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
Intellectual History
Dr Helen Hosmer’s Rural Healthcare in the US & Canada
In 1934, Doctor Helen Hosmer opened a physician’s office on West Street in the Village of Galway, in Saratoga County, NY. Originally from Billerica, Massachusetts, when Hosmer arrived in Galway, she was 50 years old, and though an experienced chemist and scientist, she was just beginning her career as a physician. [Read more…] about Dr Helen Hosmer’s Rural Healthcare in the US & Canada
Medical History: Vaccination Science & The Transatlantic Bridge
Second President of the United States John Adams held the post of envoy to the Netherlands from 1780 to 1782. He secured the States General’s recognition of American independence in April 1782, the second country in the world to do so, after France; obtained a five million guilders loan (carrying an interest rate of five percent) from a consortium of Amsterdam bankers; and signed a “Treaty of Amity and Commerce” between the two nations. While his wife Abigail remained in America, he had brought his sons John Quincy and Charles with him, living in the heart of Amsterdam at Keizersgracht 529. [Read more…] about Medical History: Vaccination Science & The Transatlantic Bridge
The NYS Cultural Education Center Turns 50
Half a century ago, New York State opened the doors to the Cultural Education Center in Albany, creating a landmark public home where generations of New Yorkers and visitors from around the world could explore the history, culture, scholarship, and heritage that define the Empire State.
Opened on July 1, 1976, the Cultural Education Center has served for 50 years as the home of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education, which includes the New York State Museum, New York State Library, and New York State Archives. [Read more…] about The NYS Cultural Education Center Turns 50
Bern Dibner: Electrical Engineer, Industrialist, and Historian of Science
In 1903, Ashkenazi Jews in Ukraine suffered systemic discrimination and severe poverty. Brutally enforcing residency laws, officers conducted nighttime raids and expelled those who lacked proper paperwork. A wave of (state-sanctioned) antisemitic attacks throughout the Russian Empire caused panic and displacement.
This persecution preceded the terrifying pogrom in Kyiv (Kiev) in October 1905. By that time, the Dibner family, like many fellow Jews, had fled from repression to New York City and settled in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. [Read more…] about Bern Dibner: Electrical Engineer, Industrialist, and Historian of Science
Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations
At present, politicians London and Washington are alert to Beijing’s attempts to exploit Anglo-American technology. They are weary of China stealing trade secrets, copying methodologies, or obtaining sensitive business data, whilst Western companies continue to seek admission to the Chinese market.
Over time, Britain and America themselves have been involved in acts of intellectual property theft. In fact, the United States accuses China of similar illicit practices that helped its nascent industry leapfrog that of European rivals and come out as an industrial giant. The means used today may be more sophisticated, but the purpose of gaining a competitive edge remains the same. [Read more…] about Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations
History Classic ‘Black Legacy’ Updated and Reissued
William Loren Katz’s Black Legacy: A History of New York’s African Americans (Seven Stories Press edition, 2026) unveils the Black history of New York from 1609 to the present, for readers 12 and up.
A newly issued and revised edition includes a new intro and last chapter with insights on modern-day movements like Black Lives Matter, plus 50+ historical maps, illustrations, and photos. The book is considered essential for educators, libraries, and teens. [Read more…] about History Classic ‘Black Legacy’ Updated and Reissued
The Home Front: Domestic Disorder in British Occupied America
Prior to the American Revolution, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, British forces occupied every major city, invading the most private of spaces: the home.
By closely considering the dynamics of the household — how people moved within it, thought about it, and wielded power over it — The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence (Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press, 2025) by Lauren Duval reveals the ways in which occupation fundamentally upended the structures of colonial society and created opportunities for unprecedented economic and social mobility. [Read more…] about The Home Front: Domestic Disorder in British Occupied America
The Battle for Ulysses in Paris & New York
An outspoken critic of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, Jewish photojournalist Gisèle [Gisela] Freund fled her native Germany in 1933 with Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Having settled in Paris, she obtained her PhD at the Sorbonne in 1936 and would become the most talented chronicler of the vibrant and multi-national bohemian community of artists and writers that made its home in Paris during the 1930s.
By 1939, Freund had photographed many of the greatest writers and artists of the twentieth century, amongst them Henri Matisse, Samuel Beckett, T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Jean Cocteau, André Breton, Colette, André Malraux, Paul Valéry, Tennessee Williams, Peggy Guggenheim, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre. [Read more…] about The Battle for Ulysses in Paris & New York
Printing Nueva York: Spanish-Language Media and Democracy
In Printing Nueva York: Spanish-Language Print Culture, Media Change, and Democracy in the Late Nineteenth Century (NYU Press, 2026) by Kelley Kreitz, who leads the digital mapping project C19LatinoNYC.org, uncovers the network of Spanish-language writers and editors in 19th-century New York, whose media innovations fueled anti-colonial struggles and democratic ideals.
At the end of the nineteenth century, New York City was a vital hub for writers from Latin America, providing a haven of press freedom and the latest printing technology. [Read more…] about Printing Nueva York: Spanish-Language Media and Democracy
Art Dealer William Schaus, Sugar Baron Henry Havemeyer & America’s First Rembrandt
The “Gilded Age,” a term coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 novel of that title, indicates a period in American history from the 1870s to the early 1900s in which rapid industrialization and growing prosperity contrasted with extreme poverty and social deprivation.
