Under the care and guidance of Jonathan Allen, second president of Alfred University, The Steinheim once housed the first natural history museum in Western New York. It's collection, "an eclectic cabinet of curiosities," was dispersed, piece by piece, after the museum officially closed in 1953. Some pieces were relocated to other departments on campus, some were given away for safekeeping, and some were illicit souvenirs of midnight forays into the building.

Now Lenka Clayton, the Theodore Randall International Chair in the School of Art & Design, is offering "amnesty for the lost artifacts of the Steinheim." She's seeking not to reclaim them, but to document them in their new surroundings through photographs.

If you have a Steinheim artifact or know the location of any, please contact Lenka Clayton

Read the full press release >>>

Postcard of the Allen Steinheim Museum

View of the collection from the upper floor in the Steinheim

Part of the collection in an enclosed case

Detail view of the collection in an open case

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McComsey Career Development Center at the Steinheim