The Founding

      The Cooperstown Graduate Program began as many great things do -with an almost impossible idea and a great deal of energy. The founding of the Cooperstown Graduate Program story is one of invention and new ideas playing out in an ad hoc manner in a small village in upstate New York.

A Great Idea is Born

      In 1960 Dr. Louis C. Jones lamented the lack of professional training for those who wanted to work in history museums. He also found inspiration during a trip to Europe where he saw the dynamic interplay of folk culture, university students, and museums. With these two things on his mind Louis C. Jones developed the idea for two distinct programs designed to enrich cultural organizations by training skilled professionals: a program for the education of history museum leaders and the first program in the United States dedicated to the study of folk culture. With this idea, the Cooperstown Graduate Program was born. However, it would take the energy of a whole host of individuals to bring Jones’ ideas to fruition.

The Work of Energetic People

      As the director of the New York State Historical Association, Dr. Louis C. Jones was in the perfect position to provide expertise and training, but he needed others to help get the program off the ground. Jones approached the nearby State University of New York at Oneonta with the idea of creating a museum studies program on NYSHA's campus. Jones' plan sought out Dr. Royal Netzer, President of the State University College at Oneonta, who was instrumental in providing CGP an educational home that could grant the master's degree.

      Henry Allen Moe, President and Chair of the NYSHA board of trustees, was a staunch advocate for NYSHA’s support of the newly forming graduate programs. When initial funding for the first year was undetermined, Moe contacted his friends Nelson and David Rockefeller who helped to provide the financial support to launch the experiment. Other board members were essential in helping with the formation of the program, most notably Frank Spinney and Minor Wine Thomas who were prominent leaders in the museum field.

       Jones hired talented folklorist Bruce Buckley to lead the Folk Culture Program while Jones himself led the History Museum Studies Program. NYSHA Vice President Fred Rath worked diligently at NYSHA, allowing Jones to focus his attention with creating curriculum and managing the new graduate programs.

      Jones, Buckley, a talented group of NYSHA employees, and SUNY Oneonta professors Bert Fink and Maynard Redfield, set about the task of creating museum and folk culture programs that focused on community study, documentation, and cultural preservation. 

The First Class

      The first students, a group of 28 representing 13 states and one foreign country, arrived in 1964. Students did more than study museum practices and American art and history. Fanning out across the countryside, they documented traditional music and vanishing rural crafts through the folklore program and intergrated themselves into the community. Graduates quickly entered the growing New York State historic sites system, placing museum professionals from New York City to Buffalo.

CGP Today 

     The Cooperstown Graduate Program trains creative, entrepreneurial museum leaders committed to generating programs and services for the public good. The mission and the values of the Cooperstown Graduate Program influence all aspects of the curriculum and inspire students to be leaders within their local, national, and global communities. In 2004, the National Endowment for the Humanities named the Cooperstown Graduate Program the premier program for training museum professionals. Over nine hundred CGP alumni work across the United States and in eleven countries worldwide in some of the most prestigious institutions. Some notable institutions include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, the Field Museum, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, The University of Washington, and the University of Delaware.

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