New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Science History

Humans In Zoos: A Long History of ‘Exotic’ People Exhibitions

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Philippine Head-Hunters on display at the 1904 Worlds Fair in St LouisSocial Darwinism is an ideology that misapplied Charles Darwin’s ideas to the socio-political sphere. The theory proved fruitful to those who advocated the economic principle of laissez faire, and added an element of racial inequality as peoples were classified along an evolutionary scale.

The doctrine can be paraphrased in terms similar to these: “We (white men) belong to a superior race and civilization, be it in economic, military, or moral understanding. This primacy demands from us to direct and civilize the rest of humanity.” [Read more…] about Humans In Zoos: A Long History of ‘Exotic’ People Exhibitions

Meddling With Nature: The Acclimatization Movement and Central Park Starlings

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A murmuration of starlingsEuropean starlings are one of the most common bird species in the United States. They are known for their stunning aerial displays (murmerations), but many observers consider them a curse.

Starlings aggressively compete for the nesting places of native birds; they can damage crops (grapes, olives, cherries, grain) and spread disease; they can mess up the environment and be a threat to aviation. The story of invasive starlings is part of a wider narrative that reflects both the ambitions and fears of the Victorian era. [Read more…] about Meddling With Nature: The Acclimatization Movement and Central Park Starlings

Women at the Helm: The Maritime Museum’s New Digital Exhibit

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women at the helmLake Champlain Maritime Museum has launched a new exhibit: Women at the Helm, celebrating women leaders of the Champlain Valley from the 18th century to today. [Read more…] about Women at the Helm: The Maritime Museum’s New Digital Exhibit

19th Century Botany, Medicine, and Philanthropy (Podcast)

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ben_franklins_worldHow did Americans learn to establish philanthropic institutions?

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, Victoria Johnson, an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City and author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic (Liveright, 2018), leads us on an investigation of the life of Dr. David Hosack and the many organizations he founded, including the Elgin Botanical Garden.

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American Eden: Botany, Medicine In The Early Republic

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american edenVictoria Johnson’s new book American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garen of the Early Republic (Liveright, 2018) is the untold story of Alexander Hamilton’s ― and Aaron Burr’s ― personal physician, whose dream to build America’s first botanical garden inspired the young Republic.

When Dr. David Hosack tilled what is believed to one of the country’s first botanical gardens in the Manhattan soil more than two hundred years ago, he didn’t just dramatically alter the New York landscape; he left a legacy of advocacy for public health and wide-ranging support for the sciences. [Read more…] about American Eden: Botany, Medicine In The Early Republic

Marie Curie Once Visited the North Country

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History credits the discovery of uranium to a German chemist, Martin Henrich Klaproth, in 1789. In 1896, just over a century later, a French chemist, Eugene-Melchior Peligot, discovered uranium’s radioactivity. Uranium ore, known as pitchblende, was revealed shortly after by Marie and Pierre Curie as the source of radium, which they mentioned as a possible future treatment for cancer.

Polish born Marie, (her name was Sklowdowska) was the first woman to win a Nobel prize, and the first person to win twice — in 1903, in physics, for her work on radiation, and in 1911, in chemistry, for discovering polonium and radium. Only she and Linus Pauling have won in two different fields. (She also developed the practical use for x-rays that dramatically enhanced patient care on the battlefields of World War I). [Read more…] about Marie Curie Once Visited the North Country

James Eights: Albany Artist, Explorer

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Aqueduct Bridge at Rochesters James Eights 1823 (Albany Institute of History & Art Gift of James Eights 1836)In the late 1700s and early 1800s, there were a growing number of adventurers anxious to explore the sea, find new lands, chart new islands, and if they made their fortune while doing it, all the better. There were also those just trying to get away from home and signing on to a whaling boat seemed the adventure of a lifetime. [Read more…] about James Eights: Albany Artist, Explorer

The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden

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the enlightenment of cadawaller coldenWas there a conservative Enlightenment? Could a self-proclaimed man of learning and progressive science also have been an agent of monarchy and reaction?

Cadwallader Colden (1688–1776), an educated Scottish emigrant and powerful colonial politician, was at the forefront of American intellectual culture in the mid-eighteenth century.

While living in rural New York, he recruited family, friends, servants, and slaves into multiple scientific ventures and built a transatlantic network of contacts and correspondents that included Benjamin Franklin and Carl Linnaeus. Over several decades, Colden pioneered colonial botany, produced new theories of animal and human physiology, authored an influential history of the Iroquois, and developed bold new principles of physics and an engaging explanation of the cause of gravity. [Read more…] about The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden

Greene Smith: Peterboro’s Avid Outdoorsman

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Smith BirdhouseThe important contributions to the field of ornithology of citizen-scientist Greene Smith have been obscured by the Underground Railroad and abolition fame of Smith’s father Gerrit Smith. As important and well-known as are the Underground Railroad sites on the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark in Peterboro NY, it is Greene’s Ornithon that most piques visitors’ curiosity about the builder and collector of that bird museum.

This public fascination prompted Norm Dann to turn the focus of his Smith research to Greene Smith and his Birdhouse. Dann’s study of family letters, military records, Greene’s personal Catalogue of Birds, the pursuit of Greene’s hunting apparatus, and the ownership and investigation of the Birdhouse site, have culminated in the March printing of Greene Smith and the WildLife: The Story of Peterboro’s Avid Outdoorsman – the first publication on this absorbing story. [Read more…] about Greene Smith: Peterboro’s Avid Outdoorsman