The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will permanently close its Philadelphia museum to the public on Sunday, September 27, 2026. “For nearly 200 years, the museum has been a welcoming space, creating memories for generations of families, schoolchildren, nature lovers and scientists,” an announcement made to the public says. “The Academy is more, however, than the galleries and display areas. Our collections containing more than 19 million specimens and our critical scientific research must be prioritized.” [Read more…] about One of America’s Oldest Natural History Museums Closing
covid
New Book Documenting COVID Demonstrates Need to Record Historical Events
Robert Snyder’s new book When the City Stopped: Stories From New York’s Essential Workers (Three Hills, 2025) is an oral history of New York City during the COVID pandemic. Snyder, who is Manhattan Borough Historian, includes interviews assembled by a number of programs during the crisis and his own interviews a couple of years ago, after it ended.
The book brings out the experiences of 45 New Yorkers who lived through the crisis, including sometimes-neglected groups such as transit workers, supermarket check-out clerks, and food delivery people. [Read more…] about New Book Documenting COVID Demonstrates Need to Record Historical Events
Percentage of New Yorkers With Mental Illness Rises, While Facility Beds Decline
The mental health needs of New Yorkers have greatly increased, with 21.1% of adults struggling with mental illness and 5.1% with a severe mental illness in 2021-2022, according to federal data. At the same time the State saw a loss of 990 beds, a 10.5% drop in capacity, in inpatient psychiatric facilities statewide between April 2014 and December 2023. [Read more…] about Percentage of New Yorkers With Mental Illness Rises, While Facility Beds Decline
Albany’s Spectrum and Madison Theaters Announce Closures
Two independent movie theaters in Albany have announced their closing. Landmark Spectrum 8 Theaters on Delaware Avenue, and Madison Theatre on Madison Avenue announced the news last week on back-to-back days. [Read more…] about Albany’s Spectrum and Madison Theaters Announce Closures
State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid Named Open Space Institute CEO, President
The Open Space Institute (OSI) has announced that New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) Commissioner Erik Kulleseid will serve as its next President and CEO.
The selection of Commissioner Kulleseid marks his return to OSI. During his original eight-year stint at OSI, Kulleseid oversaw the creation of OSI’s parks initiative aimed at making protected land more accessible and welcoming to all people, according to the announcement. [Read more…] about State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid Named Open Space Institute CEO, President
Poetry: New York’s First Responders
New York’s First Responders
Reflexive and fearless
They rush into burning towers
Or deliver life support in the face
Of an invisible killer virus
These humble heroes
Keep us safe and secure
God bless and protect
New York’s first responders
Officials Say Adirondack Tourism Thrived During Pandemic
Between 2019 and 2022, through the height (or depths) of the pandemic, tourism exploded in the Lake George region, the Adirondacks and throughout New York State, according to reports released by Governor Kathy Hochul’s office in September. [Read more…] about Officials Say Adirondack Tourism Thrived During Pandemic
Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe
When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife Patricia took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they’d rescued, she’d be a temporary presence. But Alfie’s feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care.
As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a part of the family, joining a menagerie of dogs and chickens and making a home for herself in the backyard. Carl and Patricia began to realize that the healing was mutual; Alfie had been braided into their world and was now pulling them into hers. [Read more…] about Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe
Data Shows Libraries Recovering From Pandemic, Extending Services
The past several years of New York State’s public and association library annual reports highlight some promising trends as libraries recover from the pandemic. COVID-19 hit libraries hard, negatively impacting nearly every measure of library success. [Read more…] about Data Shows Libraries Recovering From Pandemic, Extending Services
A National Snapshot of United States Museums
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has released findings from the latest iteration of an annual survey assessing the current state of museums in the United States. Over 300 museum directors responded to this AAM survey on their organizations’ behalf, representing a broad cross-section of the field in geography, size, and discipline. [Read more…] about A National Snapshot of United States Museums
Report: Visits to History Organizations Rising Dramatically
The Public History Research Lab of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has issued it’s National Visitation Report. This report is the only national effort to analyze trends in visitation at history organizations of all types and sizes, all across the United States. [Read more…] about Report: Visits to History Organizations Rising Dramatically
A Short History of Spitting: TB, Influenza, Covid and Public Policy in New York City
On his tour of America Charles Dickens was disgusted by the “odious practices of chewing and expectorating” tobacco, a “filthy custom” that he had observed in both streets and public buildings. From courts of law to hospitals, spittoons could be seen where men were permitted to “spit incessantly” (American Notes, chapter VIII). [Read more…] about A Short History of Spitting: TB, Influenza, Covid and Public Policy in New York City
Did Covid Reshape Adirondack and NYS School Enrollments?
