This image depicts a parade celebrating the passage of the 15th Amendment surrounded by portraits and vignettes of African Americans excising their newly won liberties—land ownership, education, political involvement, religious freedom, employment, and military participation.

Using the graphic organizer "Broadside Analysis" created by the New York State Archives have students predict what they think the Broadside is saying and then go through and analyze each part of the image using the prompts to help answer the question “What did the artist think the ratification of the 15^th Amendment would provide for African Americans?”

This image depicts, at center, a parade celebrating the passage of the 15th Amendment surrounded by portraits and vignettes of African Americans exercising their newly won liberties—land ownership, education, political involvement, religious freedom, employment, and military participation.

(Click on image below to view full screen.)

Using Broadside Analysis, the graphic organizer created by the New York State Archives, have students predict what they think the broadside is saying and then go through and analyze each part of the image using the prompts to help answer the question, “What did the artist think the ratification of the 15th Amendment would provide for African Americans?”

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These two engravings compare former Confederates applying for pardons, which would re-instate their rights to vote and hold public office, and a wounded African American Union soldier who lost his leg during combat and does not have the right to vote. 

(Click on image below to view full screen.)

Using Political Cartoon Analysis, the graphic organizer created by the New York State Archives, have students describe what they think the engravings are meant to convey and then analyze both images, using the prompts to help answer the question, “After the American Civil War, could African Americans vote?”

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This cartoon reflects the political situation in the South after Reconstruction. While Radical Republicans wanted to expand liberties for newly freed African Americans, Democrats and former Confederates wanted to limit these rights. By the 1870s overall public opinion began to turn against Republican policies in the South. Northerners, many of who never had a commitment to racial equality, grew tired of the endless turmoil of Southern politics. By 1876 the Democratic Party, strongly Southern and made up of many ex-Confederates, had a majority in the House of Representatives. Most of these officials wanted to eliminate the racial progress achieved during Reconstruction. Even the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the 14th and 15th Amendments. In 1877 Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew the last of the federal troops from the South, and Reconstruction was officially over. But state and local policies known as Jim Crow Laws began, legalizing discrimination against African Americans in all facets of public life. Jim Crow Laws, upheld primarily in the South but also present in the North, were enforced for nearly a century.

(Click on image below to view full screen.)

Using Political Cartoon Analysis, the graphic organizer created by the New York State Archives, have students describe what they think the political cartoon is saying and then analyze the image using the prompts to help answer the question, “Did the 15th Amendment give all African American men the ability to vote?”

On February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting African American men the right to vote. Despite this Constitutional victory, many states maintained strict voter-eligibility laws, including literacy tests and poll taxes. In reality, African American men and women would not freely exercise their right to vote until Voting Rights Act of 1965.

(Click on image below to view full screen.)

Using Artifact Analysis, the graphic organizer created by the New York State Archives, have students document the physical qualities and original purpose of the ticket. Students will then analyze the object to answer the question, “What information can an object provide about the people, events, or time period when it was made?"

Recognizing the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff at the New York State Archives are working to ensure that the statewide response to the crisis is comprehensively documented and preserved. The State Archives continues to provide guidance to local governments and state agencies and is developing a list of records that may document the pandemic response for state agencies and local governments to retain. We are also developing practical guidance for governments providing access to public records. In addition, we are providing support to non-governmental repositories. To help these institutions navigate this period of uncertainty, the Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York COVID –19 Information Aggregate provides access to newly developed on-demand learning opportunities, information on funding for cultural institutions, and the latest updates from local, state, federal, and international leaders in the field.

We are available to support all activities of all repositories in New York as they respond to the challenges we face. If you have questions, concerns or would like to share information about how your institution is responding to the pandemic please contact us at: recmgmt@nysed.gov or dhs@nysed.gov

In response to the global pandemic, New York State Library's Manuscripts and Special Collections unit (MSC) has launched the COVID-19 Personal History Initiative. In the first phase of this project, MSC is promoting a journal or diary writing campaign by encouraging all New Yorkers to record their experiences during this scary and challenging period of time. Future phases of the project will include seeking online submissions of media related to how New Yorkers are experiencing the pandemic and an oral history component.

