American Identity: Restoring the Susquehanna River's Artistic Legacy
Preface by Terrie Sultan
(for the exhibition catalog)
I was introduced to the Susquehanna River by the artist Rob Evans, whom I have known and admired for more than 30 years for his finely detailed, lovingly rendered landscapes and interiors. All that time, though, I did not know how deeply his artistic expression was steeped in the history of the river and his personal attachment to it. I was surprised to learn that he had organized the exhibition Visions of the Susquehanna: 250 Years of Paintings by American Masters that toured to several museums, including the Susquehanna Art Museum in 2006, or that this experience had led him to begin a deeper engagement with the art and artists who were inspired by the river, focusing on the many parallel historical socio/political/economic influences that infused their work for centuries, and continues to do so today. His obsession to bring to light the importance of this influential school (not formally designated or historically described as what we now readily understand when hearing “Hudson River School”) led to his developing another exhibition in 2020 entitled Drawing on the Susquehanna with a scheduled tour sadly curtailed by the COVID pandemic global lockdown.
Not content to let an opportunity go to waste, for the next five years Rob spent every waking hour outside his studio time searching and researching documents and artworks to further enhance those he had drawn together for Drawing on the Susquehanna, ultimately acquiring some 200 works including paintings, drawings, engravings, lithographs, etchings, books, maps ceramics and vintage printing plates and tools dating from the 1600s to the present.
The collection became a focal point and opportunity to significantly enhance the historical narratives of the Susquehanna River by offering authentic experiences with important works of art—telling the stories through the eyes of the artists who lived them. One of Rob’s key discoveries was a new understanding of the Susquehanna’s forgotten but significant formative influence in establishing America’s first authentic art movement.
Rob contacted me in 2024 to introduce his project, and to ask me to consult with him and a cadre of his friends and supporters who were participating in a master planning program with the Susquehanna National Heritage Area leadership team to create the Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park at the Historic Mifflin Farm site outside of Wrightsville, PA that would include a purpose-built facility for an art museum to house the collection—a project ongoing today.
Rob was not alone in his obsession or his collecting. Working alongside was (and is) Jim Snyder, who has himself amassed a significant collection of paintings and works on paper focused on the artists of the Susquehanna River, and other community leaders and art collectors, Joe Deerin, Donna Deerin, and Phil Wenger, later joined by Molly Kinsley.
Since 2024, much has transpired to move the collection and eventual museum from a personal quest to a professional endeavor that has already resulted in significant growth with several new acquisitions. In May of 2025, the Friends of the Susquehanna River Art Collection was established as a non-profit organization; the Friends purchased Rob’s collection, and in December of 2025, Jim Snyder donated 19 major paintings and works on paper. The collection now holds many key new acquisitions via purchase and gifts.
American Identity: Restoring the Susquehanna River’s Creative Legacy offers a broad audience a first look at the major holdings of the Susquehanna River Art Collection, and is the first step in the road towards firmly solidifying the important legacy of the art and artists who were, and are, inspired by the river.
Terrie Sultan is the Founding Director at Art Museum Strategies and the former director of the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY