New York State Museum
Encyclopedia
The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza
Empire State Plaza
The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza is a complex of several state government buildings in downtown Albany, New York....

, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol
New York State Capitol
The New York State Capitol is the capitol building of the U.S. state of New York. Housing the New York State Legislature, it is located in the state capital city Albany, on State Street in Capitol Park. The building, completed in 1899 at a cost of $25 million , was the most expensive government...

. The museum houses art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

, artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 (prehistoric and historic), and ecofacts that reflect New York State
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

’s cultural, natural, and geological development. Operated by the New York State Education Department
New York State Education Department
The New York State Education Department is the state education department in New York. It is part of the University of the State of New York , one of the most complete, interconnected systems of educational services in the United States...

's Office of Cultural Education, it is the nation's oldest and largest state museum. Formerly located in the State Education Building
New York State Department of Education Building
The New York State Education Department Building is a state office building in Albany, New York. It currently houses offices of the New York State Education Department and was formerly home to the New York State Museum and New York State Library...

, the museum now occupies the first four floors of the Cultural Education Center
Cultural Education Center
The Cultural Education Center is attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York, United States. Specifically located on Madison Avenue, it faces northward towards the New York State Capitol building...

, a ten story, 1500000 square feet (139,354.6 m²) building that also houses the New York State Archives
New York State Archives
The New York State Archives is a unit of the Office of Cultural Education within the New York State Education Department, with its main facility located in the Cultural Education Center on Madison Avenue in Albany, New York, United States...

 and New York State Library
New York State Library
The New York State Library is part of the New York State Education Department. The Library and its sister institutions, the New York State Museum and New York State Archives, are housed in the Cultural Education Center...

.

History

The New York State Museum was founded in 1836 as the New York State Geological and Natural History Survey, formed in 1836 by Governor William Marcy to document the mineral wealth of the state. In 1870, it was reorganized as the New York State Museum of Natural History under the trusteeship of the regents of the State University. The museum was located in the State Education Building from 1912 until 1976, when it was moved to the Cultural Education Center upon the Empire State Plaza's completion. The current location opened on July 4, 1976, and 15,000 people took part in the ceremony.

Layout and organization

The large majority of the museum’s exhibits are located on the first floor. A number of galleries and halls on the first floor provide areas where various art collections are exhibited. Presentations and lectures (such as the weekly Lecture Series) are held in the Museum Theater, located near the West Gallery. A student center is located behind the museum’s main lobby.

The second floor, generally not accessible by the public, contains education and youth services. The museum’s staff, including the Division of Research and Collections and the Exhibits Division, is located on the third floor. This area is also not accessible to the public.

The fourth floor contains the museum’s café area, a functioning carousel
Carousel
A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...

 built between 1912 and 1916 that visitors may ride, and supplementary exhibits covering regional topics and several historic cities in New York State, such as Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 and Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

. The windowed walls of this floor afford visitors a view of the Empire State Plaza and other areas of downtown Albany, hence the gallery's name, "Windows on New York".

Research

As a research institution, the New York State Museum houses several programs, centers, and initiatives that further the geological, biological, and historical understanding of areas within and outside of New York State. The following is a list of several of these programs.
  • The Biodiversity Research Initiative (BRI) - A partnership among conservation
    Conservation movement
    The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....

     and environmental groups
    Environmentalism
    Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

     in New York State, the Biodiversity Research Initiative seeks to advance information and research for the conservation of New York State’s biodiversity
    Biodiversity
    Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

     by funding research projects, sponsoring conferences
    Academic conference
    An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...

     and seminar series
    Seminar
    Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...

    , and directing other initiatives. BRI hosts a biennial scientific conference at the New York State Museum. Partner groups include the American Museum of Natural History
    American Museum of Natural History
    The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

    , Audubon New York
    New York City Audubon
    New York City Audubon is an American non-profit environmental organization incorporated in 1979. The group’s mission reads in part: “New York City Audubon is a grassroots community that works for the protection of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all...

    , the New York Natural Heritage Program, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
    New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
    The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for the conservation, improvement, and protection of natural resources within the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1970, replacing the previous Conservation Department...

    , the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
    New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
    The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation operates :*168 state parks*35 state historic sites*76 developed beaches*53 water recreational facilities*27 golf courses*39 full service cottages*818 cabins...

    , the State Education Department
    New York State Education Department
    The New York State Education Department is the state education department in New York. It is part of the University of the State of New York , one of the most complete, interconnected systems of educational services in the United States...

    , the State University of New York
    State University of New York
    The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...

