News
May 12, 2015Albany Institute to host Award-Winning Author Tom Swyers
Sunday, May 17 at 2PM
ALBANY, NEW YORK- The Albany Institute of History & Art is pleased to host author and youth sports advocate Tom Swyers for a discussion and book signing on Sunday, May 17 at 2PM. Published in June of last year and based on a true story, Tom Swyers’ award-winning novel, Saving Babe Ruth, is about one man’s quest to save his town’s youth baseball league. This discussion is open to the public and is free with museum admission.
The book was in the newspapers and on television last fall when it caused one local town to have a public hearing over its high school principal. For the first time, Swyers plans to talk about this and the other amusing adventures he’s had with Saving Babe Ruth, including his experience with the informant behind the Little League scandal involving the Jackie Robinson West team.
Swyers studied at the New York State Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College and is a member of both the Authors Guild and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. In addition to being an attorney, he is also an award-winning youth sports advocate. He lives with his family in the Capital District. You can learn more about Swyers at www.tomswyers.com.
This program relates to the museum’s current exhibition about baseball. Triple Play: Baseball at the Albany Institute is composed of three separate exhibitions, filling more than 5,000 square feet of gallery space. It includes 450 historical objects and images celebrating the sport. Baseball: America’s Game, organized by Bank of America’s Art in our Communities Program, is a multimedia exhibition featuring over ninety historic photographs, illustrations, baseball artifacts, and audio/video installations from the past one hundred years that bring to life the history of this American sport. The Albany Institute has complemented this exhibition with two community-supported exhibitions that bring together over three hundred objects, including stadium relics, vintage baseball cards, photographs, historic film footage, uniforms, and more. Play Ball! A History of Baseball in the Capital Region, explores the rich culture of baseball in the Albany, Troy, and Schenectady area–a region which has a connection to baseball from its beginning in the nineteenth century. The Clubhouse: Baseball Memorabilia, pays tribute to baseball’s fans and the collections they have built to honor their favorite sport. Triple Play: Baseball at the Albany Institute is sponsored by an Anonymous Donor, the Michael & Margaret Picotte Foundation, CDPHP, Times Union, the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Wallace and Jane Altes. Baseball: America’s Game Sponsored by Bank of America Art in our Communities Program. Play Ball: A History of Baseball in the Capital Region Sponsored by Courtney and Victor Oberting III. The Clubhouse: Baseball Memorabilia Sponsored by Lois and David Swawite.
The Albany Institute of History & Art is located at 125 Washington Avenue in Albany, New York. There is limited parking available in the museums lot, located at the corner of Dove and Elk Streets in Albany (just behind the museum). There is also on street parking available. The Albany Institute is open Wednesday-Saturday 10AM-5PM, Thursday until 8PM*, and Sunday Noon-5PM. On Tuesdays, the museum is open to registered groups only. The museum is closed on Mondays and some holidays. Admission is FREE for Albany Institute members; $10/adults; $8/seniors and students with ID; $6/children 6-12; FREE/children under 6. The museum is now offering free admission on Thursdays from 5PM-8PM. For more information, visit www.albanyinstitute.org or call (518) 463-4478.
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Founded in 1791, the Albany Institute of History & Art is New York’s oldest museum. Its collections document the Hudson Valley as a crossroads of culture, influencing the art and history of the region, the state, and the nation. With more than 35,000 objects and one million documents in the library, it is an important resource for the region, giving our community a sense of the part the Hudson Valley played in the American story, and our own place in history. Permanent and temporary exhibitions are open year-round and create a sense of place, allowing visitors to meet the people who helped shape this region. Over 25,000 people visit the Albany Institute of History & Art every year, enjoying the collections, workshops, school programs, and lectures, helping to build an understanding of the history and culture of our region. Among the museum’s best-known and most-loved collections are the 19th century Hudson River School landscape paintings by artists like Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, the 19th century sculpture collections, and, of course, the famous Albany Mummies that came to the museum in 1909 and have been on view ever since. For more information, please visit www.albanyinstitute.org and be sure to follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/albanyinstitute) and Twitter (@AlbanyInstitute).
