New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

New York State Archives

David Lowe Dodge: The Merchant Peacemaker

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David Lowe Dodge by Charles HowlettWhile carrying a large sum of money on a business trip in 1805, the well-to-do city of New York merchant, David Low Dodge, who had been fast asleep in a tavern, was suddenly awakened by the noise of someone jiggling the lock to his bedroom door. Startled by the rattling doorknob and as the door slowly opened, Dodge, not taking any chances, quietly turned and reached for the pistol he always carried for protection.

And then, just before he was about to discharge his pistol, he recognized the suspected intruder as the innkeeper who had come to prepare the room for other guests. [Read more…] about David Lowe Dodge: The Merchant Peacemaker

Archives Magazine To Expand Reach To Young Readers

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New York Archives Jr!The award-winning New York Archives Magazine is expanding to include a new Jr! educational insert and other related enhancements thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

The Jr! insert is expected to expand access to young New Yorkers and offer educators another tool for bringing primary sources into the classroom. Each issue will contain learning activities specific to a local history story published in the quarterly magazine and geared to building historical thinking and civic literacy skills that meet 4th-7th grade curriculum standards. [Read more…] about Archives Magazine To Expand Reach To Young Readers

Franklin Williams: An Unsung Civil Rights Hero

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Franklin WilliamsLarger-than-life figures such as Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King and, going back further, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington, functioned as the “celebrities” of the equal rights movement, the public face of the crusade for racial justice.

But outside the spotlight, “bridge figures” such as New Yorker Franklin H. Williams — men and woman unencumbered by the sometimes blinding “star quality” of the Kings and Marshalls while also shunning the divisive tactics of militants such as Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, and Malcolm X — made enormous but often underappreciated contributions. [Read more…] about Franklin Williams: An Unsung Civil Rights Hero

New York State’s Movie Censorship History

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Movie Censorship in New YorkIn the days before the Motion Picture Association developed a film rating system, movie producers and distributors had to apply for a permit with New York’s Division of Motion Picture to show their film in the state.

The New York State Archives preserves one of the largest collection of film scripts from 1921-1965 in the world. [Read more…] about New York State’s Movie Censorship History

Records Reveal an Overlooked Hero of the Culper Spy Ring

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Selah StrongIn late 1777, Patriot and Long Island-native Selah Strong was arrested for what in present-day terms would be regarded as spying. While Selah’s spouse, Anna “Nancy” Strong, and his close friends would be considered part of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, only a few historians have included Selah as a member.

This network of spies operated during the Revolutionary War and smuggled information out of the British headquarters in New York City via British-occupied Long Island and across the Long Island Sound, eventually to the Commander-in-Chief himself. By re-examining primary sources for the first time in hundreds of years, Selah’s heroic role in the Culper Spy Ring finally comes to light. [Read more…] about Records Reveal an Overlooked Hero of the Culper Spy Ring

1813: Fall of Fort Niagara & Burning the Niagara Frontier

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new yorks war of 1812In December 1813, during the War of 1812, there was a human catastrophe as a result of the burning of the Niagara Frontier. Only one home was spared along the 37-mile-long border and upwards of 6,000 refugees fled into the snowy forests heading for the Genesee River and safety.

Richard V. Barbuto’s book New York’s War of 1812: Politics Society and Combat (University of Oklahoma Press, 2021), looks back to the War of 1812, from the beleaguered Fort McHenry to the burning White House to an embattled New Orleans. [Read more…] about 1813: Fall of Fort Niagara & Burning the Niagara Frontier

Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

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Sojourner TruthIn February 2022, the New York State Archives announced that archivists had uncovered court records detailing the 1828 legal battle by Sojourner Truth to secure her enslaved son Peter’s freedom. According to archivist Jim Folts, this case was the first time in United States history that a Black woman successfully sued a White man for a family member’s freedom.

After passage of the New York State Gradual Emancipation Act in 1799, some slaveholders illegally sold enslaved Africans to Southern planters for the expanding cotton industry. When Sojourner Truth, then known as Isabella Van Wagenen, escaped from enslavement in 1826, her former “owner,” John J. Dumont of New Paltz, Ulster County, NY, sold her five-year old son Peter to Eleazer Gedney who planned to take the boy with him to England.

When this plan fell through, Eleazer Gedney sold Peter to his brother, Solomon Gedney, who resold Peter to their sister’s husband, a man named Fowler, who was a wealthy Alabama planter. [Read more…] about Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

Bruce Dearstyne’s ‘Spirit of New York’ Reissued In Expanded Edition

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Bruce Dearstyne Spirit of New YorkBruce W. Dearstyne’s expanded new edition of The Spirit of New York (SUNY Press, 2022; first published 2016) explores nineteen dramatic events from New York State’s history that altered the course of U.S. history.

From the launch of the state government in April 1777 thru the tragedy of September 11th and through the debut of the musical play Hamilton in 2015, Dearstyne’s chapters describe great political changes, historical turning points, and struggles for social, racial, and environmental reform.
[Read more…] about Bruce Dearstyne’s ‘Spirit of New York’ Reissued In Expanded Edition

State Archives Research Residency Applications Available

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Albany Cultural Education Center State Museum Archives and LibraryThe New York State Archives is now accepting applications for their Larry J. Hackman Research Residency Program, which supports advanced work on New York State history, government, or public policy using historical records in the State Archives. [Read more…] about State Archives Research Residency Applications Available