Rochester History: A "Genesee Journey"

Click the image below and follow the stories of upstate New York, Rochester, and the Memorial Art Gallery through artworks in the Gallery’s collections. Portraits, landscapes and decorative objects all provide a glimpse into aspects of American life in the past.

Now that you have seen what Rochester used to look like, go to the next page and explore how things have changed.

Suggested for Grade 4 and up, or the entire family!

Staycation: Rochester!

A Virtual Trip Through Time

Colin Campbell Cooper Main Street Bridge, 1908. Oil on canvas. Gift of Hiram W. Sibley, 1926.20

Main Street Bridge today. Photo by Jim Bishop

Memorial Art Gallery • Rochester, NY 14607 • 585.276.8900 • mag.rochester.edu

Take a Day-trip! Rochester's Recent Past

Do you recognize the places in the artworks below? If you can, take a trip with your family and find the locations of these scenes. Try to stand where the artist stood! What looks familiar in each artwork? What do you know about these places? What did the artist see that you don’t see today?

More scenes of the Rochester area on the next page!

Clockwise from top left: Ralph Avery, Upper Falls, Rochester, 1955. Watercolor, gouache and graphite. Gift of R.T. French Company, 1988.26 Loc Vo Cross, Public Market, Rochester, NY, 1992. Linocut. 1992 Patron Print Award, 1992.76 W. Elmer Schofield, Lower Falls, 1915. Oil on canvas. Bequest of Mrs. Ernest R. Willard, 1940.42 George Harvey, Pittsford on the Erie Canal, 1837. Oil on panel. Gift of the Margaret M. McDonald Memorial Fund, 2005.33

Memorial Art Gallery • Rochester, NY 14607 • 585.276.8900 • mag.rochester.edu

More Rochester Scenes from MAG's Collection

The artwork at top left was painted by George Herdle, MAG’s first director!

Your Rochester: What other interesting Rochester scenes do you know? Can you draw or paint them from pictures or memory? Bonus: See more Rochester day-trip ideas here—they include places you may recognize!

Clockwise from top left: George Leonard Herdle, The Canal Boat, ca. 1915. Oil on canvas. Gift of Gertrude Herdle Moore and Isabel C. Herdle, 1989.55 Charles Willson, View of the Pitkin House and East Avenue, 1859. Oil on canvas. Gift of Maurice R. Forman, 1973.13 John C. Menihan, Rochester Skyline, no date. Watercolor on paper Purchased with funds donated by Frank J. Goodwin in memory of John C. Menihan, 1993.17 Fritz Steffen, Architectural Rendering of Memorial Art Gallery, 1925. Graphite on illustration board. Gift of Friends of the Gallery, 1981.4

Memorial Art Gallery • Rochester, NY 14607 • 585.276.8900 • mag.rochester.edu