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

December 10, 2020 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

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

Urban Cries: Street Hawkers’ Shouts in New York & London

November 23, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Pictures of street hawkers with their trade shouts recorded in captions of poetry or prose are known as “Cries.” They first appeared in Paris around 1500. This early creation of an urban iconography included socially marginal people such as vagrants, beggars, prostitutes, and others.

Fifty years later, these images were established as a stylistic category across Europe. Eventually, they would make their way to New York. [Read more…] about Urban Cries: Street Hawkers’ Shouts in New York & London

Study: Most Migratory Birds Rely On a Greening World

November 1, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A new study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology confirms that most birds — but not all — synchronize their migratory movements with seasonal changes in vegetation greenness.

The study’s authors say it’s the first of its kind to cover the Western Hemisphere during the year-long life cycle of North American migratory birds that feed on vegetation, seeds, nectar, insects, or meat. The findings were published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. [Read more…] about Study: Most Migratory Birds Rely On a Greening World

Bat Week: Protecting Bat Populations

October 27, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In observance of Bat Week, an internationally recognized week-long focus on raising awareness about the important role bats play in our environment, avoid visiting caves and mines that may serve as seasonal homes for hibernating bats at this time of year.

Human disturbance is especially harmful to the State’s bat populations since the arrival of the disease known as white-nose syndrome, a fungus that has killed more than 90 percent of bats at hibernation sites in New York. [Read more…] about Bat Week: Protecting Bat Populations

Early Images of the Adirondacks: Science, Art, Tourism

October 22, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The 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