In addition, the State Library is collecting materials with a particular focus on how libraries across the state are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. A component of our effort focuses on collecting stories, internet resources, videos, and news releases highlighting innovative services and delivery programs that continue to engage patrons during closures. For more information, contact P.J. Nastasi at: peter.nastasi@nysed.gov

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of daily life in every part of New York State. The State Museum is working to document and collect materials related to the pandemic and its effects on state and local government, institutions, and everyday individuals, with special focus given to communities whose histories are traditionally underrepresented. We are looking to collect objects, stories, and photographs to help document this pandemic.

This banner, which hung at 9 Madison Place in Albany, New York, went up on March 22, 2020—the first day “New York on Pause” went into effect. Meagan Fitzgerald created the banner because, “I was overwhelmed with gratefulness for all of those working on the front lines and with the Governor for keeping a sense of calm during a highly anxious period.”

If you have a COVID-19 related artifact or image that you would like to donate to the New York State Museum, please contact Dr. Jennifer Lemak, Chief Curator of History, at jennifer.lemak@nysed.gov

For some species, the conservation laws that protect wild bird populations came too late. Habitat loss and overhunting for food or feathers resulted in the extinction of these birds that were once native to New York. Their loss reminds us that humans are capable of exterminating even widespread and abundant species.

The New York State Museum ornithology collection includes specimens of several North American species and subspecies that have become extinct in the last 150 years.

Widespread agricultural use of the pesticide DDT in the mid-20th century caused raptors and fish-eating species at the top of the food chain to produce eggs with very thin eggshells that broke when the parents tried to incubate them. The banning of DDT in 1972, along with first-of-their-kind restoration efforts by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the 1970s and 1980s, enabled these species to make a comeback from the brink of extinction. 

Natural grasslands and shrublands are rare in New York. As people altered the landscape to establish farms and villages, birds that use open habitats began to flourish. Today these birds largely depend on agricultural and other human-maintained areas.

Birds that are adapted to live in grasslands and the shrubby edges of forests are the species most familiar to us. Farms and suburban neighborhoods provide the fields, thickets, and open woodlands favored by many nesting songbirds and raptors.

Saltwater wetlands are very productive habitats for birds. They act as nesting sites for dozens of species of breeding birds, and are important staging areas for migrating landbirds. In winter, huge flocks of waterfowl that breed in the arctic call New York’s tidal bays and marshes home. Tidal bays and marshes are among our most vulnerable wildlife habitats, because they occur in the most densely populated parts of the state.

The Hudson River Estuary is a mix of fresh and salty waters. It experiences daily tides all the way to the first barrier on the river channel—the Federal Dam at Troy, some 154 miles upriver from New York City.

1. Schodack Island State Park
2. Stockport Flats
3. Tivoli Bays
4. Constitution Marsh Sanctuary
5. Doodletown and Iona Island
6. Lower Hudson River

Deciduous forests are New York’s most widespread habitat, covering about 45 percent of the land. Allegheny oak forests, maple and birch northern hardwoods, and coastal beech forests are all dominated by broad-leaved trees that shed and regrow their foliage annually, but each has its own distinctive community of resident and migratory bird species.

Almost all of New York’s cultivated land and pastures (covering another 22 percent of the state), was deciduous forest before it was cleared for agricultural use. Extensive reforestation of abandoned farmland and the establishment of forest preserves and managed “working forests” has increased the amount of forested land in New York since the 19th century.

From Chautauqua to Montauk and from the Atlantic shore to the peak of Mount Marcy, New York’s diverse wildlife habitats are home to 250 species of breeding birds, and another 100 species that are regular visitors. Birds of New York offers visitors a close-up view of 140 taxidermy bird specimens displayed in dioramas that highlight the major wildlife habitats found in the state of New York.  

The restored habitat dioramas feature 27 new taxidermy mounts and are completely reinterpreted with new maps, descriptions of amazing bird adaptations, and recordings of bird song. A new section of the exhibit tells the story of bird species that we have lost forever to extinction. Here you can see specimens of the Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, Heath Hen, and Eskimo Curlew from our research collection, on display for the first time. You can also learn how heroic efforts by scientists and conservationists saved the Bald Eagle, Osprey, and Peregrine Falcon, bringing these species back from the brink of extinction.

