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Maps

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

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

Empire State Trail Printed Map Now Available

December 2, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

printed map of the Empire State TrailThe newly designed printed map of the Empire State Trail is now available. This printed map showcases the 750-mile Empire State Trail and many of New York’s special places, diverse history, and iconic landscapes along the route. [Read more…] about Empire State Trail Printed Map Now Available

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: bicycling, empire state trail, hiking, Maps

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

Early Images of the Adirondacks: Science, Art, Tourism

October 22, 2020 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

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

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Museum, Adirondacks, Art History, Early America, Instagram, Maps, Museums-Archives-Historic Sites, Natural History, Tourism

Dam History: The Proposed Oxbow Reservoir Project

October 7, 2020 by Mike Prescott Leave a Comment

Proposed-Oxbow-DamThe 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

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Axton Landing, Follensby Pond, Geography, Geology, Maps, Oxbow Lake, paddling, Raquette River, Stony Creek, The Wild Center, Tupper Lake

Huguenot Pirates on the Barbary Coast and the Mapping of New Amsterdam

October 5, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Johannes Vingboons View of New AmsterdamHuguenots were followers of Jean Calvin’s teachings for which they were persecuted in Catholic France. Many were forced to leave the country and settled in the Netherlands, Switzerland, England, and South Africa.

Nicolas Martiau was one of a number of refugees who made their way to America (Virginia) via England. A surveyor and engineer in the service of Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntington, he was an ancestor of George Washington. [Read more…] about Huguenot Pirates on the Barbary Coast and the Mapping of New Amsterdam

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Dutch History, Geography, Huguenots, Mapmakers, Maps, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, surveying

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