(OLD CHATHAM, NY) February 4, 2020 – The Shaker Museum purchased the empty building at 5 Austerlitz Street in Chatham, NY last month, and received a $1,569,000 grant from Empire State Development through New York State’s Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC) initiative to support a project that will transform the building into a museum and community cultural center.
Collections Manager
Sharon Duane Koomler is a Shaker scholar and traditional letterpress printer living in upstate New York. She has academic degrees in American Folklore from Indiana University and Western Kentucky University. Sharon has worked at Shaker Museums from Kentucky to New Hampshire as an educator, curator, consultant, and director. She has written and published on Shaker material culture and spirituality, and lectured widely on Shaker art, life, and belief. Sharon has a particular interest in the under-researched social aspects of Shaker life and ways in which Shakers practiced inclusion and intentionality.