New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Early America

Early Images of the Adirondacks: Science, Art, Tourism

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View of Caldwell, Lake George, by William Tolman CarltonThe first Europeans to see the Adirondack landscape of Northern New York came to explore, to document important military operations and fortifications, or to create maps and scientifically accurate images of the terrain, flora, and fauna.

These early illustrations filled practical needs rather than aesthetic ones.  In 1818, the Adirondacks was still a mysterious “wild, barren tract…covered with almost impenetrable Bogs, Marshes & Ponds, and the uplands with Rocks and evergreens.” [Read more…] about Early Images of the Adirondacks: Science, Art, Tourism

Mapping Empire in the Chesapeake

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ben_franklins_worldHow do empires come to be? How are empires made and who makes them?

What role do maps play in making empires?

Christian Koot is a Professor of History at Towson University and the author of A Biography of a Map in Motion: Augustine Herrman’s Chesapeake (NYU Press, 2017). Christian has researched and written two books about the seventeenth-century Anglo-Dutch World go better understand empires and how they are made. He joins us in this episode of Ben Franklin’s World to take us through his research and to share what one specific map, Augustine Herrman’s 1673 map Virginia and Maryland, reveals about empire and empire making. [Read more…] about Mapping Empire in the Chesapeake

The Money Question in Early America

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ben_franklins_worldWe read and hear a lot about money. We read and hear about fluctuations in the value of the Dollar, Pound, and Euro, interest rates and who can and can’t get access to credit, and we also read and hear about new virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra.

We talk a lot about money. But where did the idea of money come from?

Did early Americans think about money a lot too? [Read more…] about The Money Question in Early America

Life and Revolution in Boston, Grenada

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ben_franklins_worldWhat can a family history tell us about revolutionary and early republic America?

What can the letters of a wife and mother tell us about life in the Caribbean during the Age of Revolutions?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, we join Susan Clair Imbarrato, a Professor of English at Minnesota State University Moorhead and author of Sarah Gray Cary from Boston to Grenada: Shifting Fortunes of an American Family, 1753-1825 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018), to discover more about the letters of Sarah Gray Cart and what they reveal about how she and her family experienced the American Revolution on the island of Grenada. [Read more…] about Life and Revolution in Boston, Grenada

The Highland Soldier in North America

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ben_franklins_worldMuch of early American history comprises stories of empire and how different Native, European, and Euro-American nations vied for control of North American territory, resources, and people. [Read more…] about The Highland Soldier in North America

Frontiers of Science in Early America

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ben_franklins_worldWhat did early Americans think about science? And how did they pursue and develop their knowledge of it?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Cameron Strang, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno and author of Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1850 (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press, 2018) joins us to investigate the early American world of science and how early Americans developed their scientific knowledge. [Read more…] about Frontiers of Science in Early America

Virginia In 1619 (Ben Franklin’s World Podcast)

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ben_franklins_world2019 marks the 400th anniversary of two important events in American history: The creation of the first representative assembly in English North America and the arrival of the first African people in English North America.

Why were these Virginia-based events significant and how have they impacted American history?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a scholar of African American and American History and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norfolk State University, helps us find answers. [Read more…] about Virginia In 1619 (Ben Franklin’s World Podcast)

BFW Road Trip: Charlottesville, VA, James Monroe’s Highland

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ben_franklins_worldBetween 1789 and 1825, five men would serve as President of the United States. Four of them hailed from Virginia.

Many of us know details about the lives and presidencies of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. But what do we know about the life and presidency of the fourth Virginia president, James Monroe?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Sara Bon-Harper, Executive Director of James Monroe’s Highland, joins us to explore the public and private life of James Monroe. [Read more…] about BFW Road Trip: Charlottesville, VA, James Monroe’s Highland

A Visit To Schoharie Crossing (Liz Covart Podacst)

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ben_franklins_worldA “little short of madness.” That is how Thomas Jefferson responded when two delegates from New York approached him with the idea to build the Erie Canal in January 1809.

Jefferson’s comment did not discourage New Yorkers. On January 4, 1817, New York State began building a 363-mile long canal to link the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and the Midwest. [Read more…] about A Visit To Schoharie Crossing (Liz Covart Podacst)