The Cultural Heart of Binghamton's sixties: The Roberson Memorial Center
By Sally Hecht and Sage Block
Embedded Files
“Beware students who are coming to Binghamton, the cultural wasteland’ is a cry which might be heard from some upperclassmen. However, many of these same people are the ones who neither know of the cultural opportunities in the Triple Cities nor have taken advantage of these opportunities when offered.” (The Colonial News, 1964)
Photo credit: Roberson Museum and Science Center
Binghamton University students who drifted downtown on a September day in the mid-1960s might have stumbled across a sprawling exhibit on the history of footware. "The Shoemaker's Story" was only one part of a multi-day cultural festival that brought the history and culture of the business to life in Binghamton. The festival also featured area jazz legends like bassist Slam Stewart, and musician Al Hamme. This exciting display of local culture was all housed at the Roberson Museum and Science Center.
The Roberson Museum and Science Center has been a major cultural and educational institution in Binghamton since its establishment in 1954. Throughout the 1960s, the Roberson Center held weekly workshops teaching visual arts, ceramics, writing, astronomy, folk dancing, and more. It also displayed nearly 200 historical artifacts sourced from around the globe, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During a time where arts and culture budgets were being slashed by the state, the Robertson Center in Binghamton continued to provide the community with a publicly available, and educational creative outlet.
A known and beloved part of that outreach for the community was the Roberson Holiday and Arts Festival. This tradition was spurred on by the Memorial Center’s Director, Keith Martin, and became an annual event in 1954.
The Festival in 1965 was one of the biggest displays at the museum. This multi-day event showcased Jazz concerts, ballet performances, over 4,000 items, ranging from pop art to pottery. Science and history displays for all ages rounded out this educational outreach. The festival represented an “index of the activity that goes on year round at the Roberson”. This event was representative of the efforts made by the Roberson to match the needs and interests of the community, while pushing them further to achieve further. The Roberson strived to be more than a static local history museum. They aimed to give back to the community as a cultural center, honoring the original land endowment’s intention.
Included in the annual Roberson Holiday and Arts Festival were jazz performances, a genre of music that was celebrated in the Southern Tier. The Southern Tier jazz community was distinguished and made notable by local legends Al Hamme and Slam Stewart, both of whom taught in the Binghamton University music department. Slam Stewart was a world renowned jazz bassist, known for his signature style of singing along with his bass while playing solos. Al Hamme is another well known Jazz musician on the Southern Tier and helped build up the Jazz programs at the Union-Endicott High School as well as the university.
The cultural festival still has a home at the Roberson, even in much more recent times. In the early 2010s, this event was revamped and renamed as the Two Rivers Fine Arts & Crafts Festival. Before the re-establishing of the festival, it had been on a hiatus lasting more than a decade. The name was also changed to avoid confusion with existing holiday winter festivities, and to honor the confluence of the two rivers in the area. While this event in the 21st century looks very different to its mid-1900s origin, the message of the Roberson as a community cultural center is still loud and clear.
Students seeking culture in Binghamton might not find the multi-day festival of the '60s, but they can find lasting impacts of the jazz scene. Al Hamme and Slam Stewart were both heavily involved in creating a strong jazz community on the University campus and triple cities, where they played at local clubs as well as community events like the Roberson Holiday and Arts Festival. A mural in Johnson City was completed as of last year that commemorates their talent and contribution to the Southern Tier arts communities. The public art installation hopes to reinvigorate culture in the mainstream in Johnson City as part of a larger county-wide revitalization initiative. Hopefully, the permanent artwork can inspire those interested in the local arts & culture to rid the popular cry of Binghamton’s “cultural wasteland”.
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