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Title
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David Petri, November 7, 2025
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interviewee
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David Petri
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interviewer
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Carlos Cueva Caro
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Date
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2025-11-7
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Subject
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Architecture
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Auctions
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Automobiles
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Blacksmithing
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Collecting
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Cooperstown, NY
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Dairy Farming
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The Farmers' Museum
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Hartwick, NY
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Otsego County
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Pianos
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Photography
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Preservation
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Sheep Farming
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Smith and Telfer Collection
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Square Dancing
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Description
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In 1964, student folklorist Henry Glassie interviewed Jesse F. Wells and his wife, Lulu, for the Cooperstown Graduate Program. Jesse discussed his life on the farm and his role as a musician. Jesse also played some songs on his guitar, which Glassie recorded. Sixty-one years later, their grandson, David Petri, recalls his grandparents' story, reflects upon his relationship with them, and how this relationship influenced his future interests in local history, farming, collecting, and the power of artifacts to create a tangible connection between the past and the present. For clarity purposes, this interview has been edited, removing false starts, filler phrases, and conjunctions. Some exceptions have been made where those words help capture David's emotional investment towards the subject matter.
David Petri is a long-time resident of Cooperstown, NY. His main interest is collecting antiques. He has amassed a collection of farm tools, smith works, woodworks, and architectural pieces. Throughout his life, David has gathered information on farm history and techniques, architectural history, and genealogy. He served on the advisory board of The Farmers' Museum. David has also engaged in preservation efforts for various historic buildings in Otsego County.
David was previously interviewed in 2010 by Julie Broadbent. Although David covered similar topics as those in 2010, this time, he focused on his grandfather's role as a folk musician and his family's relationship with music. From that starting point, David spoke of the changes in the landscape throughout his family's multigenerational span. This led to David's reflection on the power of artifacts to preserve memory, personal and collective, and the role museums need to play in relation to artifacts. For this interview, David brought several objects that he used to tell his grandparents' story and to illustrate his concept of "dead" and "live" artifacts. These objects, which were properly photographed, were: Jesse and Lulu's wedding photograph, an iron peel, a piece of molding, a half-made broomstick, and an auger.
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Time Summary
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Track 1, 0:00 - Jesse and Lulu Wells
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Track 1, 7:35- Square Dancing
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Track 1, 14;50- Dairy Farming
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Track 1, 21:46- Auctions
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Track 1, 24:00- Rural History
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Track 1, 27:42- Automobiles
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Track 2, 00:30- Photography
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Track 2, 4:55- Collecting
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Track 2, 9:58- Smithing and Barns
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Track 2, 20:57- Architecture
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Track 2, 25:50- Preservation
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Creator
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Carlos Cueva Caro
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Publisher
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Cooperstown Graduate Program, State University of New York at Oneonta
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Rights
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Cooperstown Graduate Association, Cooperstown, NY
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Language
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en-US
