
Wharton Studio Museum is preserving and celebrating Ithaca's role in early American filmmaking, and developing the historic Wharton Studio building in Stewart Park into a park center with exhibits and installations about film history and the history of the park.
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE'RE DOING
Wharton Studio Museum produces four annual events -- Silent Movie Under the Stars (August); Silent Movie Month (October); Silents Roar! Film Festival (spring); and Party for the Park (September, in collaboration with Friends of Stewart Park) -- in addition to other screenings, presentations and exhibits throughout the year. View our Calendar of Events and Exhibits for full details.
EVENTS AND EXHIBITS
YOU help support WSM's mission, programming and educational outreach when you make a gift!
WAYS TO SUPPORTUPCOMING EVENTS AND EXHIBITS
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18 Jan, 21Upcoming
WALK THIS PLAY
All DayYou’re Invited to WALK THIS PLAY beginning Friday, July 10, 2020! WSM and The Cherry Arts, in collaboration with The History Center in Tompkins County, proudly present WALK THIS PLAY, a download hub where two unique local walking headphone plays – "The Missing Chapter" and "Storm Country" — can be accessed for the first time without advance tickets — just a $5.00 minimum donation — and whenever audience members desire. Both projects can be downloaded at https://www.thecherry.org/walk-this-play/……
18 Jan, 21UpcomingGIVING TUESDAY
Monday, 12:00 amGiving Tuesday is December 1st and Wharton Studio Museum encourages you to support WSM's programming and exciting plans to develop the historic Wharton Studio Building in Stewart Park. There are so many ways your gift to WSM will make a difference in what we are able to accomplish in 2021. Help us make noise about silent film on Giving Tuesday 2020 -- Dec. 1, 2020. Stay tuned for details!
TAKE A WHARTON STUDIO MUSEUM SILENT FILM TOUR
WSM has created a Wharton Studio Silent Film Tour. This self-guided tour takes you to a number of Ithaca’s silent movie history locations, beginning with the historic Wharton Studio building in Stewart Park and on to Cornell University’s campus and then on to Upper Treman! It’s fun and informative! WSM thanks Randi Kepecs for her help in producing the tour.
NEW WSM VIDEO ... TAKE A LOOK!
WSM happily premieres its series of 60-second videos! We hope each one gives you a sense of Wharton Studio history and what WSM is doing to highlight it!
Here's Archelaus "Arch" Chadwick who designed and built elaborate sets for Wharton Studio's Beatrice Fairfax, The Great White Trail and Mysteries of Myra.
WSM thanks Ancient Wisdom Productions for its great work on this project! Stay tuned for the next video coming soon....
IN THE NEWS
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10 Nov
New Digital Program on Race Films from Finger Lakes Film Trail
Read moreFinger Lakes Film Trail proudly presents Race Films/Race Matters: Starting Conversations About Race in America, an upcoming online series featuring five important race films; corresponding video
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09 Oct
Author Barbara Lupack’s Silent Serial Sensations
Read moreAuthor Barbara Lupack’s Silent Serial Sensations: The Wharton Brothers and the Magic of Early Cinema is in the news as Ms. Lupack has been invited to talk
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10 Jul
WALK THIS PLAY
Read moreYou’re Invited to WALK THIS PLAY beginning Friday, July 10, 2020! WSM and The Cherry Arts, in collaboration with The History Center in Tompkins County, proudly present WALK
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15 Oct
Grant for online series about film and race awarded to WSM
Read moreWSM has received a grant from Humanities New York to develop an online series: "Race Films/Race Matters: Starting Conversations About Race in America." The digital
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05 Aug
Silent Movie Under the Stars — 10th Anniversary — A Livestream Event this Saturday at 8pm!
Read moreFeaturing THE FRESHMAN (1925) starring the inimitable Harold Lloyd In this year of the pandemic, and with concern for everyone’s safety and well-being, WSM is
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14 Jul
NYS Archives Magazine Story
Read moreKudos to WSM’s wonderful colleague, author and historian Barbara Lupack, on her forthcoming cover story about the Wharton Studio in the summer issue of the
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10 Jul
Original Wharton Studio Desk Finds a Home with WSM!
Read moreWSM is thrilled to announce it has been loaned a beautiful wooden desk that once was a fixture in the Wharton Studio. Thanks to the
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09 Jul
Silents Roar! Film Festival
Read moreSilents Roar! Film Festival for youth in the Southern Tier took place via livestream on June 18th, 2020 and WSM would like to congratulate
Be in the know about what's happening at Wharton Studio Museum.
What people are saying about Wharton Studio Museum
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The Wharton Studio Museum, under the intrepid leadership of Diana Riesman, has been a wonderful addition to Ithaca’s vibrant film scene, shining a light on the city’s fascinating silent film history. In addition to all the events and exhibits that WSM has presented to draw attention to this history, it has also regularly partnered with Cornell Cinema in the presentation of silent films with live musical accompaniment, with the mutual goal of introducing new audiences to the richness of the genre.
Mary Fessenden, Director, Cornell Cinema -
Ted and Leo Wharton were leading players in the exciting story of silent cinema in the 1910s. The remarkable work of the Wharton Studio Museum has been instrumental in making that story known and keeping it alive more than a century later. Film scholars and cinema enthusiasts alike are in the debt of WSM and its executive director Diana Riesman.
Barbara Tepa Lupack, New York State Historian and Public Scholar (2015-2018) & Fellow, Rockwell Center for American Visual Culture
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COVID-19
Wharton Studio Museum hopes you are keeping well and staying safe in these challenging times of the pandemic. WSM continues to work -- remotely -- on programming and developing the historic Wharton Studio building in Stewart Park. We remain truly grateful for your support.