F.E. Church’s Letters & 19th Century Ballads
Performed by Brian Dewan
Time: 57:39 (audio); approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes with breaksHelpful Hint! There is free guest WiFi available at the Visitor Center/Museum (network name: OlanaGuest) for
downloading your tour. In addition, there is a map + corresponding brochure available for purchase in the
Museum Store.
This tour can be listened to in any location but we recommend listening as you stroll any of the carriage roads
designed by Frederic Church. While you walk you can contemplate the life and words of Church, his family,
and his contemporaries; and these are layered with songs from their era. Artist and musician Brian Dewan
does a dramatic reading of significant letters in Olana’s collection, and Church’s art-making practice becomes
illuminated even further.
Citations for F.E. Church’s Letters and 19th Century Ballads
Thank you Wave Farm/WGXC, NY Parks & Trails, and members of The Olana Partnership for making the audio recording possible.
This project was funded in part by a grant from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Photo credit: Letter from Frederic E. Church to Aaron С. Goodman (detail), 30 January 1848, ink on light blue-gray paper, 9 7/8×713/16 in., OL.1982.1516 No. 193, Collection of Olana State Historic Site, NYSOPRHP
