• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Guest Contributor

Contribute an essay to the New York Almanack here.

Hibernation: How It Works

February 4, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Black bear mother and cubs denning courtesy National Park Service Mammals and birds are endotherms, which means they generate their own body heat through relatively high metabolic rates. That high metabolism requires energy, which these animals garner from food. We typically think of endotherms as warm-blooded; however, some of them are not warm all of the time.

Most active birds and mammals maintain relatively high and stable body temperatures – often around 100 degrees. But they also lose heat to the surrounding environment, especially during the cold winter months. [Read more…] about Hibernation: How It Works

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: black bears, nature, Science, small mammals, Wildlife, winter

Hair Ice and Frost Flowers

February 4, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

TOS_FrostFlowersIf you are out walking on a winter morning, you might be lucky enough to see some of nature’s most beautiful and ephemeral sights: hair ice and frost flowers, both snow-white and delicate against the dull forest floor. [Read more…] about Hair Ice and Frost Flowers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: fungi, ice, Native Plants, nature, Wildlife, winter

Chinese Restaurant History in New York City

February 2, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Canton RestaurantThe first known Chinese restaurant in America, Canton Restaurant, is believed to have opened in San Francisco in 1849. Today, according to the Chinese American Restaurant Association, more than 45,000 Chinese restaurants operate across the United States, more than all the McDonald’s, KFCs, Pizza Huts, Taco Bells and Wendy’s combined.

Their story begins with Chinese immigrants to California in the mid-nineteenth century — mostly from Canton province — drawn by the Gold Rush of 1849 and fleeing economic problems and famine in China. Though some headed to the gold fields, most Chinese immigrants to the San Francisco Bay area provided services for the miners as traders, grocers, merchants and restaurant owners. [Read more…] about Chinese Restaurant History in New York City

Filed Under: Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Asian-American, Culinary History, Cultural History, Gold Rush of 1849, Immigration, Labor History, Manhattan, New York City

Active Dissent: 1970s College Protests in New York

January 31, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Active Dissent - 1970s College ProtestsOn May 8th, 1972, New Paltz students went from dorm to dorm at the state university, pulling fire alarms, their reaction quick and spontaneous. Few students had television sets, but word spread quickly about President Nixon’s broadcast announcing he had ordered the mining of North Vietnam ports.

Just hours after Nixon’s address, around midnight, the college’s assistant director of housing placed a frantic call to campus security. [Read more…] about Active Dissent: 1970s College Protests in New York

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Columbia University, Cornell University, Education, New Paltz, New York State Archives, Political History, Richard Nixon, State Police, SUNY New Paltz, Vietnam War

Russell Shorto: The Dutch-American Perspective

January 29, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Children playing in the churchyard of St. Mark’s-in-the-Bowery, 1994The work that historians do influences their lives, especially if they spend a considerable time in a foreign land that they write about. Slowly, their topic of choice becomes an essential part of their identity. Russell Shorto, a renowned writer of narrative history, writes about his own evolution at the intersection of Dutch-American history.

This essay concerns itself with the intersection of Dutch and American history. Previous posts have explored slavery in New Amsterdam, the naming – and renaming – of that city, and John Adams’ role as unofficial ambassador to the Netherlands during the American war of independence. As I pondered the task of contributing to that lineup, and scrolled through a mental list of possible topics, it occurred to me that, as I have lived at the intersection of Dutch and American history for more than twenty years, my own identity, and its evolution over that time, might be a relevant topic. [Read more…] about Russell Shorto: The Dutch-American Perspective

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Academia, Dutch History, Henry Hudson, Museums, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New Netherland Institute, New Netherland Project, New Netherland Research Center, New York City, Public History, Publishing, Writing

An 1896 ‘Old Timers’ Boxing Event in New York City

January 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Professor Mike Donovan (on right) helping his son train in boxing, ca1910sThe following essay was published in the “The World Of Sport” column in The [Troy] Daily Times on December 15, 1896.

