The Remington Symposium

The Remington Museum of Art will present The Remington Symposium from Sunday, October 4 through Tuesday, October 6, 2026, bringing nationally recognized scholars, regional historians, museum professionals, and community members together for three days of lectures, panel discussions, tours, archival encounters, and family activities.

The Symposium opens on Sunday, October 4, from noon to 4 p.m. with a community celebration of Frederic Remington’s birthday at the Museum. Visitors are invited to enjoy guided tours, children’s activities, face painting, a food truck (Sweet Creations by Lindsey and Aleigha) and birthday cake sponsored by Price Chopper in Ogdensburg. Two guided group tours will take place on Sunday, the first will be at 12:30PM and the second at 2:30PM—we ask that tour-goers arrive 15 minutes prior to the start time.

Academic programming begins Monday morning at the Remington Museum of Art. The featured lectures illuminate both familiar and underexamined dimensions of Remington’s career: his connections to the East; his use of grayscale media in representations of the Buffalo Soldiers; his collection of Native American belongings; the relationship between his painting A Misdeal and the movies; and the role of realism, photogravure, and Native representation in his Hiawatha imagery.

Monday afternoon extends the program beyond the Museum with a driving tour to Canton, Remington’s birthplace and final resting place. Participants will then visit St. Lawrence University for a tour of the University’s museum and archives, including a viewing of archival materials arranged with University Archivist Paul Doty, followed by a panel examining Remington and his legacy.

Monday, October 5th Itinerary:

9:00AM – Welcome Remarks – Maggie McKenna, Executive Director of the Remington Museum of Art

9:30AM – “Another Frontier: Frederic Remington’s East” – Dr. Mark Thistlethwaite, Professor Emeritus of Art History, Texas Christian University; former Kay and Velma Kimbell Chair of Art History

This lecture showcases the Remington Museum of Art’s collection by highlighting a fascinating, less familiar dimension of the artist’s work.

10:30AM – “Grayscale Vision: Frederic Remington, the Buffalo Soldiers, and Achromatic Media” – Dr. Colin Young, Texas Christian University Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Art History

This discussion focuses on Remington’s understudied depictions of the all-Black 10th Cavalry (one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments) while they were stationed in Arizona Territory during the “Indian Wars” of the late 1880s.

11:30AM – “A Storehouse of Information”: Frederic Remington’s Collection of Native American Belongings. – Dr. Emily Burns, Director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West and Associate Professor of Art History, University of Oklahoma

This analysis explores Remington’s studio collection, drawings of Indigenous material culture and art that he produced for an 1891 edition of Henry Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha.

12:30PM – Break for lunch (suggested donation $10-20)

1:30PM – Trip to Canton to visit Remington’s birthplace and his final resting place at Evergreen Cemetery. Guests are invited to drive themselves and join us as we speak a little about Remington’s life at these sites.

3:00PM – Visit Richard F. Brush Gallery at St Lawrence University Meet at St Lawrence University to view their Remington holdings and meet the faculty and students. Participants will view the University’s museum and archives, including a viewing of archival materials arranged with University Archivist Paul Doty.

4:00PM – Remington Scholars Panel at St Lawrence University – featuring all visiting scholars

Tuesday, October 6th Itinerary:

9:00AM – “Frederic Remington’s A Misdeal and the Movies” – Scott Winterrowd, Director, Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, TX

This discussion explores the intersection of Western art and early filmmaking through the history of Frederic Remington’s painting, A Misdeal.

10:00AM – “Remington’s Hiawatha: Realism, Photogravure, and Native Americans in Settler Mythology” – Kiki Barnes, Ph.D. Candidate in Art History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

This lecture explores Remington’s focus on human characters depicted in his artwork created for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha.

11:00AM – Local History Panel – moderated by Dr. Melissane Schrems, Associate Professor of History at St Lawrence University

This discussion on Remington’s enduring legacy on the North Country. The panel will include Casey Denis, Canton Village and Town Historian; Justin Cree, Director of the Akwesasne Cultural Center; Julie Breen Madlin, Ogdensburg City Historian.

Support for this program was generously provided by Price Chopper, Ogdensburg Airport, Gran-View Restaurant, Tel. Inc., RSI Roofing, Stewart’s Shops, and Corrothers & Clough PLLC.

Funding for this program was provided by the Dr. D. Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation. NCPR is a media sponsor for the Remington Symposium.