8) The Fenimore Art Museum
Located in Cooperstown, the Fenimore Art Museum is one of the leading art museums in the country. It has an unbelievable collection of early American Folk art and Native American art, offering permanent as well as limited exhibitions. The Thaw Collection of American Indian Art was donated to the museum by Eugene and Clare Thaw, who privately had collected over 250 objects d’art, before deciding that these pieces needed to have a wider viewing audience. After considering a number of different locations, the Thaws felt that the Cooperstown museum was the ideal place. The pieces—which include clothing, baskets, bags, pottery and jewelry–offer examples of crafts from widely diverse geographic locations, including tribes from the Plains, the Woodlands, the Southwest and California, to mention only a few. Nowhere else will you be able to see such an extensive collection of rare pieces of Native American art.