The answer appears to be not so much. School district enrollment trends in New York State have been consistent for the last few decades, and an assessment of enrollment numbers over the last five years doesn’t show a big or lasting change to these trends.
Here’s an analysis: [Read more…] about Did Covid Reshape Adirondack and NYS School Enrollments?
Poetry: Toward a Covid School of Poetry
Toward a Covid School of Poetry
Dante self-quarantined for the Black Death,
which killed his muse Beatrice, as well as
Francesco Petrarch’s muse Laura, inventing
modern poetry, even as it killed one-third
of Europe’s population. Folks fear bears
and mountain lions now, but lowly fleas,
rat-vectored, proved the executioners,
to become the world’s most deadly being.
Dear Museums: Host A Polling Site
This open letter to the museum community was written by New York State Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell, Chair of the NYS Assembly Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts, and Sports Development and shared by the Museum Association of New York (MANY).
Across New York, museums serve as anchors as well as reflections of your communities. Your missions to connect individuals to culture, history, and information is deeply needed and commendable. [Read more…] about Dear Museums: Host A Polling Site
Bruce Dearstyne: Making Use of New York’s Usable Past
New York, the nation’s historically most important state, has a lot of history worth exploring and sharing more extensively. That history is particularly useful for perspective on current critical public issues.
Many of these are discussed in a historical vacuum, as if they have never been considered before. In fact they have, and history is a good place to start the discussion because it provides parallels, precedents, and perspectives. [Read more…] about Bruce Dearstyne: Making Use of New York’s Usable Past
Adirondack Gentrification: Resortification & Urbanization (Part 6)
Rural gentrification has appeared in almost every region, from Big Sky territory to the Rockies to Prairie Country to New England to the American South. Outside the United States, it has been documented in Spain, Turkey, Sweden, New Zealand, France, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, and especially Britain.
While the details vary from place to place, most gentrifying rural communities suffer the same consequences: the displacement of the rural working class, the decline of available space for social reproduction, and the aging of the vestigial population. Yet if rural America is united in its symptoms, it is divided by its disease. [Read more…] about Adirondack Gentrification: Resortification & Urbanization (Part 6)
NY State Parks, Historic Sites Set Attendance Record
New York’s State parks, historic sites, campgrounds, and trails welcomed a record-setting 78 million visitors in 2020 according to the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the state agency charged with the operation of New York State parks and historic sites
The milestone marks nine years of steady visitor growth and represents an overall increase of 34 percent, or more than 20 million visitors since 2011. [Read more…] about NY State Parks, Historic Sites Set Attendance Record
New Lake George ‘Winterfest’ Planned Amid Record COVID Cases
Despite record numbers of COVID deaths nationally, organizers of a new WinterFest are inviting tourists to visit Lake George’s bars and restaurants over four weekends of February according to an announcement sent to the press Tuesday.
Organizers of the Lake George Winter Carnival, which has been held since 1961, announced in November that their event was cancelled over concerns for the safety of volunteers and visitors. That Winter Carnival typically packs the village’s bars and restaurant and is a major boon for business owners. [Read more…] about New Lake George ‘Winterfest’ Planned Amid Record COVID Cases