Rufus Grider
“Having a taste for historical matters, and finding that the (Mohawk) Valley was rich in such, I obtained the books giving the history thereof, and then began to visit the places of historic interest spoken of, frequently traversing the country on foot. One of the historians, whose work I read, Simms, regretted that so much had been lost because no limner had put the appearance of these historic places and buildings on record. While the historians were able to write and describe, they were not able to sketch. That opened up a field for me, as I was able to do such work.” Thus does Rufus A. Grider explain how he began his avocation of preserving in watercolor and pen and ink the history of a large area of New York State.
Grider was born in Lititz, Pennsylvania in 1817 and educated at Bech’s School for Boys, where he acquired knowledge of art by study on his own. He lived in Bethlehem, PA for many years and then moved to Philadelphia where he taught art. In 1883 Grider came to Canajoharie, NY to work as an art teacher at the Canajoharie Union School where he taught until his retirement in 1898 at the age of 71. He may have retired from teaching but he never retired from painting and sketching. His last work found so far is dated January 4, 1900, a little more than a month before his death on February 7th.
Grider’s work during his time in Canajoharie is prolific. Not only did he teach art, but he also produced watercolors, pencil, pen and ink sketches of scenes, structures, and objects of historic interest found in the Mohawk Valley, the Schoharie Valley, Cherry Valley, the Adirondacks and New England. Judging from the dates on his work, Grider spend much of his free time painting and searching for things to sketch for upwards of two thousand pieces of art done by Grider in those fifteen years are known to exist.
Instead of painting as a means of self-expression, Rufus Grider used his art to preserve. Not only did he paint watercolors of historic buildings then in existence, he went to great efforts to accurately “restore” structures that had disappeared by the 1880’s. In his travels he would ask of people he met “What have you old to show me?” Through this question he began reproducing in watercolor the engraved powder horns and other objects of historic importance. Grider also made tracing of 18th century deeds, documents and maps relating to the history of the Valleys. A vast amount of his work is concerns with this period of New York history. He was also interested in the Indian cultures found in this area and this is reflected in his work which includes watercolors of Iroquois Masks.
In all his work, Rufus Grider was very concerned with an accurate representation of what he was drawing and through great personal sacrifice succeeded in preserving a segment of New York’s rich history for posterity.
Alice Smith Duncan
Alice Smith Duncan moved to the Mohawk Valley from Manhattan nine years ago with her husband, an art professor at Union College, and their daughter Ella. Their house in Canajoharie proved to be around the corner from the former home of Rufus Grider, and up the block from the West Hill School, where he taught in the 1880s and 90s; she soon discovered the local Grider collection in the Van Alstyne house.
Four years ago, she began work toward a master’s degree in museum studies with the Cooperstown Graduate Program. For her thesis project, she chose to research the life and works of Rufus Grider, a project she continues to pursue with the goal of publishing her research and his artwork in book form, and developing a traveling museum exhibition of his work that will expand on the touchstone exhibit held here at Old Fort Johnson in 1982.
Anita Smith Article