Dr. Jennifer Lemak

Chief Curator of History
518-474-5842


 

Doctor of Philosophy, American History, University at Albany, 2004
Master of Arts, Public History, University at Albany, 2000 
Bachelor of Arts, History and Secondary Social Studies in Education, State University of New York College at Cortland, 1996

Professional Affiliations and Service
New York History journal, co-editor  
New York Academy of History, fellow (inducted 2014)
New York State Historic Preservation, board member
University at Albany Center for Applied Historical Research,boardmember

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.

My on-going research projects are on different ends of the history-content spectrum. Since the suffrage centennial in 2020, I have been researching the history of the Equal Rights Amendment in New York State.  Additionally, I am studying the influence New Yorkers had on Mark Twain’s life and writing.

Publications

2024

J. Lemak 2024, Public History Review, New York History 105, 386 - 388. 10.1353/nyh.2024.a951724

2023

J. Lemak 2023, Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw , and: Commeraw’s Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner by A. Brandt Zipp (review), New York History 104, 457-460. 10.1353/nyh.2023.a918288

2022

J. Lemak 2022, Strike the Hammer: The Black Freedom Struggle in Rochester, New York, 1940–1970 by Laura Warren Hill, New York History 103, 187-189.

2017

J. Lemak, A Hopkins-Benton 2017, Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial, Excelsior Editions State University of New York Press, Albany, New York
J. Lemak, A Hopkins-Benton 2017, Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial, Excelsior Editions State University of New York Press, Albany, New York

2014

R. Weible, J. Lemak, A. Noble 2014, An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War, Excelsior Editions State University of New York Press, Albany, New York
R. Weible, J. Lemak, A. Noble 2014, An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War, Excelsior Editions State University of New York Press, Albany, New York

2012

J. Lemak 2012, The Incomplete Celebration. New York Archives Magazine 12, 32-36

2011

J. Lemak 2011, Human Frogs in the History Collections!. Legacy: The Magazine of the New York State Museum 6, 16
J. Lemak 2011, Advancement Comes Slowly: African American Employment in Rochester, New York During the Great Migration, New York History 92, 79-98.