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Maps

Railroad Records at the National Archives: A Primer

July 23, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

At a loading platform at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, an old engine pulls a train from New York which will connect with the Southwest Limited which runs between Chicago and Los Angeles, June 1974The National Archives’ Cartographic Branch contains more than 69 record groups and 215 series that include maps, architectural and engineering drawings, and aerial photographs that all relate to railroads in the United States, with widespread coverage of regions all over the world. The dates of these records range from 1828 to 2009, with the bulk of records covering other countries and regions from the early to mid 20th century. [Read more…] about Railroad Records at the National Archives: A Primer

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Archives, Bridges, Economic History, Industrial History, Interstate Commerce Commission, Labor History, Maps, National Archives, railroads, Transportation, Transportation History

Revolutionary Things: Material Culture & Politics in the Atlantic World

June 28, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Revolutionary ThingsIn her new book Revolutionary Things: Material Culture & Politics in the Late Eighteenth- Century Atlantic World (Yale University Press, 2023), Ashli White of the University of Miami, explores the circulation of material culture during the America, French, and Haitian revolutions.
[Read more…] about Revolutionary Things: Material Culture & Politics in the Atlantic World

Filed Under: Arts, Books, Events Tagged With: American Revolution, ceramics, Cultural History, Fiber Arts - Textiles, French Revolution, Furniture, Haitian Revolution, Maps, Massachusetts Historical Society, Material Culture

Hudson Valley Greenway Map Goes Digital

June 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Greenway Trail System MapThe Hudson River Valley Greenway has launched an online, interactive Greenway Trail System Map to illustrate and highlight the network of designated Greenway trails throughout the Hudson Valley. The map includes nearly 1,000 miles of designated land trails and over 115 designated water trail sites along the 256-mile Hudson River Greenway Water Trail. [Read more…] about Hudson Valley Greenway Map Goes Digital

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature, New York City, Recreation Tagged With: Albany County, bicycling, boating, Columbia County, Dutchess County, empire state trail, Greene County, hiking, Hudson River, Hudson River Greenway, Maps, New York City, Online Resources, Orange County, paddling, Putnam County, Rensselaer County, Rockland County, Saratoga County, Ulster County, Washington County

New Book On Seneca Ray Stoddard Published

May 18, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Seneca Ray Stoddard An Intimate Portrait of an Adirondack LegendThe new book Seneca Ray Stoddard; and Intimate Portrait of an Adirondack Legend (Warren County Historical Society, 2023) by Daniel Way, MD is a complete biography of Seneca Ray Stoddard, including unique photographs and a virtual tour of Stoddard’s house, which no longer exists. [Read more…] about New Book On Seneca Ray Stoddard Published

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Books, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Environmental History, Essex County, Geography, Glens Falls, Lake Champlain, Lake George, Lake Luzerne, Maps, Photography, Saratoga County, Schroon Lake, Stoddard, Warren County, Warren County Historical Society, Wilton

Historical Travel: Mapping the Gay Guides

February 20, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Digital Methods for Understanding Historical Travel GuidesMapping the Gay Guides (MGG) relies on the Damron Guides, an early but longstanding travel guide aimed at gay men since the early 1960s. An LGBTQ equivalent to the African American “green books,” the Damron Guides contained lists of bars, bathhouses, cinemas, businesses, hotels, and cruising sites in every U.S. state, where gay men could find friends, companions, and sex. [Read more…] about Historical Travel: Mapping the Gay Guides

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Digital Scholarship, Gender, Gender History, LGBTQ, Maps, Massachusetts Historical Society, Online Resources, Social History, Tourism

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

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