Join NYSM Curator of Ornithology, Dr. Jeremy Kirchman, in our Birds of New York exhibit hall for a guided tour of the newly renovated dioramas depicting the major bird habitats of New York State.

Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) are small thrushes that nest in tree cavities in open habitats such as meadows, fields, and forest openings. Competition from non-native European Starlings and House Sparrows, which also nest in cavities, led to a steep decline in the bluebird population. Conservationists responded in the 1970s, forming the North American Bluebird Society, which led an effort to erect wooden nest boxes. Today, Eastern Bluebirds are commonly seen in pastures, agricultural fields, and suburban parks, where they nest in boxes provided by concerned citizens and conservation organizations. 

The gallery renovation project, completed in 2020, ushered Birds of New York into a new era, with upgraded lighting, realistic backgrounds, and taxidermy bird mounts that have been cleaned or replaced. See how the entire hall has been completely re-interpreted with new maps, photos, and updated information about bird ecology and evolution and conservation

New York’s evergreen forests are dominated by cone-bearing trees such as spruce, balsam fir, hemlock, tamarack, and white pine. These cold, wet habitats are found in New York at high elevations: the Adirondack Mountains, Tug Hill Plateau, Taconic Highlands, Appalachian Plateau, and the Catskill Peaks. 

Several bird species that live in evergreen forests breed in New York only in the Adirondacks and Catskills above 3,000 feet elevation. Since 1894 the public land in these forest preserves has been protected by the New York State Constitution, which declares that they “shall be forever kept as wild forest lands.”

After a few thousand years, the tundra slowly turned to boreal forest, or taiga. The climate warmed slightly, and confiers grew into rich forests. Spruce, larch, and fir trees are the dominant plants in this forest, although smaller herbaceous plants, mosses, and grasses can be found. Lakes and other smaller water bodies are also abundant in the boreal forest. Today, boreal forest is the largest biome in the world. These forests make up 29% of all forest cover. Boreal forests are still found in the Adirondack Mountains.

Fossils of boreal mammal species are the most abundant in the Ice Age collections of the State Museum. American mastodon fossils are found in sites across the state as well as species like giant ground sloth, peccary, stag-moose, giant beaver, and even California condor. These fossils show that the boreal forest was very diverse.

Castoroides ohioensis 
One of the largest rodents that ever lived, this extinct beaver grew to 8 feet (2.4 m) long and weighed as much as 275 pounds (125 kg)—about the size of a modern black bear. Like modern beavers, this extinct beaver had long incisor teeth. But they were not sharp and could not have cut down trees.
 

Platygonus compressus
A distant relative of pigs, this extinct peccary grew up to 3 feet (0.91 m) long. With long legs, it was probably a fast runner. Today, three species of peccaries live in the southwestern United States and tropical America. This peccary’s canine teeth point straight up and down. In pigs, the canines are at an angle. 

Megalonyx jeffersonii
Unlike modern sloths, this extinct sloth lived mainly on the ground. It reached high into trees to eat twigs and branches.

Cervalces scotti 
Only a little bit larger than moose, the stag-moose lived in New York until approximately 11,700 years ago. The stag-moose reached 8 feet (2.5 m) in height and a weight of 1,562 pounds (708.5 kg). Its antlers could reach 6 feet in length. Like modern moose, the stag-moose lived in the Pleistocene’s wetlands, forests, and woodlands.

When glaciers retreat, the first habitat to appear is the tundra. A tundra is a cold, windy, treeless environment with little rain and a short growing season. The plants that grow in this harsh environment are unusually small such as: alpine bilberry, sibbaldia, and purple mountain saxifrage. They have adapted to conserve water and survive in the cold and wind. By enriching the soil, tundra plants play an important role in preparing the landscape for trees and other organisms. Although many tundra plant species disappeared as New York’s climate warmed, a few hang on in steep gorges and high Adirondack peaks. Alpine tundra may be the State’s most endangered ecosystem. These rare plants are nearly gone from New York.

