Brad L. Utter

Senior Historian/Curator, Science and Technological History
518-474-0028

B.S., History, 1997, Lander University
M.A. and C.A.S., Public History, 2000, University at Albany

My areas of research revolve around the development of industry and transportation in the State of New York and how that development impacted the lives of New Yorkers. Currently, I am focusing on the New York State canal system as part of preparation for an exhibit on the Erie Canal that will open September 16, 2017. The exhibit, Enterprising Waters: New York’s Erie Canal (Phase One),  marks the 200th anniversary of the beginning of construction of the canal. As an offshoot of that work, I am also working on the story of the Waterford Flight of locks. The “Waterford Flight” as it is known, is a set of 5 locks located at the entrance to the New York State Barge Canal System. 2015 marked the 100th year that the National Civil Engineering Landmark has been in service. My focus has been on the impact on the community both physical and social from the construction to today.

Publications

2021

P. Drooker 2021, Sources and Significance of Pipestone Artifacts from Fort Ancient Sites, Midcontinenetal Journal of Archaeology 46, 17–52..

2017

P. Drooker 2017, Fabric Fragments from Pine Island, Alabama: Indicator of an Evolving Male Costume Item, Southeastern Archaeology 36, 75-84. 10.1080/0734578X.2016.1247633
Drooker, P., 2017. The Fabric of Power: Textiles in Mississippian Politics and Ritual, in: Waselkov, G., Smith, M. (Eds.), Forging Southeastern Identities: Social Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Folklore of the Mississippian to Early Historic South. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, pp. 16-40.

2012

P. Drooker 2012, European Trade Goods at the Ripley Site: Implications for Interaction Networks and Chronology, Northeast Anthropology 77-78, 89-138.

2011

P. Drooker, V. Steponaitis, S. Swanson, G. Wheeler 2011, The Provenance and Use of Etowah Palettes, American Antiquity 76, 81-106. 10.7183/0002-7316.76.1.81
P. Drooker 2011, Using Replication-Related Techniques to Examine the Significance of Fabrics in Mississippian Society, Ethnoarchaeology 3, 163-186. 10.1179/eth.2011.3.2.163

2010

P. Drooker, J. Hart 2010, Soldiers, Cities, and Landscapes: Papers in Honor of Charles L. Fisher, New York State Museum Bulletin The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York
Bradley, J., Younge, M.H., Kozlowski, A., 2010. The Sundler Sites: Reconstructing the Late Pleistocene Landscape and its People in the Capital Region of New York, in: Drooker, P., Hart, J. (Eds.), Soldiers, Cities, and Landscapes: Papers in Honor of Charles L. Fisher. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 213-224.
Orser, C., 2010. Foreword, in: Drooker, P., Hart, J. (Eds.), Soldiers, Cities, and Landscapes: Papers in Honor of Charles L. Fisher. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. xiii-xiv.
Pickands, M., 2010. A Local Industry Reflects a Local Community—The Watts Blacksmith Shop, in: Drooker, P., Hart, J. (Eds.), Soldiers, Cities, and Landscapes: Papers in Honor of Charles L. Fisher. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 281-293.