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Reflections on the Mission Statement of the Fenton History Center

The purpose and mission of the Fenton History Center Museum & Library is to provide education and cultural opportunities for the residents of Chautauqua County, and its visitors through the collection, preservation and exhibition of artifacts and archival materials pertaining to Jamestown and Chautauqua County.
As I complete my third year as President of the Board of Trustees, I look back at how the Fenton has fulfilled this mission statement. I find that I am somewhat overwhelmed at the many ways this has been accomplished over the years, and I wanted to share some of them with you.

One of our more unique educational offerings is a virtual tour of the mansion. Several years ago, we hired a professional company to film a tour of the Mansion. It begins with a welcome by Reuben Fenton (played by Steve Johnson) then progresses to a filmed and narrated tour of the entire Mansion from the basement to the tower. This has proved to be a wonderful service for those with limited mobility.

The Mansion itself is an educational opportunity for our guests. Each exhibit has posters and labels on the individual items in the exhibit. We use these exhibits as the basis for guided tours. Our guests are introduced to the Fenton by one of the volunteers who shares the story of Governor Fenton and his family and then they continue on a self-guided tour with either a booklet or QR codes. Over the years we have offered themed tours such as a Servant’ s Life at the Fenton. Dr. Tom Greer has hosted in-depth Tours of the Mansion titled behind the scenes. Not to be missed!

Throughout the year we host school groups and share the history of the Fenton Mansion, Jamestown and the surrounding area as revealed in our exhibits. We especially enjoy having the children visit us during the holiday season when we share the stories of many different ethnic celebrations.
Many of you may have attended one of our Brown Bag Lunches that feature speakers who share their expertise on a local topic. This program is now known as the Fenton Lecture Series and will continue through 2025.

During the Lock Down for Covid, our Collection’s assistant Victoria Parker selected various artifacts and featured their story on Facebook. What a creative way this was to continue to educate our public during this challenging time.

We visit outside localities and clubs to present programs. In 2024 we visited Tanglewood Manor with several programs. The guests particularly enjoyed a presentation on Celeron Park. It sparked many happy memories.

Our Gift Shop offers numerous opportunities to learn about the area. We have many books by local authors on a variety of topics. In 2024 we added “Vintage Volumes”. These are books that we have in our research library and were written by in some cases in the late 19th Century.

One of our most well-known and popular events is our annual Saints and Sinners. These always offer a mixture of well-known and ordinary everyday people from our area. Hearing their stories allows our guests to learn about these people. Some of the stores tell of well-known events and individuals and some tell the stories of everyday folks who came to our area to make better life. In 2025 we are planning some upgrades and changes to our tours.
Over the past many years, we have offered Walking Tours in the warmer months What a fantastic way to learn about neighborhoods like the South Side, to look at some of the Alleys in town, take a walk-through Allen Park, or a Heroes Tour of Lakeview Cemetery.

Our research group from the library has hosted three Genealogy conferences and again this year will present their Workshop series.
Last but not least is the venue that you are reading this article in, the Walnut Grove Press. Each month there are articles about local historical events, local figures, and artifacts. As I stated in the beginning of this article, I am amazed at the variety of ways that we share information about the Jamestown and Chautauqua area. And I am continually impressed with the talent that we have who share in this effort. Please consider joining us for some of these events in the coming year. I think that you will find them interesting and enlightening. If you go to our Web Site, you will find information on all of these educational offerings.

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