Press Release
April 20, 2022
Dan Keefe
(518) 486-1868 | news@parks.ny.gov
New York State Parks, PIPC Announce New Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site Exhibit
George Washington: Perspectives on His Life and Legacy Offers Picture of Revolutionary War General and First PresidentThe New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Palisades Interstate Park
Commission today announced the opening of a new, nearly completely digital
exhibit at George Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh. The exhibit, George Washington: Perspectives on
His Life and
Legacy, is the state park system's first exhibit that is
completely available in Spanish and English, and the first installed as part
of the Our Whole History
initiative to bring forward the under-told stories of all the people who
lived at State Historic Sites.
"This
innovative exhibit honors the legacy of this giant in American history and
advances our mission to tell a more complete and nuanced version of our state
and national history," State
Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said. "New York State
Parks is committed to the stewardship of Washington's Headquarters, the first
state historic site in the nation, while continuing to be innovative in
bringing this important story to visitors."
"An honest
examination of our Founding Fathers is an important part of understanding the
complete history of this Nation. The new exhibit at Washington's
Headquarters seeks to leave visitors with a better understanding of our First
Founding Father and how his words and deeds remain relevant to our evolution
as a country," said PIPC
Executive Director Joshua Laird. "The Palisades Commission is
proud of its partnership with New York State Parks that supports the
continued stewardship of this site and the sharing of its important
history."
The exhibit explores six
aspects of Washington's career and personal life: General; Politician;
Celebrity; Roman Virtue; Slaveholder; and Private Citizen. By using
quotes from Washington's contemporaries to discuss how he was viewed at the
time, and by exploring opposing viewpoints on Washington, the exhibit goals
are:
- To expose visitors to new information about George Washington, encouraging visitors to reconsider their own views and assumptions about Washington.
- To inspire conversations that foster empathy and curiosity about the varied perspectives on Washington.
- To encourage visitors to see relevancy of this history to their own lives.
These goals align directly
with State Parks' Our
Whole History initiative. Our Whole History's
approach is to provide multiple perspectives to create relevancy and
meaning. This exhibit includes quotes from men, women, native peoples,
enslaved peoples, people of African descent, Americans, French and British to
highlight different aspects of Washington's life, career, and behavior.
Research on the exhibit took
place over the course of nearly three years and included review of every
known document that George Washington wrote while he was at Newburgh, as well
as a significant body of things written to and about him, and a large body of
the most recent published scholarship.
Other exhibits opening in
2022 as part of the Our
Whole History
initiative include Spero
Meliora: Life in the Land of the Livingstons at Clermont
State Historic Site in Germantown, and a comprehensive group of exhibits at
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site in Yonkers.
In addition to George Washington: Perspectives on His
Life and Legacy, Washington's Headquarters offers other new
exhibits to explore:
- The Preservation of Washington's Headquarters examines the events and circumstances from which the Hasbrouck House, the longest of General Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War, became the first publicly owned historic site in the Nation in 1850.
- Junior Curator Project 2020 is a project with students from the Newburgh Free Academy. Students chose objects from our collection, and created new descriptions that are meaningful to them, hopefully making connections to a new audience of Museum visitors. Washington's Headquarters is open Wednesday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm, and Sunday, 1pm – 4pm through the Fall.
Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site is a registered National
Historic Landmark. It is located at the corner of Liberty and Washington
Streets within the city of Newburgh's East End Historic District. The site is
one of 35 historic sites within the New York State Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation and is one of 28 facilities administered
by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission in New York and New Jersey. For
further information contact: (845) 562-1195. For more information about
New York State Parks, please visit our website at www.parks.ny.gov.
For more information call 845-562-1195 or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/washingtonsheadquarters