History

Bakelite is returning to its birthplace in Yonkers, when the Hudson River Museum hosts an exhibit of 300 objects from the Amsterdam Bakelite Collection in an exhibit that runs from Feb. 6 to June 6.

The exhibit, “Bakelite in Yonkers: Pioneering the Age of Plastics,” marks the first time that this European collection returns to Yonkers, where Leo Baekeland invented the first synthetic plastic in 1907.

Dutch collector/producer Reindert Groot has gathered about 4,000 objects and documents related to Bakelite over the past 20 years. Designs by Raymond Loewy, Philip Starck, and other important names are included.

The exhibit also will include pieces on loan from the Yonkers Historical Society and Hugh Karraker, one of Baekeland’s great grand children.

Rare objects include a 1906 travel log handwritten by Baekeland, a silver goose quill he received as a wedding present, and several awards.