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Geography

Mapping World War II: Archival Resources

June 21, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

71st Infantry Division - World War IIMaps and charts have always played an important role in the planning and execution of military operations. Military maps, nautical charts, and fortification plans form a significant part of the holdings in the Cartographic Branch of the National Archives.

Among these records include a recently digitized series of World War II Records from the Adjutant General’s Office of the War Department (Record Group 407). These records are available to view and download from the National Archives Catalog. [Read more…] about Mapping World War II: Archival Resources

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Geography, Maps, Military History, National Archives, World War Two

James Eights: An Albany Artist-Scientist Who Explored Antarctica in 1830

May 15, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

portrait of James EightsIn the late 1700s and early 1800s, there were a growing number of adventurers anxious to explore the sea, find new lands, chart new islands, and if they made their fortune while doing it, all the better.

There were also those just trying to get away from home and signing on to a whaling ship seemed the adventure of a lifetime. [Read more…] about James Eights: An Albany Artist-Scientist Who Explored Antarctica in 1830

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Institute For History and Art, Geography, Geology, James Eights, Marine Life, Maritime History, painting, Rensselaer County, RPI, Science History, Whaling, Wildlife

Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

April 25, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

The Roemer map of Albany 1698 showing fort orange and BeverwyckTjerck Claeszen DeWitt immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) from Grootholt in Zunterlant in 1656. Grootholt means Great Wood and Zunterland was probably located on the southern border of East Friesland, a German territory on the North Sea only ten miles from the most northerly province of the Netherlands.

By 1657, Tjerck DeWitt married Barber (Barbara) Andrieszen (also Andriessen) in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church and moved to Beverwyck (now Albany). While in Beverwyck, he purchased a house. At this time Albany contained 342 houses and about 1,000 residents, about 600 of whom were members of the Dutch Church. [Read more…] about Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, American Revolution, Aurelius, Brutus, Camillus, Cato, Cayuga County, Cicero, Cincinnatus, Dryden, Fabius, Galen, Geography, George Washington, Greece, Hannibal, Hector, Homer, Ithaca, Junius, Kingston, Locke, Lysander, Manlius, Maps, Marcellus, Military History, Milton, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Onondaga County, Ovid, Pompey, Rome, Romulus, Schenectady County, Scipio, Sempronius, Seneca County, Simeon DeWitt, Solon, Stirling, surveying, Syracuse, Thompkins County, Tully, Ulster County, Ulysses, Virgil, West Point, Yorktown

The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

March 21, 2022 by David Gibson 4 Comments

Paul Schaefer, back to camera, hosts an Adirondack discussion with, left to right, Joe Martens, Governor Mario Cuomo’s environmental secretary, standing in background with film camera Carl Schaefer, Paul’s brother, seated Dave Gibson with the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Dan Luciano, deputy environmental secretary for the governor, and on the stool Tom Cobb, Trustee and later President of the Board of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. Photo by Ken Rimany.The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks had hired me the previous winter. It was now the spring of 1987. Windows and doors were again opening to the hope and then the reality of spring’s warmth. The director of the Schenectady Museum William (Bill) Verner had given me, practically rent free, a desk and telephone from which to begin work as the Association’s first Executive Director in over 60 years.

It helped that Bill was a member of my board of trustees, and that his knowledge and love for the Adirondacks and Adirondack history from a home base in Long Lake was long and deep. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondack Research Library, Adirondacks, Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Geography, Maps, Mount Marcy, Paul Schaefer, Schenectady Museum, Union College

Finding Historic Maps: Tips from the New York Almanack

January 2, 2022 by Editorial Staff 8 Comments

Map of the CIty of Albany about 1770 by Robert YatesRecently 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

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Genealogy, Geography, Maps, Transportation History

Upper Susquehanna Watershed Dashboard Launched

December 15, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Upper Susquehanna Watershed Progress DashboardDEC 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

Filed Under: Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Chesapeake, DEC, Geography, pollution, Science, Susquehanna River, water quality

Saratoga’s Charles Dowd & The Origin of Eastern Standard Time

November 18, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Charles Ferdinand Dowd portrait (courtesy Library of Congress)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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Cultural History, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Geography, railroads, Saratoga County, Skidmore College, Transportation History

Manhattan Street Names Tied to Slavery Listed from A to Z

October 3, 2021 by Alan J. Singer 14 Comments

tombstone of Elias Desbrosses in Trinity Church yard. 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

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Geography, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, Slavery

General Peter Gansevoort’s Map

June 19, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

Gen. Gansevoort statueA 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

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Battle of Oriskany, Colonialism, Fort Stanwix, Geography, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Mapmakers, Maps, Military History, Native American History, Oneida Carrying Place, Oneida County, Oneida Lake, Oneida River, Peter Gansevoort, Rome

Egbert Ludovicus Viele: Engineer, Soldier, Politician

April 22, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Egbert Ludovicus Viele 1825-1902Egbert 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Engineering History, Geography, Landscape Architecture, Maps, Military History, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, West Point

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