New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Transportation History

Massacres & Migrants at Sea: Deadly Voyages To New York

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Diagram (1787) of the Liverpool-launched slave ship BrookesThe 1840s brought about a transformation in the nature of transatlantic shipping. With the development of European colonial empires, the forced transportation of African slaves had become big business.

Liverpool was the focus of the British slave trade. As a result of crusading abolitionist movements and subsequent legal intervention, the brutal practice declined there during that decade. But more or less simultaneously a new form of people trafficking took its place. [Read more…] about Massacres & Migrants at Sea: Deadly Voyages To New York

Frank Kobliski Taking Expanded Role at Adirondack Railway Preservation Society

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Adirondack Railroad logoFrank Kobliski has been named General Manager of the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society, Inc., of Utica, and its operating entities, effective January 1st, 2023. This role is in addition to being President of the Board of Directors. [Read more…] about Frank Kobliski Taking Expanded Role at Adirondack Railway Preservation Society

Hudson River Steamboat Images Go Online

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Steamboat City of HudsonThe newest collection of Hudson River Maritime Museum material on the New York Heritage website are steamboat images from the Tracey Irving Brooks photograph collection.

Tracey Irving Brooks was a professional quality photographer based in the Capitol Region of New York State. Born in 1888, Brooks photographed Hudson River steamboats during the first half of the 1900s. The collection covers an extensive variety of steamboats on the upper portion of the Hudson River. [Read more…] about Hudson River Steamboat Images Go Online

The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

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Dudley Observatory first building in Albany ca 1880The Capital District’s Dudley Observatory is considered “the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical research in America.” Originally, it was located north-east of downtown Albany, NY.

Construction there began in 1852 and the facility was dedicated in 1857.  Albany’s Congressman Erastus Corning, the founder and first president of the New York Central Railroad, was instrumental in donating a high quality telescope and time-keeping system at the new Dudley Observatory in Albany. [Read more…] about The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

Big Moose As A Lumber & Tourist Hub (1900-1920)

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wedding picture of Norman Burt Sherry with Lucretia Caroline Hayes,The spark that got me writing about Adirondack history was the personal question of how my family came into possession of a log cabin on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY. Unraveling this mystery took a year’s research — searching newly discovered diaries and networking with genealogy contacts.

It turns out my connection began with a love story, which I told in the New York Almanack. That account included the accompanying photo of my grandparents’ wedding in Buffalo, NY, in 1908. This article will explore how the hamlet of Big Moose supported the growth of thriving summer communities on Twitchell and Big Moose Lakes, setting the stage for major logging operations on Big Moose Lake. Early in this era, 60 percent of Twitchell’s lakeshore was slated for major logging before going up for sale as summer lots. [Read more…] about Big Moose As A Lumber & Tourist Hub (1900-1920)

The Hudson River Steamboat Poughkeepsie; Later Known As The Westchester

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Steamboat Poughkeepsie at dock (courtesy Richard V. Elliott Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum)This essay was written for the Kingston Daily Freeman in the 1930s, transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Adam Kaplan and reproduced here in a slightly edited form.

The tale of the steamboat Poughkeepsie is the story of a vessel that is still in service [in the 1930s] – although today the name Westchester has replaced Poughkeepsie and she is no longer a familiar figure on the Hudson River. [Read more…] about The Hudson River Steamboat Poughkeepsie; Later Known As The Westchester

John Isaac DeGraff: Schenectady’s First Elected Mayor

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John Isaac DeGraffJohn Isaac De Graff (October 2, 1783 – July 26, 1848) was a U.S. Representative from New York. Born in Schenectady, De Graff attended the common schools and Union College and engaged in mercantile pursuits and the practice of law in that city.

He served in the War of 1812 and was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat to the Twentieth Congress (March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1829). [Read more…] about John Isaac DeGraff: Schenectady’s First Elected Mayor

Cycling History: Manhattan Scorchers & Louis Chevrolet

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King of Scorchers advertisementLexicographer Eric Partridge was an intriguing figure. Born in New Zealand, he was educated in Queensland, Australia, served in the First World War and finished his studies at Balliol College, Oxford. He would spent the rest of his life in Britain, working as a researcher and lecturer. The Library of the British Museum (now: British Library) became his second home. Always seated at the same desk (K1), he produced numerous books on the English language.

A surprising aspect of this unassuming man’s career was his interest in slang and offbeat language (which apparently was rooted in his wartime experiences), culminating in 1937 with the publication of a Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. From this rich offering of linguistic treasures, many words have been “dropped” over time or changed their original meaning. [Read more…] about Cycling History: Manhattan Scorchers & Louis Chevrolet

Bolton Historical Museum Acquires Trolley Car Diner

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Bill Gates Diner on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain LakeThe Bill Gates Diner, a fixture of life in Bolton Landing on Lake George from 1949 until 1980, when it was purchased by two local residents and then donated to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, will return to Bolton, Warren County, NY.

The diner has been acquired by the Bolton Historical Museum, which will care for it as “a piece of living history,” said Dr. Glenn A. Long, the museum’s interim executive director. [Read more…] about Bolton Historical Museum Acquires Trolley Car Diner

Robert Moses: The Man New Yorkers Love to Hate

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long island history project logoRobert Moses is the man many New Yorkers love to hate. This is in no small part due to his own hubris and the impact he had on the people living in the path of his massive construction projects. Add to that Robert Caro’s hard hitting 1974 biography The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (Vintage Book, 1975) and you’ve got a reputation that is hard to live down. [Read more…] about Robert Moses: The Man New Yorkers Love to Hate