    , and The Nature Conservancy
    The Nature Conservancy
    The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

    .

  • The Center for Stratigraphy and Paleontology (CSP) – In addition to conducting basic research on the stratigraphy
    Stratigraphy
    Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....

     and fossil
    Fossil
    Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

     history of the State and adjoining regions, and disseminating subsurface geological data to the public, the CSP also works to conserve and make accessible the extensive subsurface and fossil collections of the New York State Museum.

  • Cultural Resource Survey Program (CRSP) – A cultural resources management
    Cultural resources management
    In the broadest sense, Cultural Resources Management is the vocation and practice of managing cultural resources, such as the arts and heritage. It incorporates Cultural Heritage Management which is concerned with traditional and historic culture. It also delves into the material culture of...

     (CRM) program that conducts historical
    History
    History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

     and archaeological research
    Archaeology
    Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

     for the State of New York. The program’s work assists other State agencies, such as the New York State Department of Transportation
    New York State Department of Transportation
    The New York State Department of Transportation is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in the U.S...

     (DOT), the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and the Office of General Services (OGS), in meeting and adhering to their state and federal preservation mandates. This specifically refers to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act
    National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
    The National Historic Preservation Act is legislation intended to preserve historical and archaeological sites in the United States of America...

    , a federal law
    Federal law
    Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...

     enacted in 1966 to preserve the cultural and historic resources in the United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    . In doing so, CRSP works closely with New York State's Historic Preservation Officer
    State Historic Preservation Officer
    The State Historic Preservation Office was created in 1966 under Section 101 of the National Historic Preservation Act . The purposes of SHPO include surveying and recognizing historic properties, reviewing nominations for properties to be included in the National Register of Historic Places,...

     and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

  • The Laboratory for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics (LCEG) – The LCEG is a molecular phylogenetics
    Molecular phylogeny
    Molecular phylogenetics is the analysis of hereditary molecular differences, mainly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree...

     laboratory designed for use by researchers studying animal and plant evolution. The facility provides technology that allows Museum researchers to analyze genetic variability
    Genetic variability
    Genetic variability is a measure of the tendency of individual genotypes in a population to vary from one another. Variability is different from genetic diversity, which is the amount of variation seen in a particular population. The variability of a trait describes how much that trait tends to...

     among organisms by DNA
    DNA
    Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

     nucleotide
    Nucleotide
    Nucleotides are molecules that, when joined together, make up the structural units of RNA and DNA. In addition, nucleotides participate in cellular signaling , and are incorporated into important cofactors of enzymatic reactions...

     sequencing. The laboratory also houses the Museum’s Genome
    Genome
    In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....

     Bank, a frozen tissue collection that complements the traditional dried-specimen collections by preserving plant and animal DNA for future study.

  • The Wildlife Science and Conservation Initiative – This program works to address the impact, both broad and fine, that human disturbances and habitat fragmentation have had on the behavior, ecology, and evolution of carnivores. While their work has primarily focused on carnivores in New York State, the Initiative has also worked to develop an automated telemetry
    Telemetry
    Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...

     system in Panama
    Panama
    Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

     and investigates behavioral changes among male lions in Tsavo, Kenya
    Tsavo
    Tsavo is a region of Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi River. It is a KiKamba word meaning "a place of slaughter", a reference to the murderous attacks of Maasai morani on Kamba people there...

    .

Collections

The collections of the New York State Museum include geological samples, paleontology specimens, historic materials, and art. Their anthropological collections are extensive, and include the collections of several early and well-known anthropologists, including Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis Henry Morgan was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist, a railroad lawyer and capitalist. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evolution, and his ethnography of the Iroquois...

 and Arthur C. Parker
Arthur C. Parker
Arthur Caswell Parker was an American archaeologist, historian, folklorist, museologist and noted authority on American Indian culture. Of Seneca and Scots-English descent, he was director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences from 1924 to 1945, when he developed its holdings and research...

. These collections are open to researchers for analysis. A supplementary storage facility in Rotterdam, New York
Rotterdam (town), New York
Rotterdam is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 28,316 at the 2000 census.The town of Rotterdam is in the south-central part of the county. It was founded by Dutch settlers, who named it after the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where many emigrants last...

, houses material not presently displayed, including artifacts from the September 11
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 attacks.

Permanent exhibits

  • The Adirondack Wilderness - This exhibit explores the geology and prehistoric flora and fauna of the Adirondacks
    Adirondack Mountains
    The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....

