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Hudson River Maritime Museum Presents The Face of Work in the Hudson Valley

The Hudson River Maritime Museum presents The Face of Work in the Hudson Valley, an exhibition on view through October 31, 2011.

The Hudson River Maritime Museum’s 2011 special exhibit, The Face of Work in the Hudson Valley, tells the story of work and workers in the Hudson Valley. The exhibit features historic photographs, artifacts, and the work of contemporary photographers. It focuses on the idea of what it means to “have a job” in the Hudson Valley through the past several centuries – a story that is as topical today as it was 200 years ago.

Work has dominated the lives of those along the Hudson River since the earliest settlement days. Explorers, trappers, traders, farmers, quarrymen, boat builders, brick workers, factory workers, shippers, boat captains and crew, all have left their mark as they did what was needed to earn a living. What were once common sights and sounds – the rasp of ice saws, the banging of caulking hammers, and the rumble and crunching of steam powered shovels as they dug clay for bricks – have disappeared into the mists of time.

Through work we earn our livelihood, change our environment, create the new and restore the old. We create our sense of self-worth and often even our identity through work: I am a brick maker, I am an engineer, I am a farmer or a home maker; I am a boatman.

This exhibit, through the images of workers and their tools, illuminates how the nature of work in the Hudson Valley has changed through the centuries. Clearly technology and culture have changed, but the river itself, the basic human characteristics of physical effort, creativity, and the need to earn a living have remained more or less constant. these compelling images help us both understand how much has changed and reveal the common thread of humanity which connects today’s workers with workers of the past.

Hudson River Maritime Museum
50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY 12401
Phone: 845.338.0071
Fax: 845.338.0583
www.hrmm.org

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