Unusual Artifacts - New York State Museum

The Magazine
of the
New York
State Museum
VOL. 3 • NO. 1
SUMMER 2007
INSIDE:
Cohoes Mastodon
Wayward Bats
Thacher Park’s Past
New Exhibitions
Archaeology in Albany
Unusual Artifacts PAGE 8

Required Reading!
For more than 100 years, Museum publications have shared knowledge of anthropology,
biology, geology, history, and paleontology with readers excited by discovery.
In Museum Bulletin #509,
Before Albany, An Archaeology
of Native-Dutch Relations in
the Capital Region, 1600–1664,
author Dr. James W. Bradley
explores the interaction
between Native Americans
and the Dutch settlers living
in the Beverwijck settlement,
now present-day Albany. He
discusses the mutual respect
between the two groups
and how, despite some
conflicts, they established
reciprocal relationships that
led to the settlement of the
Capital Region.
230 pages, 8 1 /8 x 9 3 /4 inches
Museum Bulletin #502, Natural
History of the Albany Pine Bush,
is a comprehensive field guide
to the trees, shrubs, wildflowers,
insects, amphibians, reptiles,
birds, and mammals that
inhabit one of the most
endangered landscapes in the
Northeast. Author Jeffrey K.
Barnes also reviews the human
exploitation, land use, and
conservation of the area as
well as the challenges related
to its ecological management.
245 pages, 6 x 9 inches
Museum Bulletin #505, James
Eights, 1798–1882, Antarctic
Explorer, Albany Naturalist,
His Life, His Times, His Work,
presents a synopsis of the life
and times of a little-known
but respected 19th century
scientist from Albany. Author
Daniel McKinley brings to life
Eights’ professional career and
recognizes his contributions to
science. Interested in various
fields of natural history, James
Eights explored extensively in
New York and donated many
of the biological and geological
specimens he collected to the
State Museum.
456 pages, 8 1 /2 x 11 inches
Museum Bulletin #507,
Fabulous Fossils: 300 Years of
Worldwide Research on
Trilobites, documents the history
of research on this fascinating
group of prehistoric animals.
This collection of 15 papers,
written by internationally
renowned scientists, is a significant
contribution to the history
of trilobite paleontology. The
book was edited by Donald G.
Mikulic, Ed Landing of the
State Museum, and Joanne
Kluessendorf.
248 pages, 8 1 /2 x 11 inches
For information about these and other titles, call 518-486-2013 or visit www.nysm.nysed.gov/publications.

contents
VOL. 3 • NO. 1
SUMMER 2007
Recent archaeological excavations
form the basis of a new long-term
exhibition, Beneath the City: An
Archaeological Perspective of Albany.
features
10
12
Rock of Deep Ages by Dr. Chuck Ver Straeten
A little geological information makes hiking along Thacher’s
Indian Ladder Trail more than a walk in the park.
Digging for Deeper Meaning
In a series of essays, Museum staff discuss how historical
archaeology inspired a new exhibition on Albany’s early history
and how archaeology broadens our understanding of the past.
departments
2
Director’s Note
3
Museum News
7
Discovery Now
Searching Old Ground with New Methods
A geologist uses ground-penetrating radar
to locate missing and misplaced graves.
by Dr. Andrew Kozlowski
8
Hidden Treasures
Strange Creatures from the Archaeology Collections
by Dr. Penelope B. Drooker and George R. Hamell
Mudcracks in the Manlius
Limestone reveal the geologic
history of Thacher Park. This
summer, Museum scientists lead
explorations of the biology,
anthropology, and geology of
Thacher during the 7th annual
New York State Museum Goes
to the Parks program. See The
Museum Calendar for details.
Pop-eyed birdstones, dating
generally to 1000 B.C., are
among the unusual artifacts
in the archaeology collections.
16
New York Stories
Bats: Gone with the Wind?
New York’s bats have a mysterious and perilous
fascination with wind turbines.
by Dr. Roland W. Kays
The unseenamerica NYS exhibition
includes more than 50 images taken
by working people from throughout
the state, including Volunteers by
George Smith, a tractor-trailer driver.
www.nysm.nysed.gov
On the Cover
This engraved plate of mica, depicting a horned
water monster, was found on Long Island
and donated to New York State in 1849. The
correct orientation is 90 degrees to the right.
Photo by Thaddeus Beblowski, NYSM.
Inset: Excavation of an 18th century rum
distillery in Albany, seen in Beneath the City:
An Archaeological Perspective of Albany.
IMAGES FROM TOP RIGHT: DR. CHUCK VER STRAETEN, NYSM; THADDEUS BEBLOWSKI, NYSM; GEORGE SMITH; NYSM COLLECTIONS

