Specialties
The Oneida County History Center, located at 1608 Genesee Street, Utica, NY, preserves the rich heritage of Oneida County and the greater Mohawk Valley, from the Battle of Oriskany to the Boilermaker Road Race!
Special changing exhibits include on local topics including: Utica Shoes, The Saturday Globe Newspaper, Underground Railroad, Cheese and potatoes!
The research library and archives is perfect for researching your family or learning about local history. Most of our 40,000 photographs and negatives have been digitized and are available to browse through on the library computers. There is a $10 fee for use of the research library.
Our bookstore sells many hard-to-find books on local history and written by local authors. We also have local postcards and puzzles!
History
Established in 1876.
Organized in 1876 by prominent local citizens, the Society's first objective was to erect a monument at the Oriskany Battlefield. Community leaders, including Horatio Seymour and Frederick T. Proctor led the Society through its first fifty years of existence.
The Society relocated several times in the past 130 years. In 1896, the Society moved into the Munson-Williams Memorial Building at the intersection of John and Elizabeth Sts. and Park Ave. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the building housed a collection of curios, paintings, portraits, and books and manuscripts associated with Oneida County.
The vacated the building in 1956 and spent the next 30 years on the campus of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute before purchasing its own building, the former Church of Jesus Christ, Scientist Building at 1608 Genesee St.