History, Natural History & the Arts
In colonial times Americans encouraged immigration, even in the Declaration of Independence.
“He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither,” Patriots wrote in reference to King George III’s limits on immigration to the colonies. [Read more…] about Genealogy Workshop: 19th-Century Immigrant Ancestor Travel
In 1934, Doctor Helen Hosmer opened a physician’s office on West Street in the Village of Galway, in Saratoga County, NY. Originally from Billerica, Massachusetts, when Hosmer arrived in Galway, she was 50 years old, and though an experienced chemist and scientist, she was just beginning her career as a physician. [Read more…] about Dr Helen Hosmer’s Rural Healthcare in the US & Canada
After the Second World War, Lake George underwent a remarkable transformation. In this episode of the ADK Talks podcast, Lisa Hall of The Bolton Museum and Tony Hall, publisher of the Lake George Mirror and a regular contributor to New York Almanack, explore how rising prosperity, automobiles, roadside motels, Storytown, and the Adirondack Northway helped turn Lake George into one of the Northeast’s great family vacation destinations. [Read more…] about How Lake George Became A Vacation Destination
In late July the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs debuted a new one-of-a-kind exhibition, “Equine Eyes,” during an open house.
The exhibit is an interactive, research-driven presentation designed to simulate how horses perceive the world. [Read more…] about Equine Eyes: A New Way of Looking at Things
Before I-87, Route 9, and the railroad, the fastest way to reach the Town of Chester, NY, in Northern Warren County was over a plank road, part of a trend of wood surfaced roads that began in the late 1830s. [Read more…] about The Warrensburg-Chestertown Plank Road, 1850-1911
Mingle with history enthusiasts while enjoying a selection of local beer, 18th century punch (with or without alcohol), and hors d’ oeuvres at a History Happy Hour at Albany’s Schuyler Mansion. [Read more…] about History Happy Hour: Revisit the Revolution at Schuyler Mansion
Buffalo‘s Puerto Rican Roberto Clemente League was founded in the 1970s to create a Hispanic baseball league and included the Leones (Lions), the Boricuas (Puerto Ricans), and the Caribes (Piranhas).
The league grew throughout the 1980s, eventually including many other teams and creating a women’s softball team. [Read more…] about Buffalo’s Hispanic Roberto Clemente League
At the turn of the twentieth century, grocery retailing was still dominated by small, independently owned stores operating under what was commonly known as the “service” or “credit-and-delivery” model.
In this system, goods were kept behind a counter; clerks retrieved items upon request; and purchases were frequently charged to customer accounts and delivered to the home. Even early chain grocers followed this pattern. [Read more…] about Grocers & The Rise of the Supermarket Chain
Most people have seen surveyors at work — marking boundaries, determining distances, angles and positions. It’s the kind of essential data necessary for all types of construction projects, and is an ongoing endeavor for all cities.
The New York City Municipal Archives holds a variety of records from government agencies responsible for surveying what now are the five boroughs, ranging from Brooklyn maps documenting 19th century road placement to aerial photographic maps from the 20th century. One notable collection of maps and notebooks depicts waterfront development. [Read more…] about Mapping NYC’s Historic Waterfront Development
Women’s Equality Day, celebrated on August 26th, commemorates the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920 which ensured that most white women were no longer barred from voting due to their gender. The day also honors ongoing efforts toward full gender equality.
First celebrated in 1971 following the 1970 nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality, it was established by Congress in 1973 after a resolution was introduced by New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug (1920-1998). [Read more…] about Women’s Equality Day Events: 250 Years of Marching Toward Equality
Over the last three-plus decades, Bill Kauffman has written about and interviewed upstate New York novelists, politicians, and civic activists who have given the region much of its interest to the author.
Upstaters: Poets, Pols, Prophets and Bush-League Heroes of Upstate New York (SUNY Press, 2026) collects these into a single volume. [Read more…] about Upstaters: Poets, Pols, Prophets & Bush-League Heroes
Alice Mabel Allen (1886-1976) grew up in the village of Adams in Jefferson County. In 1908, while attending Syracuse University, Mabel, as she was known, kept a diary which New York Almanack is publishing each week.
