The State Museum, State Library and State Archives are temporarily Closed.

News Articles

alyssafitzgerald

Student Profile: Museum Fellow Alyssa FitzGerald

Published January 14, 2016 | Ornithology

Alyssa FitzGerald is a Ph.D student at SUNY Albany and works at the Museum to conduct research for her doctoral program. Alyssa's research is focused on studying three closely-related species of thrushes. She wants to know why and how these birds, which look very similar to the untrained...

beaked whale skeleton

Collections News: Beaked Whale Skeleton

Published January 14, 2016 | Mammalogy

A 20-foot long Cuvier's Beaked Whale skeleton was acquired by the State Museum in 2014. Worldwide, there are less than 250 Cuvier's Beaked Whale specimens in collections. These whales, also known as goose-beaked whales, are known to be one of the deepest diving whales. One Cuvier's Beaked Whale...

Man in collection area

Student Profile: Museum Fellow Jordon Loucks

Published January 14, 2016 | Historical Archaeology

Jordon Loucks is a Ph.D student at SUNY Albany and works at the Museum to conduct research for his doctoral program.

Jordon's research is focused on early 19th century immigrants in the Northeast United States, with a particular emphasis on Irish immigrants. "A typical day for me at the...

Marian Lupulescu in the mineral collection

Behind the Scenes in the Mineralogy Collection

Published January 14, 2016 | Mineralogy

From rocks to gems to minerals, there are thousands of specimens in the Museum's mineralogy collection. "Every mineral can tell you a story," says Dr. Marian Lupulescu, curator of geology at the State Museum.

Many New York pegmatite rock minerals (igneous rocks with large crystals) are...

Million Dollar Beach Site

The Stratigraphy of the Million Dollar Beach Site

Published December 9, 2015 | CRSP

One of the first things archaeologists seek to understand when they are investigating a site is the stratigraphy. This entails both documentary research and ground-truthing through test excavations like shovel test pits (STPs) or small excavation units. At its most basic, stratigraphy is...

Million Dollar Beach Site

Introduction to Work at the Million Dollar Beach Site

Published December 9, 2015 | CRSP

The Million Dollar Beach Site was identified in August of 2013 during a survey of the area around the DEC parking lot and campground prior to road improvements (see Photo 1). This survey proceeded directly into limited test excavations after the discovery of almost 2,000 prehistoric artifacts...

Tidal Bays and Marshes Exhibit

Bird Hall Renovation

Published December 1, 2015 | Exhibitions

In October 2015 the Museum opened a newly renovated area of Bird Hall - "Tidal Bays and Marshes". There are a total of six "bays" in Bird Hall, and Museum staff will be renovating each bay to give visitors a renewed Birds of New York exhibition experience.

A major goal of the renovation...

tree stump with roots fossil

Re-Examining the Earth's Oldest Trees

Published October 9, 2015 | Paleobotany

Did you know that fossils of the Earth's oldest trees are part of the State Museum's collections? In the late 19th century, scientists uncovered evidence of the world's oldest known forest in Gilboa, NY (Schoharie County). Since then, the Museum has collected a variety of specimens from the site...

Jamborite detail

First occurrence of Dissakisite-(Ce) and Jamborite in New York

Published August 11, 2015 | Mineralogy

Dissakisite-(Ce) - Ca(Ce,REE)(Mg,Fe2+)(Al,Fe3+)2Si3O12(OH) - the magnesium analogue of the more common allanite (Ce), was found in a specimen from the Henry Rudy Farm, in Orange County. It occurs as millimeter-size pink crystals...

bird in hand

DNA studies examine the past and future of the birds of New York's Catskills and Adirondacks.

Published July 27, 2015 | Ornithology

Two papers have been published describing ornithological research by NYSM scientists. The papers are based on Ph.D. dissertation work conducted by Dr. Joel Ralston, former University at Albany graduate student, and NYSM Graduate Fellow under the supervision of NYSM Curator of Birds, Dr. Jeremy...

gold coin 1859

Archaeology Work in Utica

Published June 26, 2015 | CRSP

Since 2012, archaeologists from the State Museum have been working alongside a highway construction project in Utica, uncovering artifacts from the early 19th century.

Why? The archaeologists are members of the Cultural Resources Survey Program (CRSP)at the State Museum. CRSP helps...

old petition

Museum Adds 1917 Women's Suffrage Petitions to Collection

Published June 26, 2015 | Social History

The Museum recently acquired a series of 1917 Franklin County women's suffrage petitions from Jean Kubaryk, a teacher at North Warren Central School District. Ms. Kubaryk had been displaying the petitions in her classroom for years, but decided to donate the petitions to the Museum so they can...

brown baskets

State Museum Acquires Unique Collection of Abenaki Native American Materials

Published June 26, 2015 | Ethnography

The Museum recently acquired a unique collection of 20th century Abenaki Native American materials. The collection was donated by Rodney Johnson of Rochester, NY. Rodney wanted to find a permanent home for the collection that had been handed down through four generations of his family - he chose...

Hicks-Seaman Ceramics

Recent Acquisition: Long Island Archaeology Collection

Published June 26, 2015 | Historical Archaeology

The State Museum recently acquired an archaeological collection from the former Institute for Long Island Archaeology at Stony Brook University. This collection consists of artifacts from 47 significant archaeological sites, including both prehistoric Native American and historic Euro-American...

prehistoric animals display

State Museum Announces Gallery Renovation Project

Published June 26, 2015 | Exhibitions

On June 15, 2015, State Museum Director Mark Schaming presented a renovation master plan for the Museum's galleries to the New York State Board of Regents. The master plan calls for 35,000 square feet of new exhibitions, a changeable wall system and new interactive technology and media. Click ...

Frog lady costume mask

Human Frogs in the History Collections!

Published December 9, 2013 | Cultural History

The New York State Museum’s history collections contain two frog costumes for humans and one frog costume for a dog. These costumes belonged to Harry and Friede DeMarlo, a vaudeville couple that once played circuses and vaudeville houses all over the world, ultimately retiring to a farm in...

Men talking about their memory

Memory Keepers

Published December 9, 2013 | Archaeology

When former Research and Collections Assistant Director and Curator of Ichthyology Dr. Robert Daniels retired in late 2012, he took with him over 30 years of specialist knowledge of the Museum’s fish collection, as well as key information about the Museum’s history and administrative activities...

Lake George

Archaeological Discovery at Lake George

Published December 3, 2013 | Native American Archaeology

New York State Museum archaeologists have identified archaeological remains associated with a small Early Archaic camp dating to approximately 8,000 B.C. along the shore of Lake George in Warren County, New York. The site produced bifurcate and Genesee projectile points that would have been used...

Pages