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As temperatures fall and rise, glaciers advance and retreat. During times of retreat, different habitats appear and disappear in a predictable cycle. It always follows the same basic pattern. As the plant communities change, so do the kinds and numbers of animals associated with them. About 13,000 years ago, the last Ice Age ended. By 11,000 years ago, many animals were extinct while others were just gone from New York. Many large North American mammals went extinct shortly after the end of the last glacial maximum, the ice sheets’ greatest expansion. The event is known as the Pleistocene Extinction. Since then, there have been far fewer large mammals in North America.

Likely because of the harsh environment, very few fossil species from the tundra environment were preserved. So far, New York's Ice Age tundra species include only caribou, mammoth, and musk oxen. From tundra habitats in other states we know species like Arctic fox and lemmings also lived in this habitat.

Mammuthus columbi
About 35,000 years ago, in the Late Pleistocene, woolly mammoths dispersed into North America. While mammoths do not appear to have been as abundant in New York as mastodons, scientists have found fossils of the Columbian mammoth and the woolly mammoth.

Rangifer tarandus
Caribou are still found in the tundra and boreal forests of North America. Some of their diet consists of lichens, a symbiotic organism consisting of an algae and fungus. Caribou are the only mammal known to be able to break down lichen as food. Their hollow-hair fur provides warmth for living in cold climates as well as to help them stay afloat while swimming.

Ovibos moschatus
Musk oxen survive year-round in extremely cold environments. They lived in New York 15,000 years ago. By the end of the last Ice Age 11,700 years ago, none of these animals were here. Adapted to climates and habitats that are no longer present in New York, they remain in other parts of North America.

At one time, a sea covered parts of New York, Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario. This Champlain Sea lasted from about 13,100 years ago until 9,000 years ago.

When mile-high glaciers covered New York, the enormous weight created depressions in the land. When the last glacier melted, water from the Atlantic Ocean filled the depression it made, creating the sea. Oceanic creatures lived in this sea until the land rebounded and the sea retreated.

Today, beluga whales and seals live in the sea around the Arctic Circle. However, these bones were found on land in New York where the Champlain Sea was once located. Evidence of other animals living in the Champlain Sea include whales, fish, clams, and the ringed seal and the harbor seal included here. 

Delphinapterus leucas
Beluga whales are adapted for living in cold water and are currently found in the Arctic Ocean. They lack a dorsal fin that could hit floating ice blocks and have a thick layer of insulating fat.

Phoca vitulina
Harbor seals do not migrate and like areas of water that are free from ice. They prefer familiar resting places on land. This would suggest that, initially, the Champlain Sea did not have much ice when it formed.

Pusa hispida
Much different from harbor seals, ringed seals favor resting on ice floes. They have adapted to remaining in contact with ice most of the year. The age of this ringed seal implies the Champlain Sea developed at least some land-attached ice several hundred years after it was created.

The links below provide resources for further information on historical topics of interest to historians, and researchers. 

The Haudenosaunee used a style of farming, known today as "slash-and-burn" or "swidden," which requires a community to move the location of its village from time to time. As the soils of the fields became exhausted, and firewood in the neighborhood became scarce, the people had to venture farther afield for these essentials of life. After a while, the distances traveled for both became too inconvenient and difficult. For these reasons, and because the longhouses and palisades needed more and more repair, the community would decide to create a new village a few miles away.

The larger the population of a village, the more quickly the nearby resources such as firewood and fertile fields become exhausted. A small village might be able to maintain itself in one location for 20 to 30 years, but a large village might need to move in ten years. The move itself and the decision to move were not made quickly. They were the result of months, if not years of planning.

Putting up the longhouse was relatively easy and quick, and accomplished by a "longhouse-raising-bee," drawing upon the help of all who would live in it, and perhaps neighboring families.

