The View from Olana: Preserving America’s Cultural Landscape
With Harvey Flad
January 12, 2023
During this webinar, Harvey Flad, Professor Emeritus of Geography at Vassar College, will share a personal perspective on how Olana’s views have been saved. Join Flad during this examination of how historic and aesthetic landscape, and other aspects of “community character,” has become a valued component of environmental review.
The Intrepid Quest for Church’s “Icebergs”
With Eleanor Jones Harvey
November 17, 2022
What happens when an artist and his travel companion set forth to chase icebergs? The immediate result is a suite of drawings and oil sketches created to inspire future paintings, and a travelogue written to draw attention to the artist’s dedication to his craft. During this virtual webinar, Eleanor Jones Harvey will recount Church’s voyage, which encompasses inspiration, accolades, disappearance, and rediscovery.
Before Olana, The Original New Yorkers (AUDIO)
With Heather Bruegl
November 9, 2022
Ever wondered who lived in the Hudson Valley long before Frederic Church and his family? During this on-site talk, join historian Heather Bruegl to learn more about the Native Nations that called New York State home long before colonization. This program will touch on the Haudenosaunee, the Lenape and the Mohicans and will discuss history and land loss.
Impressions of Niagara through the Vantage Point of Black Escape Artists, Black Activists, and Landscape Artist Frederic Church
With dann j. Broyld
November 3, 2022
Against the backdrop of the picturesque Falls, Blacks cultivated a global and green outlook, developing the Niagara Movement which birthed the NAACP in the midst of Niagara’s wonders, whirlpools, and waves. During this webinar, dann j. Broyld will examine how Niagara, a vitally important painting subject for Church, speaks to a larger transformative transnational environment with potent importance for Blacks in the 19th century and beyond.
Art, Ecology, and Olana’s Native Forest
With Sean Sawyer
October 19, 2022
During this virtual webinar, Sean Sawyer, President of The Olana Partnership will discuss how Frederic Church engaged with the emerging field of ecology in the 19th century. By following in Alexander von Humboldt’s footsteps in his meteoric rise as the country’s most celebrated landscape painter and then in his four decade-long development of Olana, Church immersed himself in “landscape architecturing” to speak to the history of the land and human impact on it.
Amelia Edwards at Olana and the Birth of Egyptian Archaeology
With Peter Lacovara
April 5, 2022
Amelia Edwards’ lifelong efforts to preserve Egyptian monuments not only firmly planted her legacy in Egyptian studies but brought Edwards to Olana to stay with Frederic Church. During this webinar, Dr. Peter Lacovara will discuss Edwards’ important efforts as the “Godmother of Egyptology,” including her co-founding of the Egypt Exploration Fund, which continues to set out annual expeditions to excavate, record, and preserve archaeological sites throughout Egypt.







