• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Technology

When Sullivan County Entered The Dial Telephone Age

August 30, 2021 by John Conway Leave a Comment

telephone operators at the Monticello Telephone CompanyIt was August of 1961, and what was called “the most complex project of its kind ever undertaken by New York Telephone” was just getting underway in Sullivan County, NY.

By March 21, 1965, the project would be complete, and dial telephone service — long taken for granted in most parts of the country — would finally become a reality for the majority of residents. [Read more…] about When Sullivan County Entered The Dial Telephone Age

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Catskills, New York Telephone, Sullivan County, Technology, telephones

Urban Archive App Adds Newburgh Locations

June 9, 2019 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

urban archive newburghNewburgh is the first expansion for Urban Archive outside of New York City. Urban Archive, a technology non-profit, had their start in 2016 working with three institutional partners and only a few hundred archival photographs. [Read more…] about Urban Archive App Adds Newburgh Locations

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Hudson Valley, Newburgh, Technology

Motion Imagery of Ellis Island Revealed in Stereographs

June 5, 2019 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Emigrants detained at Ellis Island - Keystone-Mast CollectionStereographs were the latter day virtual reality, an inventive means to immerse the viewer into another place and time. Two photographs are exposed simultaneously but from slightly different perspectives. When the final print is viewed through a stereoscope a depth of field is introduced that brings the photograph more to life.

In 2018 I digitally re-imagined many dozens of American Civil War scenes using an animation process that essentially reveals that same depth of field but on more common 2D screens. In doing so, the need for specific viewing equipment is eliminated and the immersive nature of the stereoscope is maintained. [Read more…] about Motion Imagery of Ellis Island Revealed in Stereographs

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Documentary, Ellis Island, Photography, Technology

Computer Punch Cards And Amsterdam Carpets

April 8, 2015 by Bob Cudmore 2 Comments

mohawkmillsMark Thomann, who has spent much of his working life on restorations of classic carpets, is skeptical of the idea that paper cards used to control carpet weaving in Amsterdam and other places directly foreshadowed development of the computer.

Thomann said, “I have heard that but always thought it a stretch. There is the similarity of the use of punch cards, with a binary system, no hole or hole which would determine position of a strand of yarn. But I have never seen evidence that someone familiar with that industrial technology was at all involved in making computers.” [Read more…] about Computer Punch Cards And Amsterdam Carpets

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Amsterdam, Fiber Arts - Textiles, Industrial History, Technology, Walter Elwood Museum

Brooklyn Museum Plans New Entryway Experience

February 2, 2015 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

unnamed(35)The Brooklyn-based design firm SITU Studio has been selected by the Brooklyn Museum to create a new environment in the entry Pavilion and Lobby to transform the Museum’s entry. Taking a cue from retail and the hospitality sector, the new SITU-designed entry experience will focus on an assemblage of reconfigurable modular furniture designed to connect staff with visitors, while improving traffic and way-finding. [Read more…] about Brooklyn Museum Plans New Entryway Experience

Filed Under: History, New Exhibits, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, Museums, New York City, NYC, Public History, Technology

Make History Accessible With QR Codes

January 14, 2015 by Julie Madlin 4 Comments

Harwood QRAs the recently appointed historian for the City of Ogdensburg I was stunned at the amount of historical artifacts and research that I had inherited that somehow was crammed into a very small space.  I had always been interested in local history and in a previous life had worked as an archivist at the Ogdensburg Public Library, until teaching called me.

Twenty years later I was given the task of not only preserving Ogdensburg’s history, but making it accessible to others. [Read more…] about Make History Accessible With QR Codes

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Ogdensburg, Online Resources, Public History, Technology

Digital Storytelling: Museums for a New Generation

August 19, 2013 by Andrew Alberti

virtual-then-nowWhen the distinguished Commission on Museums for a New Century, organized by the American Association for Museums (AAM), met in 1982 with the purpose of studying and clarifying the role of museums in American society, it had already recognized technology as a major force of change in the museum community. The AAM predicted that “high technology brings a ‘high-touch’ reaction – an increasing need for individual choice and human interaction-” and warned that “museums could affect and be affected by the electronic age… [particularly] in the way they choose to use communication technology in their exhibition halls and educational activities.” [Read more…] about Digital Storytelling: Museums for a New Generation

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Digital Storytelling, Public History, Technology

Peter Feinman: Destroy New York’s Historic Sites

April 11, 2013 by Peter Feinman 2 Comments

wrecking ballThe time has come to destroy the historic sites of New York. These sites occupy valuable space, are of no value, and waste the energy of decent people in an useless effort to preserve the past. Why bother?

Why should anyone assist in this folly. There is no constructive purpose to the continued existence of historic sites.

Schools don’t have field trips to them.
Families don’t visit them.
Adults don’t join the friends groups.
Tourists don’t care about them. [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: Destroy New York’s Historic Sites

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Historic Preservation, Public History, Technology

Digital Storytelling: QR Codes Explained

March 14, 2012 by Andrew Alberti

One would not have to look far to identify one of these funky looking square bar codes. In the past two years, these QR Codes have started popping everywhere from newspapers and magazines, to real estate signage and billboards. What is a QR Code, and how can you use it to help tell the story of your community? [Read more…] about Digital Storytelling: QR Codes Explained

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Andrew Alberti, Digital Storytelling, Online Resources, Public History, Technology

Primary Sidebar

Support Our 2022 Fundraising

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • John Tepper Marlin on 1875: The Ticonderoga Sentinel Returns
  • Amy Godine on The Red Scare: A Personal History
  • Charlesarles R. Cormier on Beacon Oil: New York’s Lighthouse Gas Stations
  • peter Waggitt on Socialism, Greenwich Village & ‘The Masses’
  • Adrienne Saint-Pierre on The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs
  • Pat B on Socialism, Greenwich Village & ‘The Masses’
  • Richard on Under Threat: The Penn Station Neighborhood in Manhattan
  • Black History Articles for June 2022 – Keeper of Knowledge on The Civil War Confederate Army’s Forced Labor Slave Records
  • Katie L Williams on “Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks”: Building the Adirondack Railroad
  • Edythe Ann Quinn on Slug Slime: A Secret Weapon

Recent New York Books

off the northway
Horse Racing the Chicago Way
The Women's House of Detention
Long Island’s Gold Coast Warriors and the First World War
Public Faces Secret Lives by Wendy Rouse
adirondack cabin
Spaces of Enslavement and Resistance in Dutch New York
ilion cover
Spare Parts

Secondary Sidebar

preservation league
Protect the Adirondacks Hiking Guide