With museum nixed here, Shane Newell moves his Joseph Warren items to Connecticut

June 13, 2024 Hot Copy

The Warren County Historical Society said Shane Newell plans to transfer his collection of Joseph Warren paintings and memorabilia to Hillsdale College’s Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut.

Joseph Warren was a prominent patriot leader who lost his life at the Battle of Bunker Hill, “because he volunteered to fight as a soldier, even though he was a designated Major General,” says Queensbury Supervisor John Strough. Painting from the collection of Shane Newell

“WCHS Says Goodbye to Joseph Warren Collection,” headlined the Historical Society in a press release Tuesday.

It said it was “deeply disappointed,” along with Mr. Newell, in what it termed “the reversal of the County’s posture on the Joseph Warren Museum.”

The Society had hoped Lake George native Mr. Newell’s collection would anchor a Joseph Warren museum here, honoring the county’s namesake, the once much-admired, now largely forgotten Revolutionary War leader who lost his life early, fighting in the ranks at Bunker Hill.

“The opportunity for a beneficial heritage tourism site that would have been an economic boon to the County was lost,” the Historical Society said.

“The project had garnered support by the Warren County Board of Supervisors over the past three years, led by Supervisors Frank Thomas and John Strough and DPW Superintendent Kevin Hajos.”

It noted resistance by “the majority” of Supervisors this spring to the proposed Warren Museum’s $996,000 price tag, to be funded by County Occupancy Taxes.

Without specifically naming Winter’s Dream, the Society tied the Supervisors’ “reversal” to their concern over “another county Occupancy Tax-funded project in the amount of $3 million that had not met expectations.”

Portions of Mr. Newell’s Warren collection have been exhibited at the Warren County Historical Society since 2022, in anticipation of the proposed museum, said the Society. About $142,000 in County funds, mostly from its American Rescue Plan Act grant, was spent in preliminary designs for the project.

It said Mr. Newell expects his collection will move on display in Boston by 2027, as part of the nation’s 250th commemoration of the American Revolution.

Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980

With museum nixed here, Shane Newell moves his Joseph Warren items to Connecticut

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