Students in a 1950s art class.
A document signed by village residents nearly 200 years ago, an early Fredonia Academy course catalog and the experiences of students who attended the institution in the 1800s are among the subjects of a new student-produced podcast series exploring the history of higher education in Fredonia.
The series, “A Cabinet of Curiosities: 200 Years of Higher Education in Fredonia, N.Y.,” is part of SUNY Fredonia's yearlong Bicentennial celebration, "Celebrating Two Centuries of Impact."
The project brings together students and faculty from the Department of History and Sound Recording Technology program and Reed Library's Special Collections and Archives to explore historical documents and artifacts that tell the story of Fredonia since 1826.
The podcasts grew from research conducted by students in History courses between 2022 and 2025. Using materials from the university archives, students investigated historical objects and documents and developed podcast scripts as final class projects. Students in the Sound Recording Technology program subsequently recorded and produced the episodes, with final audio production and engineering completed through a project internship.
The series debuted Oct. 4, exactly 200 years after Fredonia Academy welcomed its first 15 students. Its inaugural episode features Department of History Chair and Professor Mary Beth Sievens and Amanda Shepp, coordinator of Special Collections and Archives, discussing the original Fredonia Academy subscription list, held in the collections of the Darwin R. Barker Museum in the village.
The document records the financial commitments made by local residents to establish an institution of higher education in their community, beginning a tradition of support that would continue through the Fredonia Normal School, Fredonia State Teachers College, SUNY College at Fredonia and today's SUNY Fredonia.
Other episodes explore the educational opportunities available to male and female students in 1842 and the academy's academic offerings in 1853-54.
The episodes were researched and written by Maria Suri and Erin Hibbert, respectively, with Suri's episode recorded with Jenna Salisbury.
Future episodes will explore the expansion of campus under architect I. M. Pei and Partners, the origins of the Fredonia Blue Devils and the experiences of incoming students across generations. Sievens and Shepp also collaborated on three episodes connecting different periods of Fredonia's history.
“This was a wonderful project to explore the variety of materials held in our University History Collections," Shepp said. "People tend to think the archives are just photographs and documents, but artifact-driven research like this really highlights the diversity of possibilities in Special Collections and Archives and the directions that archives research can lead someone.”
The podcast is a companion to the recently published book, “A Cabinet of Curiosities: 200 Years of Higher Education in Fredonia, New York,” edited by Sievens and Shepp. The publication also grew from student research projects examining objects from the university archives and the stories behind them.
That research helped shape “A History of Fredonia in 200 Objects,” a four-part Bicentennial exhibit in Fenton Hall featuring rotating selections of documents, photographs, memorabilia and other artifacts that reflect student life, academic traditions and the university's relationship with the surrounding community. The exhibit's second installment opened Friday, Oct. 23.
Audio production for the podcast series is provided by Matthew Rugg, with engineering credits including Leana Sharpe and Spencer Eisenhauer.
Introductory and closing music was created by School of Music student Jeremy Trowbridge and alumna Angelina Seamster.
New episodes of “A Cabinet of Curiosities” will be released every Sunday throughout the Bicentennial celebration, with the series concluding in June 2027 in conjunction with the Bicentennial Gala. Episodes are available online.
Additional information about the Bicentennial celebration is available at 200.fredonia.edu.
