Doug Kendall, AS '85M, was literally hooked into his career as a museum professional.

"As a history major at Haverford College, I was required to take a course in which each student was given an artifact to research and analyze," he recalls. "My artifact was a multipurpose, large hook that could be used for grappling hay bales or cargoes on a dock. Learning about this hook brought home to me how artifacts have a story to tell in historic research."

Kendall's responsibilities have progressed from that single hook to more than 45,000 artifacts and works of art at the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and its sister institution, the New York State Historical Association's Fenimore Art Museum, where he serves as curator of collections.

The Farmers' Museum transports visitors back to mid-19th-century rural New York, to a working farm and a village of old homes and businesses where skilled artisans, such as blacksmiths and printers, demonstrate their trades. The original farm features a barn, farmhouse, creamery and vintage varieties of chickens, ducks, oxen and a small herd of Devon cattle, popular in the last century. There also are gardens with older varieties of plants.

One of the most unusual artifacts under Kendall's care is the Cardiff Giant, purportedly a giant, petrified man, but, in reality, a giant hoax. Carved from stone in Iowa in the 1850s, the 10-foot giant is displayed partially buried and under a tent to protect him from the elements. For many years, the Cardiff Giant earned his keep as an attraction at county fairs and, even after his exposure as a fake, was still a popular exhibition.

After he earned his bachelor's degree, Kendall secured an internship at Historic Deerfield, Mass., where he grew up. It was a summer of discovery for him, with a research project on soldiers from the area who fought in the War of 1812 and field trips to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, where living history is presented in much the same way it is at the Farmers' Museum.

Ritchie Garrison, UD associate professor of museum studies, was a lecturer there that summer, and, after hearing his talk, Kendall decided to apply to Delaware's Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. "Coming to UD confirmed my career choice and interest in early American culture and museum work," he says.

The Winterthur program was a multifaceted learning experience, he recalls, with interaction between it, the University of Delaware-Hagley Program in the history of technology and industrialization and the University's Museum Studies Program. The curriculum combined lectures with hands-on experience, allowing the graduate students to learn all phases of the field--from conservation to museum administration. With a team of other graduate students, Kendall researched and mounted an exhibition of tools, titled "Craftsmen's Pride," at the Hagley Museum.

From UD, Kendall went to Boston University, where he earned his doctorate in American and New England studies.

Kendall's career as a curator reflects the nation's early history. He began in Wethersfield, Conn., where he was in charge of the Colonial homes complex, including the Wallace Nutting House.

"Legend had it that George Washington not only slept there but planned the battle of Yorktown with Gen. Rochambeau in the house. Nutting, who owned the house in the early 20th century, had a mural painted in the dining room in 1915 to commemorate the event, and it was decided to just leave it there during the restoration process," Kendall says. "Nutting also installed an ornate, carved mantelpiece from Rhode Island, which was not of the period, and that was removed and now belongs to Winterthur."

From there, Kendall directed the Gore mansion and farm in Waltham, Mass., representing the Federalist period, and later moved forward to the 1812 era and worked at the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) Museum.

He then went west to Wisconsin, which was mainly settled during the first part of the 19th century, where he served as curator of domestic life for the State Historical Society.

"The opening of lead mines first attracted settlers, who brought what they could with them by covered wagon. Later, settlers, came by the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes and began farming the fertile prairies of the state," Kendall says. "Occasionally, a treasured piece of furniture like a chest of drawers from the Connecticut River Valley has appeared, but mostly tools, kitchen utensils and small objects date from that era."

At the Farmers' Museum, Kendall moved to the mid-19th century. For a dairy industry exhibition, Kendall and other staff members are tracking down old automated milking equipment, a milk delivery truck, advertisements of dairy products and cheese-making equipment. "We use the traditional stool and bucket milking method at the farm," he says.

Kendall now has come full circle, and he teaches museum studies in the Cooperstown Graduate Program, which is part of the State University of New York at Oneonta.