Pugilistic champions of other days and of the present time passed in rapid review before a crowd of 2,500 sports in the Broadway Athletic Club last night. There was a rare galaxy of them. [Read more…] about An 1896 ‘Old Timers’ Boxing Event in New York City

Filed Under: History, New York City, Recreation Tagged With: boxing, Gambling, Manhattan, New York City, Social History, Sports History, Vice

David Lowe Dodge: The Merchant Peacemaker

January 24, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

David Lowe Dodge by Charles HowlettWhile carrying a large sum of money on a business trip in 1805, the well-to-do city of New York merchant, David Low Dodge, who had been fast asleep in a tavern, was suddenly awakened by the noise of someone jiggling the lock to his bedroom door. Startled by the rattling doorknob and as the door slowly opened, Dodge, not taking any chances, quietly turned and reached for the pistol he always carried for protection.

And then, just before he was about to discharge his pistol, he recognized the suspected intruder as the innkeeper who had come to prepare the room for other guests. [Read more…] about David Lowe Dodge: The Merchant Peacemaker

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: New York City, New York State Archives, Pacifism, Peace Studies, Religious History, War of 1812

Becoming Barnum: Going It Like a Rush

January 23, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastIn this episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, we dive into P.T. Barnum‘s 1846 letters to his uncle Alanson Taylor. He shares his business advice for their partnership in the Baltimore Museum, emphasizing the importance of good systems, press relations, and gradual improvements.

He also expresses disdain for previous museum managers and their lack of physical improvements. [Read more…] about Becoming Barnum: Going It Like a Rush

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Museums, Podcasts, PT Barnum

Sam Hill: Folklore & History Of A Saratoga Resident

January 22, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Sam Hill Painting - Laurence White PhotographyThough perhaps a dying proverb, “What in Sam Hill?!” used to be commonplace as an expression of exasperation. A quick internet search will point to several possible origin stories that explain where this phrase came from but the definitive truth remains elusive.

Could it be that a Saratoga County resident known by this common moniker contributed to this once-popular phrase? [Read more…] about Sam Hill: Folklore & History Of A Saratoga Resident

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abenaki, Folklore, Greenfield, Indigenous History, Mohawk, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Springs

Psychrophiles: Cold Lovers of Frigid Temperatures

January 21, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

psychrophilesWe humans tend to cringe at winter temperatures. We put on extra layers, crank up the thermostat, and wait impatiently for the tell-tale drip of spring thaw. However, there are plenty of tiny organisms all around us that aren’t just biding their time; they’re thriving in the bitter cold. If you could listen to as well as watch them under a microscope, you wouldn’t hear a single complaint about the temperature.

Psychrophiles, literally “cold lovers,” are organisms adapted to live at extremely cold temperatures. These are single-celled life forms, most often bacteria, but also blue green algae, yeasts, and fungi that can grow at temperatures as low as -13 degrees. [Read more…] about Psychrophiles: Cold Lovers of Frigid Temperatures

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Wildlife, winter

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 41
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Arlene Steinberg on How Animals Stay Warm In Winter
  • Caroline Booth Stafford on Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York
  • Craig DuMond on Wild Center Hosting Adirondack Building Conference
  • Olivia Twine on Men Arrested For Drinking, Driving and Hunting
  • Brian Madigan on Atlantic Yacht Club: A Brief History
  • Olivia Twine on The Return of the Ospreys
  • Dan on Joe Gingras: A Major League Baseball Career Thwarted By War
  • Christopher on Major John Andre: Officer, Gentleman, Spy
  • Arlene Steinberg on Men Arrested For Drinking, Driving and Hunting
  • Pat Boomhower on DEC Privatizes Management Planning for Popular Areas of Adirondack, Catskill Parks

Recent New York Books

Norman Rockwell's Models
The 1947 Utica Blue Sox Book Cover
vanishing point
From the Battlefield to the Stage
field of corpses
Madison's Militia
in the adirondacks
The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram
The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley

Secondary Sidebar

Mohawk Valley Trading Company Honey Syrup Candles
preservation league