|
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. Anthropology,
1971. Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University
M.A. Anthropology, 1966. Northwestern University
B.A. Anthropology, 1964. Cornell University
Professional Memberships:
American Association
of Museums
Northeast Museums Conference
New York State Association of Museums
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS:
Director of Research, Historic Cherry Hill Inc., Albany, N.Y.,
1971-1974. Research, document, and publish historical collections
of this Van Rensselaer house museum on grant from the New York
State Council on the Arts.
Program Associate, The Institute on Man and Science, Rensselaerville,
N.Y. 1972. Planning for a comprehensive restoration program to
revitalize an Appalachian town (subsequent grants funded the
revitalization of Stump Creek, Pa.)
Assistant Director, The Albany Institute of History and Art,
Albany N.Y., 1974-1986. Responsibility for departments involved
with financial and business administration, education , publications
and public relations. Research and production of selected exhibitions.
Research and publications on early New York decorative arts.
President, R. H. Blackburn Fine Arts Inc. Kinderhook, NY 12106
1986 - 1995: American fine arts research, consulting and brokerage
firm. Since 1996 as R. H. Blackburn and Associates, Inc., American
art and antiques with galleries in Hudson and Kinderhook, NY.
Senior Research Fellow, The New York State Museum, 1987 - 94.
Research and publications on the history and arts of early New
York.
1995 - current. American fine arts, period furnishings, and restorations:
research, sales, and consulting with two galleries, in Hudson
and in Kinderhook, N. Y.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
AND COMMUNITY SERVICE:
Board of Directors, The Columbia County Historical Society,1971-1996,
President 1972-1974.
Board of Trustees, the Shaker Museum Foundation, Old Chatham,
N.Y., 1975-1986. VP 1981-1985.
Board of Directors, Historic Cherry Hill,Inc., Albany, N.Y.,1976-
1986, Treasurer 1981-1985, Vice President 1985-1986. Board of
Advisors 1988- current.
Board of Trustees, Friends of Schuyler Mansion, Albany, N.Y.,1978-1981.
Board of Trustees, Federation for Historical Services, Troy,
N.Y., 1978-1983. Vice President 1978-1981. Honorary Trustee 1983-1992.
Board of Directors, The Albany Center Gallery, Albany N.Y. 1989-
1991
Board of Directors, Hand Hollow Foundation Inc. East Chatham,
NY 1989- 1999
Principal consultant, The Fred J. Johnston Museum, Kingston,
NY 1994-1998.
Lecturer, Pennsbury Manor
Antiques Forum, 1974
Lecturer, The Alexandria(Va.) Antiques Forum, 1976, 1978
Lecturer, The N.Y.S.Historical Assoc., Summer Seminar 1977.
Lecturer, Symposium: New Netherlands Studies: an Inventory of
current research and approaches, Historical Museum of Amsterdam,1983
Paper:"Dutch Domestic Architecture in the Hudson Valley".
Lecturer: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas. February 1985,
on New York high style furniture of the 18th century.
Lecturer: Sleepy Hollow Restorations, N.Y. on Dutch art and culture
of New York, October 1985
Lecturer: The Detroit Art Institute on New York 18th century
furniture, February 1986
Paper delivered at the International Symposium "Dutch Arts
and Culture in Colonial America, 1609-1776","Transforming
Old World Dutch Culture in a New World Environment: Processes
of Material Adaptation". Albany Institute, August 1986
Lecturer: Hudson Valley Forum, Storm King Art Center, on Hudson
Valley Decorative Arts. November 1987.
Lecturer: The Decorative Arts Trust Symposium on The Arts of
the Hudson River Valley. "The Persistence of Dutch Culture
in the Hudson Valley". October 1988.
Lecturer at the Milwaukee Museum of Art symposium on colonial
art. "Limners and Patrons: Functions of early New York paintings",
November 1993.
Lecturer at the conference: "Handsome, Elegant, and Opulent:
300 Years of New York Furniture." New York University, June
13-15, 1996: "Anglo-Dutch Furniture in Early new York: The
Processes of Adaptation and Change in English and Dutch Furniture
Traditions."
Lecturer, Williamsburg Forum, February 1999: "The Art, Furnishings,
and Architecture of Early New York."
Lecturer: New-York Historical Society, January 2000, "What
is Dutch About New York City?"
BOOKS
Cherry Hill, the History and Collections of a Van Rensselaer
Family. Historic
Cherry Hill Inc. Albany N.Y. 1976.
A compendium (fully illustrated) of the furnishings of an important
eighteenth-century New York family.
A Visible Heritage, A
History of Columbia County (N.Y.) in its Art and Architecture., with Ruth Piwonka. The Columbia
County Historical Society and the Publishing Center for Cultural
Resources. 1977. 2nd edition 1996.
A delightful guide to the highlights of history as told through
the county's art and architecture.
Memoirs of an Emigrant,
the Journal of Alexander Coventry, M.D..
Roderic H. Blackburn,
editor; the Albany Institute of History and Art The largest early
diary from early New York, wonderful details about everyday life.
