Harness Racing Museum receives grants

GOSHEN—The Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame received two New York State grants that will aid its efforts to preserve and showcase the best of harness racing’s past, present and future. Work to save the museum’s assemblage of harness drivers’ silks takes another leap forward with the recent approval of a $3,177 conservation treatment grant from the Lower Hudson Conference of Historical Agencies and Museums. The museum also received approval of a $4,450 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to help fund a new exhibition initiative, “A Drive To Win.” This exhibit will celebrate the stories of the journeyman horsemen who make up the field of every race but, through circumstance or fate, have never won a premier event. Dating from the 1890s to the present, the museum’s collection of over 400 jackets and caps includes the colors of every winning driver of The Little Brown Jug (launched in 1946), and every set but two (Marvin Childs 1927 and Flave Nipe 1958) connected with The Hambletonian Stake (first raced in 1926). The conservation grant program, administered by the Lower Hudson Conference headquartered in Elmsford, is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. Current funding will provide for the conservation treatment of three early 20th century drivers’ caps by textile conservator Gwen Spicer of Spicer Art Conservation in Delmar. To date, grants totaling $8,000 have been received through the Lower Hudson Conference and the Upstate History Alliance and $15,500 through individual sponsorships. The three caps, once worn by Hall of Fame drivers Doc Parshall, Fred Egan, and Walter Cox, were selected for treatment at this time because of their deteriorating condition and the significance of each driver’s history to the sport. Hugh M. Parshall, called “Doc” by friends and fans alike, won the Hambletonian Stake twice during his career, in 1934 and 1939. Fred Egan also won the great trotting event twice, in 1940 and 1949, and saw a third victory as a trainer in 1958. A frequent rival of Parshall and Egan, Walter Cox trained the top four finishers in the 1929 Hambletonian, as well as driving to a first place finish. “A Drive to Win” will take advantage of the museum’s assemblage of drivers’ colors, collected since the 1950s and dating back to 1900, many newly restored, along with photo drivers’ licenses issued in 1898 (donated by John Manzi, Barry M. Ragone DMD and Allen Skolnick), as well as never-before-seen art and biographies. The proposed exhibit is funded through private donations, contributions to the John Manzi Roast, and the New York State Council on the Arts exhibition grant. It will be installed in the museum’s main gallery at The Harness Racing Museum in Goshen in July 2007, after which it is hoped, through sponsorship, it will become a nationwide traveling exhibit. More information on how to support these two initiatives can be obtained by calling the museum’s director at 294-6330, or stop by the museum, located at 240 Main St. in Goshen. For more information visit www.harnessmuseum.com.