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Albany

Science & Suckers: The Cohoes Mastodon & The Cardiff Giant

February 9, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Cohoes Mastodon exhibit at the New York State Museum, Albany New York (photo courtesy Kenneth C. Zirkel)In 1866, NY State Geologist James Hall received a message from T.G. Younglove, an official at Harmony Mills in Cohoes, New York, informing Hall that while conducting some excavations to expand the mill they uncovered a “great pothole” at the foot of Cohoes Falls where the Mohawk River begins to empty into the Hudson.

The “great pothole” contained a large jawbone “of some unknown beast,” much larger than that of an elephant. [Read more…] about Science & Suckers: The Cohoes Mastodon & The Cardiff Giant

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Archaeology, Board of Regents, Cohoes, Cooperstown, Farmers' Museum, Fossils, Geology, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Journalism, Mohawk River, Native American, nature, New York State Education Department, New York State Museum, Newspapers, Onondaga County, Otsego County, Paleontology, PT Barnum, Religious History, Science History, sculpture, Wildlife

Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

February 1, 2023 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

New York Herald, March 24, 1858Around 1800, Philip and Catharine Brotherson arrived in Blue Corners on the western edge of Charlton in Saratoga County. Over the next 40 years, their five children grew to maturity, the last being Benjamin Kissam Brotherson, born in 1819.

At the age of sixteen, Benjamin was hired as a clerk for the dry goods merchant James Winne in Albany, New York. During his time in Albany, he was known as an upstanding young man of good moral character. Three years later, in 1838, he moved to the city of New York and took a job at Union Bank, where he would work for the next twenty years. [Read more…] about Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Charlton, Crime and Justice, Financial History, Gambling, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Vice, Wall Street

Historian Don Rittner Launches New YouTube Series

January 31, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

history on the roadDon Rittner, newly appointed Executive Director of the Warren County Historical Society and a filmmaker and author of more than 50 books, has launched a new Youtube series, History on the Road.

[Read more…] about Historian Don Rittner Launches New YouTube Series

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Cherry Valley, Documentary, Duanesburgh, Esperance, Guilderland, Sharon Springs, Transportation History

New Book On New York’s Women Legislators 1919-1992

January 19, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Ladies Day at the CapitolThe new book Ladies Day at the Capitol: New York’s Women Legislators 1919-1992 (SUNY press, 2022) by Lauren Kozakiewicz integrates for the first time the history of New York’s women lawmakers with the larger story of New York State politics. [Read more…] about New Book On New York’s Women Legislators 1919-1992

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Albany, Political History, womens history

Racing Steamboats On The Hudson River

January 18, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

American Steamboats on the Hudson - Passing the Highlands (Library of Congress)The following texts are excerpts from various descriptions of racing steamboats on the Hudson River in 1830s, during the heyday of such speed trials.

“Racing On The Hudson,” Cortland Standard, September 25, 1909: “When steamboating was successfully established on the Hudson River it was natural that the owners and skippers of the various crafts that plied between New York and Albany should turn their attention to speed. Racing between boats of rival lines soon became a matter of almost daily occurrence. [Read more…] about Racing Steamboats On The Hudson River

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Albany, Engineering History, Gambling, Hudson River, Maritime History, New York City, Steamboating, Transportation History, Vice

US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels

January 10, 2023 by Alan J. Singer Leave a Comment

Robert E Lee Portrait at West PointIn 2023, the United States Military Academy will remove 13 Confederate symbols on its West Point campus. They include a portrait of Robert E. Lee dressed in a Confederate uniform, a stone bust of Lee, who was superintendent of West Point before the Civil War, and a bronze plaque with an image of a hooded figure and the words “Ku Klux Klan.”

Art displayed in the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, still includes images of 141 enslavers and 13 Confederates who went to war against the country. A study by the Washington Post found that more than one-third of the statues and portraits in the Capitol building honor enslavers or Confederates and at least six more honor possible enslavers where evidence is disputed. [Read more…] about US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, Albany, Alexander Hamilton, Alexander Macomb, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, Black History, Civil War, Daniel Webster, Edward Livingston, Fernando Wood, George Clinton, George Washington, Henry Clay, James Duane, James Madison, James Monroe, John Dickinson, John Tyler, Ku Klux Klan, Manhattan, Martin Van Buren, Morgan Lewis, New York City, Peter Stuyvesant, Political History, Richard Varick, Robert Livingston, Rufus King, Samuel Morse, Slavery, Thomas Jefferson, West Point, William Havemeyer

Archibald McIntyre’s Life In Lotteries, Politics & Adirondack Mines

January 8, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Archibald McIntyre courtesy Project GutenbergArchibald McIntyre was born in Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland on the June 1, 1772. His parents were Daniel and Anne Walker McIntyre. Daniel McIntyre taught school in Scotland.

In 1774, Daniel and his family immigrated to the colony of New York and settled with four or five other Scottish families in what is now Broadalbin in Fulton County, NY. [Read more…] about Archibald McIntyre’s Life In Lotteries, Politics & Adirondack Mines

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Archibald McIntyre, Broadalbin, Calamity Pond, Daniel D. Tompkins, Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, Essex County, Fulton County, High Peaks, Hudson River, Industrial History, Iron Industry, Ithaca and Owego Railroad, Lake Placid, Mining, Newcomb, North Elba, Political History, Tahawus, Timbuctoo

The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

December 30, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

Dudley Observatory first building in Albany ca 1880The Capital District’s Dudley Observatory is considered “the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical research in America.” Originally, it was located north-east of downtown Albany, NY.

Construction there began in 1852 and the facility was dedicated in 1857.  Albany’s Congressman Erastus Corning, the founder and first president of the New York Central Railroad, was instrumental in donating a high quality telescope and time-keeping system at the new Dudley Observatory in Albany. [Read more…] about The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Dudley Observatory, Erastus Corning, New York Central RR, New York City, railroads, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Science History, Siena College, Transportation History

A Short History of Christmas for New Yorkers

December 25, 2022 by Peter Hess 9 Comments

Albany children singings hymns to St. Nicholas on the Eve of the Feast of St. NicholasThe tale of St. Nicholas is an old fable from mid-Europe that was popular in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. St. Nicholas was the patron saint of children, merchants and sailors and the patron saint of Amsterdam and was brought by the Dutch to the new world, which for the Dutch was Nieuw Nederlandt (New Netherland).

Many of the American traditions on Santa Claus originated in the Dutch settlement of New Netherland along the Hudson River between New Amsterdam (New York City) and Oranje (Beverwyck-Albany). The other colonies were English. [Read more…] about A Short History of Christmas for New Yorkers

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Christmas, Cultural History, Dutch History, Holidays, Religious History, Rensselaer County, Rensselaerswijck, Troy

America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

December 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

America's First Christmas Card, Designed and printed by Richard H. Pease for his "Pease's Great Variety Store in the Temple of Fancy" c.1851. Image courtesy of Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections.Before F. W. Woolworths’, Whitney’s, or even Myer’s department store, there was Pease’s Great Variety Store, located in the Temple of Fancy at 516 and 518 Broadway in Albany, NY.

As with other fancy goods stores, Pease’s catered to the middle and upper middle class selling highly decorated goods like ceramics, prints, furniture and other decorative household items that progressively thinking people might have wanted to purchase. [Read more…] about America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New Exhibits Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Institute For History and Art, Art History, Christmas, Cultural History, Holidays, Instagram, Pop Culture History

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