New World Dutch Studies,
Dutch Arts and Cultural in Colonial America, Proceedings of the
Symposium (August
1986) of the same title, Roderic H. Blackburn and Nancy Kelley,
editors. The Albany Institute of History and Art. 1987
In depth exploration of the arts, furnishings, and architecture
of early New York.
Remembrance of Patria:
Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, 1609-1776, with Ruth Piwonka. The Albany Institute
of History and Art. 1988
Based on the major exhibition on this subject, this is the definitive
work on the art, furnishings, architecture, and associated life
of early New York.
BOOK INTRODUCTIONS, PREFACES,
FOREWORDS, ESSAYS
"Foreword" to Ghosts in Residence by Hans von Behr.
North Country Press. 1986.
Introduction to Louis Ritman, From Chicago to Giverny by Richard
H.Love. Haase-Mumm Publishing Co.,Inc. Chicago. 1989.
"Architecture", "Painting and Sculpture",
"Crafts", and "Home and Hearth", essays on
the Dutch Colony, in Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies,
Charles Scribners Sons
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
James E. Johnson:
Rural Artist, with Ruth Piwonka. The Columbia County Historical
Society. 1975.
A Visible Heritage, catalog and teacher's manual for the exhibition
on Columbia County art and architecture, with Ruth Piwonka. The
Columbia County Historical Society. 1975.
Ammi Phillips in Columbia County, with Ruth Piwonka. The Columbia
County Historical Society. 1977.
A Remnant in the Wilderness, New York Dutch Scripture History
Painting of the Early Eighteenth Century. with Ruth Piwonka.
The Bard College Center and the Albany Institute of History and
Art. 1980.
Foreword to German Folk Art in New York State by Maria A. de
Julio. Catalogue for the exhibition at the Albany Institute of
History and Art. 1985.
"Images of Rural Life, Paintings of American Life and Landscape,1815-1900",
essay in Rural Images in 19th Century American Painting, Exhibition
catalogue. R.H. Love Galleries, Inc. Chicago. June 20- August
4, 1986. Haase-Mumm Publishing Co., Inc.
ARTICLES
"History in a Town, The Dutch Settlement of Kinderhook",
The Magazine Antiques, December,1972.
"The Solomon Van Rensselaer Miniature, a Reappraisal".
The Magazine Antiques, June, 1973.
"New Discoveries about Emma J. Cady", with Ruth Piwonka,
The Magazine Antiques, February, 1978.
"Flashes of the Soul,Photography vs Painting", The
Clarion, Winter, 1978.
"Dutch Material Culture:Furniture", de Halve Maen,
Journal of the Holland Society of New York, Spring 1979.
"Dutch Material Culture:Paintings", de Halve Maen,
Fall- Winter, 1979.
"Dutch Material Culture:Silver", de Halve Maen, Fall,
1980.
"New York Stamped and Branded Furniture", The Magazine
Antiques, May, 1981.
"Dutch Material Culture:Architecture", de Halve Maen,
Vol.LVII, No.l, 1982.
"Dutch Decorative Painted Furniture since the 17th Century",
in The Decorator, Journal of the Historical Society for Early
American Decoration, 1985,"Early Dutch Colonial Architecture
in the Hudson Valley" in Proceedings of the Symposium :
New Netherland Studies: an Inventory of Current Research and
Approaches, Bulletin KNOB, Amsterdam, June, 1985
"Dutch Art and Culture in Colonial America", The Magazine
Antiques, July,1986.
"The Construction of Late Dutch Farm Buildings in the Hudson
Valley: a first person account from two centuries ago".
In A Beautiful and Fruitful Place, Selected Rensselaerswyck
Seminar Papers (10th Anniversary Volume), New Netherland Publishing,
1991.
"The Dutch Hay Barrack in America" The Dutch Barn Preservation
Society Newsletter, Fall 1989, "New World Dutch Farms, and
Inventory of Distinctive Objects", in The Dutch Barn Preservation
Society Newsletter, Spring 1992 and Fall 1992.
"Historic Cherry Hill, Albany's house museum interprets
the past."Hudson Valley Magazine, Oct. 1989
"A Quest to Kaaterskill Falls, Uncovering the mysteries
of one of nature's gems in Greene County. "Hudson Valley
Magazine, July 1990, Vol. XIX No.3.
"Volcan's Fore, the inner workings of Richard Polich and
Dutchess County's Tallix Morris Singer Foundry."Hudson Valley
Magazine, August 1991, Vol. XX No.4.
"Antiques of the Hudson, Mohawk & Schoharie Valleys,"
Northeast - Art & Antiques, December 1995,
"An Artist from the Past - David Smith Peirce (1825-1905)
[Newly discovered genre painter of the Albany region].Northeast
- Art & Antiques, November 1996,
"Steamboats on the Hudson - an Inspiration for Art,"Northeast
- Art & Antiques,
(Plus several in the last two years, haven't kept this up to
date)
Manuscripts unpublished or in preparation
"Indian Kings at Queen Anne's Court"
"Life on a New World Dutch Farm, Evidence from America's
earliest known genre painting"
|