Monday, August 24
Ironed the napkins and a white waist which I had washed when I first came down. While Edna [her sister] went in bathing I got the dinner, making corn muffins. In the P.M. Winston Phelps came over to spend a few days with the Dunmores and was over to play croquet with us and Grace Huson. Russell, Della and I got the supper. [Read more…] about Mabel Allen’s 1908 Diary: A Picnic at Chaumont
The fisher, once all but extinct in the Adirondacks, has now firmly re-established itself here. According to John Davis, an Essex County writer and activist affiliated with the New Mexico-based Rewilding Institute, the fisher is “a rewilding success story.” [Read more…] about Rewilding: Wildways Create Wild Connections
Yesterday afternoon we had the pleasure of visiting the new and beautiful steam boat James Kent, now lying at the foot of Liberty street [in the City of New York].
Through the politeness of Capt. Wiswall and Mr. Rhind, we enjoyed an opportunity of examining her from stem to stern, above and below, and of obtaining such facts, as will enable us to give a pretty accurate description of this superb vessel, which in many respects surpasses any boat, that has ever floated upon our waters. [Read more…] about A Trip to Albany on the Steamboat James Kent, August 1823
Members of Historic Saranac Lake (HSL) and contributors to the museum’s recent expansion project were at a ribbon cutting on August 15 at the newly refurbished the Trudeau Building.
Honorary Chair of the campaign, Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau was the guest of honor. Trudeau’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all practiced medicine in the new museum building at 118 Main Street in Saranac Lake. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake Opens Expanded Museum Campus
In November 1940, Clayton Bly, a lumber company employee and a military veteran of World War I (1914–1918), unearthed two cannonballs from the Virgin Hollow neighborhood of Lake George.
At the time, Bly probably did not realize he stumbled upon a little understood chapter of Lake George’s colonial history. [Read more…] about Cannonballs & Lake George’s Colonial Military History
The “Glich account” (also spelled Glick) is a famously romanticized, fictionalized memoir of the 1777 Battle of Bennington.
Supposedly penned by a German veteran serving under Brunswick Lieutenant-Colonel Friedrich Baum, the text has masqueraded as an authentic primary source for nearly two centuries. [Read more…] about The Glich Account: Battle of Bennington History, Fiction & AI
This stunt, certainly, would have been harder to pull off in the era before Photoshop and artificial intelligence:
“Amherst College students perpetuated a practical joke this afternoon when they sent out news stories and photographs showing United States Senator Frederick H. Gillett (1851-1935) minus his celebrated beard,” The Glens Falls Times reported on June 17, 1925. “Senator Gillett, found by newspaper correspondents, was still wearing the beard.” [Read more…] about 1925’s Lighter Side of Political History
Second President of the United States John Adams held the post of envoy to the Netherlands from 1780 to 1782. He secured the States General’s recognition of American independence in April 1782, the second country in the world to do so, after France; obtained a five million guilders loan (carrying an interest rate of five percent) from a consortium of Amsterdam bankers; and signed a “Treaty of Amity and Commerce” between the two nations. While his wife Abigail remained in America, he had brought his sons John Quincy and Charles with him, living in the heart of Amsterdam at Keizersgracht 529. [Read more…] about Medical History: Vaccination Science & The Transatlantic Bridge
Keith McKeever, retiring Public Information Director at the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), accepted much-deserved recognition at their recent meeting for his many years of admirable public service. In his short acceptance remarks, Keith implored all listening “to hold the line” for the Adirondack Park’s open space.
Keith’s message, as I recall it, was that the goal of protecting private open space is connected quite directly to the goal of more community development including necessary infrastructure directed to the Park’s settled areas in Hamlet and Moderate Intensity Use areas. [Read more…] about A Common Adirondack Public and Private Stewardship
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