The History Department at the New York State Museum cares for and interprets over 4 million artifacts, researches the state’s history, and disseminates this history through books, articles, exhibitions, public programs, and social media. The History Department works with scholars, municipal historians, curators, archivists, librarians, and members of the public around the state to interpret the past and collect for the future. The New York State Museum History Collections are vast – from an 18th century colonial Dutch armchair to a Norden bombsite from WWII to a painting by Romare Bearden. The artifacts in our collection tell the stories of the people of New York State. To better manage these collections, they are divided into the categories of social history, political history, cultural history, and economic history.
Research Staff & Curators
Dr. Jennifer Lemak
Chief Curator of Historyjennifer.lemak@nysed.gov
Prior to my current position as the chief curator of history, I served as the senior historian/curator of social history for a decade. My major exhibition and publication projects include Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial (2017) and An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War (2012). I am also the author of Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany’s Rapp Road (SUNY Press, 2008), which focused on a community that migrated to Albany from Shubuta, Mississippi, and the greater migration experience in Albany.
John Abeel
Medical and Sports Collections 
Emily Finelli
Popular Entertainment Collections 
Karen Quinn
Senior Historian/Curator, Art and Culture karen.quinn@nysed.gov
As an art historian my primary research has focused on American paintings, concentrating on nineteenth-century landscape artists and early twentieth-century modernists. I am especially interested in painters’ working methods as well as the attraction of specific places to the artist,
Ashley Hopkins-Benton
Senior Historian and Curator, Social History ashley.hopkins-benton@nysed.gov
As curator of social history, my research and collections work primarily focuses on women’s history (especially the history of the fight for women’s rights), LGBTQ+ history, immigration, and religion, as well as the collections areas of sculpture, toys, glassware, and ceramics.
Dr. Jennifer Lemak
Chief Curator of History jennifer.lemak@nysed.gov
Prior to my current position as the chief curator of history, I served as the senior historian/curator of social history for a decade.
Aaron Noble
Senior Historian and Curator, Political and Military History aaron.noble@nysed.gov
My areas of research and collection primarily focus on the political, governmental, and military history of New York State and its citizenry, and how that history impacts the broader historical narrative.
Brad L. Utter
Senior Historian/Curator, Science and Technological History brad.utter@nysed.gov
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.
Provides resources and news for historians throughout New York State
News Articles
A Centennial Celebration of the Fourth of July
Published July 1, 2024 | Cultural History
A majestic American eagle clutches two 32-star flags and carries a pennant in its beak declaring "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Overhead, sun rays and a laurel sprig shine down, while beneath, another laurel sprig sits over a shiel...
From the Collections: Shakers and the New York State Museum
Published January 17, 2024 | Social History
Spiller Newspaper Paperweight Collection
Published December 7, 2023 | Cultural History
Mortimer Spiller was born in 1922 to Russian immigrants who settled in LeRoy, New York. Spiller’s college training in business and advertising was interrupted by service in World War II. After the war, he was eager to complete his education and pu...
The Atlantic Cable Projectors (1895) returns to the New York State Museum
Published December 5, 2023 | Cultural History
Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) The Atlantic Cable Projectors, 1895 Oil on canvas
Celebrating Juneteenth in New York
Published June 12, 2023 | History
Although slavery in New York State was abolished on July 4, 1827, the institution of slavery in the United States did not officially come to an end for another thirty-eight years. On June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Procla...
From the Collections: Madam C.J. Walker’s Glossine Hair Paste and Advertisement
Published February 22, 2023 | Social History
Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919) was a successful entrepreneur, businesswoman, philanthropist, and social and political activist during a time when both African Americans and women were not common in the world of business. In 1906, she started her o...
Transporting Grains on the Erie Canal
Published October 25, 2022 | Economic History
On October 26, 1825, the Erie Canal officially opened from Albany to Buffalo. The canal was an immediate success: shipping costs plummeted, and new services and goods became widely available. Cheap, reliable transportation opened new markets ...
New Acquisition: Singer Industrial Sewing Machine, ca. 1972
Published September 14, 2022 | Social History
One sewing machine, two stories: Some artifacts in our collection hold the stories of multiple individuals. This ca. 1972 Singer industrial sewing machine, recently donated to the NYSM, belonged to Tsui Ping Chu, an immigrant from Hong Kong. Ch...
New Acquisition: Play Furniture
Published July 25, 2022 | Cultural History
This set of child-sized furniture was a birthday gift to the donor, Mary Alice Cole, from her parents, in the 1960s. She recalled many families in Watervliet, NY, having play houses in the back yard, where “playing house” was a popular activity fo...
New Acquisition: Stoneware Water Cooler
Published May 18, 2022 | Cultural History
This impressive stoneware water cooler is incised and impressed with decorations that depict the celebration of the Great National Jubilee of the Order of the Sons of Temperance, an organization founded in New York City in 1842. Temperance icon...
New Acquisition: Souvenir Handkerchief Designed by Marion Weeber
Published March 14, 2022 | Cultural History
This screen-printed linen handkerchief was designed by Marion Weeber (1905-2000) in honor of King George VI’s coronation in England on March 8, 1937. It was manufactured by Burmel and sold at finer department stores. The handkerchief was framed an...
Now on View: Charles Clough's "Clufffalo: Art Omi"
Published January 10, 2022 | Cultural History
A gift to the NYSM last year, Charles Clough's monumental painting—an awe-inspiring 9 x 16 feet—has just been installed in New York Hall. To create it, Clough invited visitors to Art Omi, a contemporary art gallery and sculpture park in Ghent, New...
New Acquisition: Decorative Stoneware
Published July 1, 2021 | Cultural History
Since 1996, Adam Weitsman has donated over 500 pieces of decorated stoneware to the New York State Museum. While only a portion of these are on view in the galleries, this collection receives lots of attention from researchers and other muse...
New Acquisitions: Artwork by Ken Rush
Published April 8, 2021 | Cultural History
The NYSM History Collection recently acquired a collection of paintings by Ken Rush (b.1948). Rush divides his time between Vermont and Brooklyn producing rural and urban subjects that move between the realistic and the abstract. In thi...
New Acquisition: Voter Campaign Poster by Emily Ree
Published February 11, 2021 | Social History
Since 2017, LinkNYC Wi-Fi stations have been used to display the work of local artists on digital billboards across New York City. Hudson Valley comic artist Emily Ree’s work was one of 40 submissions chosen for the “Visualize the Vote” campaign i...
New Acquisition: Harriet Alonso Needlework
Published December 7, 2020 | Social History
Harriet Alonso began working with embroidery in 1974. Influenced by the imagery of political posters, she soon used the medium to express her ideas about the causes she was passionate about, including women’s rights, educational equality, and peac...
New Acquisition: 1947 Tavern Television
Published August 4, 2016 | Social History
The State Museum recently acquired a fully-restored 1947 Tavern Television made by the United States Television Manufacturing Corporation (USTMC). Made in New York City, this unit is believed to be one of only five known sets left in the United St...
New Acquisition: Liquor Chest Used by NYS Soldiers in American Revolution and War of 1812
Published February 29, 2016 | Political History
A liquor chest used by soldiers in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 was recently donated to the New York State Museum. The chest was donated by the descendants of Captain Abraham Swartwout (an officer on General George Washington...
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 ...