About the Rensselaer County Historical Society
The Rensselaer County Historical Society was established in 1927 to connect local history and heritage with contemporary life, originally operating out of a single room in the Troy Public Library, where it collected manuscripts and published materials related to the county's past. In 2019 the organization adopted a new public name, the Hart Cluett Museum at Historic Rensselaer County, and it continues as a not-for-profit educational organization that collects, preserves, studies, and interprets artifacts and documents from Troy and Rensselaer County, with a stated aim of recognizing every face and every story in the region's past.
The museum's centerpiece is the Hart-Cluett House at 57 Second Street, a Federal-style townhouse built in 1827 by William Howard, a wealthy New York City merchant and banker, as a gift for his daughter Betsey Howard Hart and her husband Richard P. Hart. Its marble facade, with stone presumed to have come from a Berkshire quarry near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is considered one of the finest and most intact examples of the style in Troy. Betsey Hart lived in the house until her death in 1886; in 1892 it was purchased by George B. Cluett, founder of Cluett, Peabody & Co., the Troy makers of Arrow shirts, and his nephew Albert E. Cluett acquired it in 1910. Caroline Cluett donated the house to the historical society in 1952, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973.
The downtown campus in Troy's Second Street Historic District comprises three connected spaces: the Hart-Cluett House, shown by guided tour; the adjacent 19th-century Carr Building, which holds changing exhibits, public programs, and the research library; and a Carriage House with a permanent gallery for larger objects. Together they document the Collar City's industrial rise and the everyday lives of the people of Rensselaer County.
Collections and Research Services
The research library is the largest local history library and archive in Rensselaer County, with more than 33,000 non-circulating items: personal papers, business and organization records, genealogies, city directories, maps, photographs, slides, postcards, and references on local architecture, furniture, and cabinetmakers. The museum is also the official repository of the Rensselaer County Surrogate Court records from 1791 to 1915, with an online index (later records are at the county courthouse). It does not hold birth records, obituaries, census returns, or newspapers, which are at the Troy Public Library. The library is open Thursday from 12:30 to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 12:30 to 5 p.m., strictly by appointment booked at least a week ahead and confirmed by email; admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors 62 and over, and free for students with ID and members, and includes up to two files pulled by staff. Remote research requests cost $45 for members and $60 for non-members, including up to two Surrogate Court records, with a six-to-eight-week turnaround; Surrogate record copies are $25 for members and $30 for non-members, photocopies 25 to 35 cents a page, and high-resolution scans $10. Our guides to old city directories and finding out when a house was built explain how to use directories, maps, and estate records like these.
Planning Your Visit
The Hart Cluett Museum is at 57 Second Street in downtown Troy, NY 12180. Exhibit galleries are open Thursday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m., closed on major holidays, and guided tours of the Hart-Cluett House run Fridays from 3 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 2 to 3 p.m.; house and walking tours include gallery admission. Admission is pay what you wish, with a suggested $10 for adults, and is free for students with ID, children under 18, and members. Private group tours can be arranged with at least three weeks' notice. Metered and free street parking and parking garages are available throughout downtown Troy. The building has a ramp, accessible restrooms, and an elevator, though not all areas are accessible because of the age of the structures; call (518) 272-7232 to discuss needs, or see hartcluett.org for exhibits and events.
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