the green John Deere, the red International Farmall, the grey Ford or the orange Allis Chalmers? The debate is waged and often referring to the machinery only by their color.

My Dad always had a Farmall

This museum, while small, holds a great amount of nostalgia and is certainly worth an afternoon or morning to visit!