Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences

Binghamton, New York
I got to know the Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences because it was a congenial breather on the tense interstates between Philadelphia and a girl from Syracuse. The romance waned, but the Binghamton connection remains stronger than ever. (It is increased, in fact, by a later discovery that SUNY Binghamton, three miles out in the country also, has an excellent teaching collection augmented by outstanding contemporary shows.)

Roberson is another example of American curatorial ingenuity. When it opened twenty-six years ago, it was a stately house in flight from a deficit. Its collections were quirky, uncomprehensive. No matter. The first director had the still bright and viable idea of combing the attics of his well-established sister museums for a show unabashedly entitled "Treasures of the Empire State."

And to show that is knows a good idea when it has had one, the Roberson celebrated its silver anniversary in 1979 by cutting a bigger and better swath through the cupboards of twice as many New York State museums. But moving vans don't make an exhibition either; taste and flair do. So Duane Truax, a ball of fire newly from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and his chief curator--who began (take note, you aspiring junior leaguers) as an unpaid docent--clustered its temporary booty around genres or themes.

Do you know that six so-so chairs individually look dull, but grouped together they shine, as we infer the ingenuity expended in dealing diversely with the gluteus maximus and related attachments? One Shaker piece by itself cries out for "Hancock"; but five together dazzle us by their austere grace. That's what I learned from the Roberson's alchemists.

In an adjoining gingerbread Gothic house, a full-fledged regional crafts center adds to the temptations luring the weary off the intersecting interstates nearby. And the local Indians have their say in the backyard of the museum. Not the least joy of a visit is that you approach the museum through streets rife with kinky high Victoriana. I hope they don't become too successful before their Golden Jubilee in 2004, else they may have lost the knack of turning their near losses to our rich gains.

--from 20 Museums You've Never Heard Of/Horizon Magazine 1981