Munstitute Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 5/24/2011
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Camoflauged pill bottle hidden near the Pratt building of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute.

Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute is a regional fine arts center serving diverse audiences through three program divisions - Museum of Art, Performing Arts, and School of Art.

Founded in 1919, MWPAI continues to evolve while maintaining traditions of fine art and culture. The Museum of Art features a renowned permanent collection, fascinating exhibitions and education for all ages in an International-style gallery building designed by world famous architect Philip Johnson and also in Fountain Elms, a superb Victorian-era Italianate mansion.

The Institute is named for three generations of one Utica family. Alfred Munson (1793-1854), who moved to Utica from Connecticut in 1823, accumulated the initial family fortune from industrial interests such as the manufacture of burrstones and textiles in Utica, coal mines in Pennsylvania, canal development in Upstate New York, and railroad and steamboat transportation. He and his wife, Elizabeth had two children, Helen (1824-94) and Samuel (1826-81).

In 1846 Helen married Utica lawyer James Watson Williams (1810-73), who soon became involved in his father-in-law's business affairs and served as a lobbyist on his behalf with the state legislature.

Helen Elizabeth Munson Williams (1824-94), native Utican and one of the most important philanthropists of Central New York, was a prolific 19th-century collector of decorative and fine arts. Because she was a shrewd and attentive investor who increased her inheritance severalfold, Helen was able to spend grandly on furnishings and to gather the core of what was to become the family's art collection.

Helen and James had three daughters: Grace (1847-1854), who died at age 7; Rachel (1850-1915); and Maria (1853-1935). In 1891 Maria married Thomas R. Proctor (1844-1920), a regional hotel owner and United States Navy veteran. Rachel married Frederick Proctor (1856-1929), Thomas's younger half-brother Frederick, was involved in various investment ventures and was active with community organizations and served on several Utica boards. The Williams home, which began to be called "Fountain Elms" in the 1870s, was the couple's residence for 21 years until Rachel's death in 1915. Neither of the Williams-Proctor couples had surviving children.

Rachel and Maria Williams inherited the fine and decorative arts collections established by their mother and married men whose collecting habits were similar to their own. With a corresponding flair, Frederick and Thomas Proctor amassed watches and other objects characterized as appropriate for male collectors.

After Rachel's death in 1915, the three remaining family members - sister Maria, husband Frederick, and brother-in-law Thomas - drafted their concept of a community cultural organization. In 1919 the Institute was chartered as "an artistic, musical and social center."
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