Two new exhibits at the Onondaga Historical Association are likely to appeal to a wide-range of sports fans, history buffs and casual observers.
SUIT UP!
Central New York sports fans will probably gravitate toward "Suit Up! A Look at Syracuse Sporting Uniforms Through the Years," which displays rare photographs and memorabilia from throughout Syracuse’s history. OHA curator and self-described “enormous” sports fan Bob Searing says Syracuse’s history is deeply intertwined with sports, much of it tied to Syracuse University for the past 150 years. But he says they have an artifact that dates back to before the Civil War.
“Then we've got the proud professional sports tradition," Searing said. "I mean, we've been playing professional baseball in Syracuse for one way or another...this is a really great piece here, 1858 daguerreotype, wildly rare, of the Syracuse Baseball Club. So, we're able to leverage the collection because even when we don't have, let's say, uniforms, we've got an amazing photographic collection.”
Along with those photographs, the exhibit features pieces from signed memorabilia from Syracuse Orange Football legend Ernie Davis to game-worn jerseys from the Crunch and the Syracuse Mets and more. Much of it is donated by local collectors. Even diehard sports fans might find what were thought to be long-lost gems, as Searing showed us.
“Jim Sarosi. He's the general manager of the Crunch. He was like, 'where did you get this jersey?'" Searing said."So this is a wildly rare Wegman's patch, with the old Crunchman on it, and it was the year that the the All Star game was here at the War Memorial. And of course when the GM of the crunch is like, that's a nice jersey, that was a fun one to find.”
The “Suit Up!” exhibit runs through the end of the year at the museum on Montgomery Street.
LOOK WHAT WE GOT
"Look What We Got" showcases some of the more unique items that come from the attics and basements of residents. Curator Bob Searing and a team of archivists sorted through numerous pieces donated to the museum over the past five years and assembled an exhibit. Searing points out a giant handwritten bible.
"The entire Bible, written out by hand, each parishioner wrote a particular piece, they put it all together and it came to us with the collection of the First Baptist Church just last year," Searing said. "Absolutely staggering. The book is enormous.”
Searing says also on display are original drawings from the architect of the Landmark Theater. They came from a local architect who had a hand in renovating the historic theater when it was slated for demolition in the 1970s.
Then Searing says there’s a soapbox derby car picked up from Onondaga Hill.
“You've got the old war helmet basically from World War II. These kids would just strap the helmet on and then ripped down the hills," Searing said. "And of course Syracuse with the topography is an amazing place for soapbox derby. So this was a massive national thing, that sort of swept over the country in the wake of the Second World War. And it has a really interesting tie into Syracuse industry Kilian Bearings. They were the exclusive manufacturer of the bearings used in the official Soapbox Derby.”
Kilian Bearings is based on Burnet Ave in Syracuse, and has been in operation for more than a century.
