History, Natural History & the Arts
Recently libraries, archives, and museums around the globe featured some of their favorite maps and map-related records using #ArchivesYouAreHere.
Maps, atlases, pocket maps, maritime charts and other cartographic materials contain a wealth of information about places in New York State.
Here are some tips on how to find them: [Read more…] about Finding Historic Maps: Tips from the New York Almanack
DEC has launched an ArcGIS Dashboard to provide stakeholders with a simple and direct platform to access data and information relevant to the Upper Susquehanna Basin and Chesapeake Bay TMDL in New York State. [Read more…] about Upper Susquehanna Watershed Dashboard Launched
Time is often referred to as a human construct, but time zones are definitely man-made, and they have a direct connection to Charles Dowd of Saratoga Springs and the month of November, when standard time began in 1883, and 21 years later when time ran out for Charles.
Local time once was set by the noon mark. Noon was defined to be the time at which the sun was directly overhead. This meant, for every approximately 69 miles traveled west, the moment of noon differed by four minutes. For example, the clocks in Boston were set about three minutes ahead of clocks in Worcester, MA. [Read more…] about Saratoga’s Charles Dowd & The Origin of Eastern Standard Time
There is a nationwide movement to reconsider the names of places and teams and to stop honoring racists and racist symbols. The Cleveland Indians will soon be no more; the baseball team will be known as the Cleveland Guardians. The Washington Redskins are now the Washington Football Team while a new name is being considered. A bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a slave trader, a Confederate general responsible for atrocities committed against African American troops serving in the United States army, and a founder of the terrorist Ku Klux Klan, was finally removed from the state capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee. Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced the Reconciliation in Place Names Act to create a special advisory committee to investigate and propose changes to offensive place names. There remain thousands of towns, lakes, streams, creeks and mountains in the United States with racist names.
In New York City, Eric Adams, the Democratic Party candidate for Mayor, pledges to rename streets and buildings named after slave-owners. The name of a Bronx Park was recently changed from Mullaly to Foster. John Mullaly was indicted during the Civil War for inciting a draft riot that led to the murder of African Americans on the streets of Manhattan. The Reverend Wendell Foster was a Bronx community activist who campaigned to have the park restored.
The following Manhattan streets are named for slaveholders and slave traders: [Read more…] about Manhattan Street Names Tied to Slavery Listed from A to Z
A sculpture of Brigadier General Peter Gansevoort stands in a city park named in his honor at Rome, Oneida County, NY. This bronze, dedicated November 8, 1906, was created by Emilio F. Piatti. It presents the General in dress uniform grasping his sword and holding what is perhaps one of the most impactful tools (or weapons) ever devised – an accurate map. [Read more…] about General Peter Gansevoort’s Map
Egbert Ludovicus Viele died on April 22nd, 1902 at the age of 77 in the city of New York after an eventful life that began in Waterford, New York.
He was born in 1825, son of Kathlyne Schuyler (Knickerboacker) and State Senator John L. Viele. The title of his newspaper obituary notice “Veteran of Two Wars and Indian Campaigns Passes Away” did little justice to his varied career, nor his personal foibles. [Read more…] about Egbert Ludovicus Viele: Engineer, Soldier, Politician
The Raquette River, from Raquette Falls to the State Boat Launch on Tupper Lake, is one of the nicest stretches of flat-water anywhere in the Adirondacks. Paddling this river corridor under a clear cerulean blue sky, on a sunny autumn day with the riverbanks ablaze in orange and red, is exquisite. For me, though, the river’s history is as captivating as its natural beauty. [Read more…] about Dam History: The Proposed Oxbow Reservoir Project
Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX), has received a $60,500 grant from the Digitizing Hidden Collections program of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning. [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Grant Will Digitize Maps, Photos
Did you know that maps have social lives? Maps facilitate a lot of different social and political relationships between people and nations. And they did a lot of this work for Americans throughout the early American past.
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Martin Brückner, a Professor of English at the University of Delaware, joins us to discuss early American maps and early American mapmaking with details from his book The Social Life of Maps in America, 1750-1860 (Omohundro Institute, 2017). You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/177
In the history of mountain climbing in New England, the first ascent of Mt. Washington happened in 1642 with Darby Field as the climber.
Over the years, however, there has been great speculation as to the route that Field took to the summit. Most early speculation assumed that his main goal was to climb the mountain, and that he then took the most direct route as he came in from the Maine coast.
That route would have taken him up the Cutler River and then up the southeast side of Mt. Washington, the Northeast’s tallest mountain. This is the side with Pinkham Notch and Tuckermans Ravine. For many years, this was the “conventional wisdom” regarding this ascent. Then, as referenced in the article below, an ancient letter surfaced that indicated Field had taken an entirely different route to the summit. This different route, as described in the Watermans’ Forest and Crag (1989), included going over several other summits and passing by what are now known as “Lakes of the Clouds.” With this new evidence, the Watermans could clear up much of the earlier speculation regarding Field’s route, but they still admitted that they did not know why Field climbed Mt. Washington. [Read more…] about In Climbing Mt Washington, Darby Field May Have Sought Lake Champlain