The era encountered an evolving cultural landscape. Tycoons like Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, J. P. Morgan and others used their fortunes to collect art, build museums or sponsor libraries. Critics argued that these “robber barons” masked the exploitation of the workforce by acts of cultural philanthropy. [Read more…] about Art Dealer William Schaus, Sugar Baron Henry Havemeyer & America’s First Rembrandt
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Thomas Nast & Chinese American History
Migration from Asia to the United States was minimal before the 1800s, but facing poverty and political instability large numbers of Chinese residents began looking a better life in the West from the 1840s onward.
Many would escape the Taiping Rebellion, a large-scale civil war that had started in 1850. Lasting for fourteen years, violence and persecution encompassed much of Southern China, pushing citizens away from their traditional homes. [Read more…] about Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Thomas Nast & Chinese American History
Gabriel Wells: Manhattan Bookseller & Biblioclast
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in America are often described as a “Golden Age” of book collecting. Driven by a desire for cultural aura, wealthy individuals and prestigious institutions acquired unique manuscripts and incunabula as well as rare printed books. Well-stocked bookcases were considered an emblem of wisdom. Part of Europe’s literary heritage was shifted across the Atlantic to the United States.
The antiquarian book trade flourished; specialist auction houses reflected the spending power of the era’s elite. Some critics have referred to this collecting rage as a “gentle madness.” It was worse than that. [Read more…] about Gabriel Wells: Manhattan Bookseller & Biblioclast
New York’s Enlightenment Legacy: Science and Social Mobility
The French Revolution abolished the privileges that were traditionally reserved to noblemen. Military careers were opened to all talent instead. [Read more…] about New York’s Enlightenment Legacy: Science and Social Mobility
Ventriloquism & America’s First Modern Public Libraries
New York-born John Bigelow started his career in 1849 as co-owner with William Cullen Bryant of the New York Evening Post. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him Consul in Paris and promoted him to American Ambassador four years later.
His diplomatic efforts were aimed at influencing the French in favor of the federal government. Working with Charles Francis Adams, U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom, he blocked political attempts to have France and Britain intervene in the Civil War on behalf of the Confederacy, thus paving the way for the United States victory. [Read more…] about Ventriloquism & America’s First Modern Public Libraries
Elizabeth Glover & The Founding of Harvard University Press
At the start of Elizabeth I’s reign in 1558, a desire was expressed that the role and position of the Church of England should be explained. As a consequence, a stream of devotional and exegetical publications designed for Protestant edification flooded the market. Printers gained a prominent place in the process.
From the outset women were active participants in the trade. They looked after the well-being of young apprentices in the shop and worked alongside men as printer’s devils and compositors. They managed the distribution of printed matter, the sale of stationery and kept the books. [Read more…] about Elizabeth Glover & The Founding of Harvard University Press
The City Beautiful Movement & Audrey Marie Munson
A
n allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which symbolic figures and imagery are used to represent abstract ideas. From ancient Greek art onward, artists have employed allegory to convey moral or religious messages through visual signs that require interpretation to uncover deeper meanings.
Sculpture has for long been seen as the perfect medium for its exploration and expression. More than anything else, public sculpture connects New York City with Paris. [Read more…] about The City Beautiful Movement & Audrey Marie Munson
Collecting for Posterity: America’s First Curators
Curators are the keepers or custodians of a museum, library or other collection. The term is derived from the Latin curare, meaning to take care. Its linguistic history is intriguing, but the connotation of “guardianship” was maintained throughout.
In Ancient Rome, curatores were civil servants in charge of public works, overseeing the Empire’s aqueducts, bathhouses and sewers. From the early fifteenth century onward to the medieval period, the curatus was a parish priest devoted to the care (cura) of minors, “lunatics,” and other vulnerable people. During the 1660s, individuals charged with the care and preservation of precious collections of art, books and artifacts (initially at private estates) were referred to as curators. [Read more…] about Collecting for Posterity: America’s First Curators
Red Scare Mania: The Karl Marx of Music
Composer Hanns (Johannes) Eisler was born in July 1898 in Leipzig, Saxony, where his Austrian father Rudolf worked as an academic. The family moved to Vienna in 1901 and settled in Leopoldstadt, a district known for its large Jewish population. Being an outspoken atheist (although of Jewish descent), Rudolf was denied a post at Vienna University and worked for the publisher Werner Klinkhardt as editor for a series of books on philosophy and sociology. [Read more…] about Red Scare Mania: The Karl Marx of Music
Trekking After Thoreau in the Berkshires and Catskills
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), born in Concord, Massachusetts, is an unexpected yet fitting figure in New York’s literary landscape. Though New York seldom appears in his writings, his experiences in the state profoundly influenced his life and work, particularly his famed experiment at Walden Pond.
In July 1844, Thoreau embarked on a solo hike through Adams, Massachusetts — the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony — and ascended Mount Greylock via the Bellows Pipe Trail. [Read more…] about Trekking After Thoreau in the Berkshires and Catskills