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Recent Acquisitions on Display
Detail of a decorated family record
produced in 1799 for the Garlogh
family who lived in Montgomery
County. NYSM H-2008.17.1
In April, the “Collections in
the New York State Museum”
display case in Adirondack Hall
was updated with some recent
acquisitions. Now on view are:
n An intricate Globe Basket made
collaboratively by three generations
of an Akwesasne Mohawk
family, the Benedicts. The State
Museum commissioned the
basket, which represents a striped
gourd and brings to mind stories
of the life-sustaining Three Sisters
(corn, beans, and squash-gourd),
for the Governor’s Collection of
Contemporary Native American
Art. (See page 12 for more on
this acquisition.)
n Eight mineral specimens from
an important early collection of
New York minerals acquired
from the Philadelphia Academy
of Sciences. The minerals on
display are from Niagara, Orange,
St. Lawrence, Ulster, Warren, and
Westchester counties, including
many localities long ago depleted
or built over.
n Bats and birds that crashed
into wind turbines while migrating
to and from breeding sites. To
help understand the impact of
wind power on wildlife, Museum
scientists are identifying the
species and preserving them
as research specimens.
n A decorated family record
produced in 1799 for a Mohawk
Valley family. The artist, William
Murray, worked in the style
of early European decorated
or “illuminated” manuscripts
to appeal to the German
immigrants of this region. The
document on display is one of
only about two dozen known
examples of this type from the
Mohawk Valley.
As part of the exhibition,
visitors can see additional digital
materials related to the artifacts
and a video of Museum biologists
providing a “behind the scenes”
window into their collections.
The collections case was
installed in 2006 to display
highlights from and new
additions to the Museum’s
collections. The comprehensive
collection includes more than
12 million artifacts and specimens
in the areas of biology,
geology, and human history.
It is the single most significant
record of New York’s natural
and cultural heritage. n
On the Bookshelf
The photographs included in A
Great Day for Elmira were selected
from thousands of Department of
Public Works negatives documenting
railroad projects. The negatives are
in the collections of the New York
State Archives.
The State Museum and
the Chemung County
Historical Society in Elmira
recently published A Great Day
for Elmira: An Illustrated History
of Twentieth-Century Grade
Crossing Elimination Projects in
Elmira and Elsewhere in New
York, New York State Museum
Memoir No. 28, by Senior
Historian Geoffrey N. Stein.
The 426-page book contains
hundreds of historical photographs
that show how communities and
landscapes changed when
railroad tracks were separated
from roadways. Three railroads
operated in Elmira, but in the
1920s, as more people began
driving cars, the tracks became
impediments to drivers as well
as a safety concern, says Stein.
Trains, previously essential to
communities, would begin to
fade from public view. “The
significance of railroads now
is lost for most people,” adds
Stein, who curates the Museum’s
transportation collections.
The photographs included
in the book were taken in the
1930s, 1940s, and 1950s by
photographers working for the
New York State Department of
Public Works. They document
track projects, from the onset
through completion, showing
how the work transformed
places where railroad tracks
and streets had intersected.
“Elmira is an example of what
was happening all over the state,
especially in the 1930s,” says Stein.
The Museum also recently
produced Interpretation of
Topographic Maps, New York
State Museum Leaflet No. 36,
by John B. Skiba. The leaflet
provides an overview of topographic
maps, how to read
them, and their use. n
4 n Legacy