Foods raised by the Haudenosaunee women included corn, beans, and squash; other plant foods were gathered from the surrounding forest and included in-season roots and tubers, greens, berries, and other fruits and nuts. Hunting activities were "men's work" in which younger brothers and older sons assisted. Fish, waterfowl, deer, and other mammals were caught, trapped, and hunted throughout the year and were the major sources of protein. Animal skins provided clothing and robes. Dogs were not so much family "pets," as watchdogs and the companions of hunters. Originally, they were the only domesticated animals kept by the Haudenosaunee and their ancestors.

Food was continually being prepared and cooked. There were no set mealtimes. Family members helped themselves from the pot whenever they were hungry.

But it was not all work and no play. Amusements and recreation were also important parts of Haudenosaunee village life 400 years ago. Stories, riddles, and jokes would be told, even as you worked, especially, in the cold of winter, when the weather confined everyone in their longhouses. Games of chance, for instance, those using circular dice made from deer antlers, would be played. Children role-played and or just had a "good time."

Most children's toys and games involved role-playing: that is, girls doing things that their "mothers" and older "sisters" would do; boys doing what their " fathers," "uncles" and older "brothers" would do. Boys role-played as hunters and warriors using small bows and arrows, testing their skills by shooting at targets or small animals and birds. Lacrosse, known to the Haudenosaunee as "The Little Brother of War," also drew upon and tested skills that would become important to boys in adulthood. The boys also played the "hoop and javelin" game, in which they took turns trying to throw a javelin or spear through a small hoop rolled along the ground by another.

Girls played with cornhusk dolls, which prepared them for their important roles of life-givers and "nurturers." Field hockey or shinney may have evolved from games played by girls in the cornfields using their wooden hoes as "hockey" sticks, and any available rounded object, such as a stone or nut, as the ball.
 

New York has over 70,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 7,600 lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. This open water and New York’s extensive freshwater wetlands (marshes, bogs, swamps, and wet meadows) provide important nesting habitat for breeding birds, and stopover areas for migrating birds. In the past 400 years, over half of the historically known freshwater wetlands have been lost due to draining and filling. Protecting remaining habitats is an important priority for wildlife conservation organizations.

Marsh birds are seldom seen, but easily heard! Many bird species that breed in freshwater marshes have streaked, brown plumage that helps conceal them in the dense vegetation. They prefer to stay hidden from sight, but make their presence known to other members of their species with complex and LOUD vocalizations.

Many bird species that live in wetlands need open water to feed. During New York’s long and cold winters, only the largest and fastest-moving water bodies do not freeze. Most fish-eating birds, like herons, loons, and kingfishers, must migrate south to areas with open water. Some individuals survive the winter months in the remaining open water on the Great Lakes, the Finger Lakes, or along the Atlantic Coast.

Glaciers move under their own weight in response to gravity. In the process, they erode, transport, and deposit rocks and other sediments.

Snow accumulates, compresses, and glaciers form. Erosion occurs as the glacier crushes, grinds, and plucks up rocks and sediment. Boulders and sediment of all sizes, is transported by ice. Meltwater flowing in tunnels under the glacier sorts and moves sediments.

Till forms as unsorted sediments accumulate under the glacier as it moves over the landscape. Outwash deposits accumulate as meltwater dumps coarse materials in front of the glacier. Meltwater then transports fine grained silt and clay to distant lakes basins.

Glaciers have advanced and retreated across New York many times. Glacial till, the unsorted sediments directly deposited by a glacier, occur as an abundant surface deposit on the landscape. It was generally believed that with each new cycle, the glacier erased the evidence of previous glacial cycles.

However, Museum scientists recently found evidence of at least six glacial cycles at the Great Gully Gorge, near Union Springs, NY, on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. By studying and dating the stacked sedimentary units along with collecting drill cores scientist are able to construct a timeline of geological events in the Finger Lakes.

Where Radiocarbon Dating requires organic material to provide ages and dates, Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating does not. OSL is able to use sand-sized pieces of the mineral quartz to estimate when sand grains were buried or last exposed to sunlight. This method is useful to date geologic sediments transported by air (sand dunes) or water (stream and lake deposits), or archaeologic ceramics from 200 years old to 300,000 years old. Museum scientists used OSL to date the sand layers from which the buried peat and spruce log were recovered. This provides dated evidence of at least six glacial cycles.