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Devin R. Lander

New York State Historian
518-474-0206

​MA, Public History, State University of New York at Albany (2007)
BA, History, State University of New York at Plattsburgh (2000)

Devin Lander is New York’s 16th State Historian and Head of Museum Chartering for the State Education Department. Previous to being named State Historian, he was the Executive Director of the Museum Association of New York (MANY) and worked as Deputy Legislative and Policy Director for the Chair of the New York State Assembly’s Tourism, Arts, Parks, and Sports Development and Governmental Operations Committees. He holds a BA in History from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and a MA in Public History from the University at Albany where he is currently completing work on his PhD dissertation. Devin is also co-host of the award-winning podcast A New York Minute in History produced by WAMC-Northeast Public Radio and co-editor of the New York History journal published by Cornell University Press.  He was elected as a New York Academy of History Fellow in 2020.

Publications

2025

J. Lemak, K. Quinn 2025, Margery Ryerson: Art is Contagious, New York State Museum Circular The University of the State of New York, Albany

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