    , the impact historic activities such as logging
    Logging
    Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

    , mining
    Mining
    Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

    , and recreational use had on regional environment
    Natural environment
    The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

     and ecology
    Ecology
    Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

    , and the area’s contemporary state, including conservation efforts, resource exploitation, and artistic interpretations.
  • Ancient Life of New York - A Billion Years of Earth History - A paleontological
    Paleontology
    Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

     collection of fossil
    Fossil
    Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

    s over a billion
    1000000000 (number)
    1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....

     years old (some of the oldest in the eastern United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    ). The exhibit includes blue-green bacteria, fossilized tree stumps and spider
    Spider
    Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

    s from Gilboa, New York
    Gilboa, New York
    Gilboa is a town in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 1,215 at the 2000 census.The Town of Gilboa is in the south part of the county and is southwest of Albany.- History :The town was first settled around 1760....

    , trilobite
    Trilobite
    Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...

    s, and armored fish
    Fish
    Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

    .
  • Birds of New York - Includes a display of over 170 native New York bird species in their natural settings.
  • Black Capital: Harlem in the 20s - An exhibit of the art
    Art
    Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

     and culture
    Culture
    Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

     of the Harlem Renaissance
    Harlem Renaissance
    The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...

     during the 1920s, inclulding a history of its development and the impact and influence it had on later cultural and artistic trends.
  • Carousel - Located on the museum’s fourth floor, this full-sized carousel
    Carousel
    A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...

     was made between 1912 and 1916 by the Herschell-Spillman Company of North Tonawanda, New York
    North Tonawanda, New York
    North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south border...

    . It remained in use until the early 1970s in Cuba, New York
    Cuba (town), New York
    Cuba is a town in Allegany County, New York, USA. The Town lies on the western border of Allegany County, with the Village of Cuba within its borders. Cuba is approximately an hour and a half drive south of Rochester and Buffalo, New York...

    , after which it was dismantled and obtained by the NYSM.

  • Cohoes Mastodon - The skeletal remains of a mastodon
    Mastodon
    Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...

     excavated in Cohoes, New York
    Cohoes, New York
    Cohoes is an incorporated city located at the northeast corner of Albany County in the US state of New York. It is called the "Spindle City" because of the importance of textile production to its growth. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 16,168...

     in 1866. The skeleton was located in the Museum's front lobby, complete with an interactive station. It recently returned from repair and restoration. While it used to be displayed in the main lobby it is now available for viewing in the South hall of the museum with a new display stand and interactive learning tools.
  • Fire Engine Hall - An exhibit of historic fire fighting
    Fire fighting
    Firefighting is the act of extinguishing fires. A firefighter fights fires to prevent loss of life, and/or destruction of property and the environment...

     vehicles from the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • The Governor's Collection of Contemporary Native American Crafts
  • Metropolis Hall - An exhibit on the history of New York City
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

    .
  • Minerals of New York - Geological displays from the New York State Museum's mineral
    Mineral
    A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...

     collection.

  • Native Peoples of New York - An exhibit focusing on the prehistoric and historic cultural development of New York State, spanning the chronological spectrum from the Paleoindian period (c. 10,000 B.C.) up to and including the ethnology
    Ethnology
    Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...

     of Native groups in New York today. Included in the exhibit are numerous prehistoric artifacts (e.g., pottery
    Pottery
    Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

     and stone tools), lifelike diorama
    Diorama
    The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...

    s, scale models, and a full-sized replica of an Iroquoian
    Iroquois
    The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

     longhouse
    Native American long house
    Longhouses were built by native peoples in various parts of North America, sometimes reaching over but generally around wide. The dominant theory is that walls were made of sharpened and fire-hardened poles driven into the ground and the roof consisted of leaves and grass...

    .
  • Research Gallery - Highlights current work being conducted by staff members of the NYSM's Division of Research and Collections.
  • Windows on New York - Located on the fourth floor, the Windows on New York display highlights the history and characteristics of many of New York State's different regions.
  • The World Trade Center: Rescue, Recovery, Response - Tells the history of the World Trade Center
    World Trade Center
    The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

     and the September 11, 2001 attacks
    September 11, 2001 attacks
    The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

    , including the rescue efforts
    Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks
    The rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks comprised the local, state and federal agency reaction to the September 11 attacks. The unprecedented events of that day elicited the largest response of local emergency and rescue personnel to assist in the evacuation of the two towers...

    , the evidence recovery operation at the Fresh Kills Landfill
    Fresh Kills Landfill
    The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island...

    , and public response to the attacks. Has numerous artifacts from the site including the remains of an Engine 6 ladder, and the flag that was flown from next to the North Tower.

External links

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