New York State Museum Offers an Interesting Look at History. Albany, New York

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It can be difficult to develop a museum run by the government of a state. It has to chase several goals, all while trying to not offend anyone. A state museum usually has to present the political history of the state, explore its its natural beauty and resources, and also its cultural history. Three tightropes to balance on. The New York State Museum, in Albany, does a very good job on all three strands.

 


New York Cultural Education Center by UpstateNYer via wikimedia


The New York State Museum occupies the first and fourth floors of the Cultural Education Center, part of the Empire State Plaza. The museum was founded in 1836, making it the oldest state museum in the country. From 1912 until 1976 it was housed in the State Education Building. When former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller built the government complex in Albany, he included a beautiful new home for the New York State Museum.

 


Hats of some of Albany's Church Ladies


The majority of the collection takes up the museum’s first floor, which has 35,000 sq ft of gallery space that was completely renovated in 2015. You enter into a series of halls that span the length of the building. These galleries explore the cultural, geologic, and biological history of New York.

 


Display of some of New York's indigenous peoples


There are a set of galleries that explain the ways that urban archeology is carried out. Beneath The City describes the steps taken to recover the historic artifacts of Fort Orange, built by the Dutch in 1624, and the Quackenbush-Douw Rum Distillery, built in the 1750’s. Both of these sites offer information into the history of Albany and New York.

 

Vats from the Quackenbush-Douw Distillary
 

Archeological work on the Distillary






There are two exhibits that show off New York’s traditions of forestry. Most interesting to me were the photographs of Seneca Ray Stoddard, one of the first photographers to explore the Adirondacks, in the 1860’s.

 

Tolls from a sawmill



Logger's hut

Fishing in the Adirondacks



At the end of this string of halls is the Cohoes Mastodon. This complete skeleton was discovered in 1866 during the construction of the Harmony Mill in Cohoes Falls. The skeleton is approximately 13,000 years old.

 







As you head back to the front of the museum the galleries are turned over to the history of New York City. There are life-sized dioramas showing the ways people lived from the gilded age through the mid-20th century. There is even a classic subway car.

 


Lower East Side Street Scene

Eating at Delmonico's


Remnant from a now defunct pier





My highlight at the museum is a special exhibit - Revolutionary New York (through July 8, 2029). Developed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this exhibit could have been stuck in colonial New York. While offering an interesting look at life during the revolutionary period, the curators have placed the struggle to create “a more perfect union” as an ongoing one. Looking beyond 1776, Revolutionary New York ties together a 250 year history of fighting for better living conditions and equal rights. From abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas and John Brown, to Suffragettes (The Seneca Falls Convention), labor, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ struggles are placed into a historical context bringing them together as related fights.

 

Revolutionary War Gun Boat hull unearthed in Lower Manhattan


Gear from The Butler Rangers, loyalist unit raised in New York





Blanket Chest




The Slave Auction by John Rogers


Knitting Machine Thompkins Brothers Mill, Troy, New York

  

Then the exhibit focuses these struggles toward the future in a wonderful video entitled UNFINISHED.

When you finish exploring the first floor of the museum remember to head up to the building’s fourth floor. Here you will find a classic 1914 carousel built by the Hershell-Spillman Company of Tonawanda, New York. The carousel was in service in various places along the Southern Tier of New York until 1972. The New York State Museum bought the carousel in 1975, restored it, and then placed it is a space that offers beautiful views of the Empire State Plaza and City of Albany. Today it offers free rides on the merry-go-round’s forty animals and four chariots.

 







State museums are often overlooked by tourists. They tend to be dry and historical. But the New York State Museum takes these limitations as a base for some expansive historical explorations.



Nuts and Bolts


The New York State Museum is located at 222 Madison Ave, Albany NY, at the southern end of the Empire State Plaza. It is open Tuesday - Sunday from 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. It is free at all times. 

Location: 222 Madison Ave, Albany, NY 12230, USA

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