JOHN WHIPPLE
The Magazine of the
New York State Museum
director’s note
Two issues ago, I wrote about the role of museums as educational institutions—
how the power of objects in exhibitions can stimulate the imagination and
generate a thirst for knowledge. Museums in New York are chartered by the
Board of Regents through the chartering office at the State Museum and are
required to provide educational programming aligned with Regents’ standards.
This requirement has evolved not only from an obligation to provide public
benefit, but also from a growing recognition that learning stretches beyond
the classroom to museums, libraries, historical societies, scientific laboratories,
and the field.
Success in our increasingly complex, high-tech world requires students to
learn how to access, interpret, and analyze information. Museums are ideally
suited to play an important role in helping students acquire these critical
21st century skills. The Regents have developed an action plan for education
in New York State that is designed to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
One of the critical components of the action plan is the Museum Education
Act developed here at the State Museum.
The Museum Education Act launches a major partnership between museums
and schools, bringing the resources and expertise of New York’s museums to
statewide efforts to improve student performance. It recognizes that museums
are centers for learning and provides much-needed funds, at a time when
many museums struggle to keep their doors open.
This act recognizes, for the very first time, the contributions of New York’s
museums by establishing a program of formula-based funding. Going even
further, it establishes competitive grants to fund teacher development, programs
that address science literacy, innovative mechanisms to bring museum resources
into schools, enhancement of exhibitions, and virtual-learning experiences.
To learn more about the Museum Education Act, please visit our Web site
at www.nysm.nysed.gov. I encourage you to lend your support by using the
sample letter found there to write to your legislator. I hope each of you will
join me in advocating for this important educational advance.
Cliff Siegfried
Director, New York State Museum
www.nysm.nysed.gov
Maria C. Sparks, Managing Editor
Leigh Ann Smith, Design Consultant
Bonnie Kerrick, Copy Editor
Design
2k Design
Contributors
Penelope B. Drooker
George R. Hamell
Roland W. Kays
Nancy Kelley
Andrew Kozlowski
Martin Pickands
Christina B. Rieth
Victoria Schmitt
Michelle Stefanik
Chuck Ver Straeten
Advisory Board
Harry M. Rosenfeld
Clifford A. Siegfried
John P. Hart
Mark Schaming
Jeanine L. Grinage
Robert A. Daniels
Penelope B. Drooker
Editorial Board
Carrie Bernardi
Penelope B. Drooker
Cecile Kowalski
Geoffrey N. Stein
Chuck Ver Straeten
Legacy is published quarterly by the
New York State Museum Institute,
Third Floor, Cultural Education
Center, Albany, NY 12230. The
New York State Museum Institute,
a private single-purpose 501(c)(3)
charitable organization, supports the
exhibitions, research, and programs
of the New York State Museum.
The magazine is sent to members
of the New York State Museum as
a benefit of their membership. For
information about membership,
call 518-474-1354 or send an e-mail
to membership@mail.nysed.gov.
2 ■ Legacy

museum news
Through
the Eyes
of Unseen
Workers
Cafeteria workers preparing
food. A game of street
basketball. Bengali women
studying at a table. A little girl
at her birthday party. A firefighter
on duty. These photographs tell
stories of work, of community,
of family. The images are made
by security guards, housekeepers,
healthcare workers, refugees,
truck drivers, teachers, and
others as part of unseenamerica
New York State, an innovative
arts project in which workers
document their own experiences
and describe their worlds with
the assistance of professional
writers and photographers.
unseenamerica New York
State gives those who are
unseen in our communities the
tools and opportunities to
become seen. There are more
than 50 revealing photographs
on display in Exhibition Hall
through October 21.
Esther Cohen, executive
director of Bread and Roses—
the nonprofit cultural arm of
the health and human services
union 1199SEIU—founded
unseenamerica five years ago.
The core of the project is a
12-week workshop where the
participants learn the basic
principles of documentary
photography. Throughout the
nation, unseenamerica teaches
photography as a language
that can be used to gain worker
visibility and dignity. Each workshop
culminates with a local
exhibition of the photographs
accompanied by text written by
the participants.
The exhibition at the State
Museum consists of images made
solely in New York State at recent
workshops in Albany, Syracuse,
Rochester, Buffalo, many small
towns, and on Long Island,
among other places. It is a collaboration
of the Bread and Roses
Cultural Project of 1199SEIU,
the NYS AFL-CIO, and the
Workforce Development Institute.
“unseenamerica is an exercise
in democracy,” says Zoeann
Murphy, the regional
coordinator of the
unseenamerica NYS
exhibition. “Workers,
immigrants, and refugees
are creating their own
media, and we are integrating
these voices into
the larger social and cultural
fabric of the nation. It has been
an incredible privilege to hear
the stories people tell in the
classes and work with the participants
to depict their stories
through their photographs.”
– Nancy Kelley, coordinator of
temporary exhibitions
Clockwise from top left: Claudia
Payne, AFL-CIO Community
Services Liaison, Headstand;
George Smith, Tractor-Trailer Driver,
Volunteers; Diane Loan, Mike’s
Craft Booth; Hosneara Kader,
Hudson Even Start, Strive.
Summer 2007 ■ 3

museum
news
The Works of Alex Katz
Alex Katz, Eli, 1963.
Oil on canvas,
73 1 /2 x 95 1 /2 in.
(186.7 x 242.6 cm).
Whitney Museum
of American Art,
New York; gift
of Mr. and Mrs.
Herbert Fischbach
64.37
The State Museum acquired a
c. 1915 carousel in 1975 and
located its original military band
organ in 2000. After a 50-year
separation, the carousel and the
band organ are together again.
The latest exhibition in the
Bank of America Great
Art Series presents more
than 30 works by renowned Pop
artist Alex Katz.
In Alex Katz: Selections from
the Whitney Museum of American
Art, viewers see lesser-known
landscape paintings and collages
from Katz’s early career in the
1950s as well as the large,
brilliantly colored images of his
family and friends from his work
in the 1960s and later.
JOHN SCHERER, NYSM
“This is the fifth Great Art
exhibit that the Whitney has
organized for us since 1999, but
it is the very first that focuses on
the work of one artist,” says
Nancy Kelley, the State Museum’s
coordinator of temporary exhibitions.
“The Whitney was the first
museum to collect Katz’s work,
and it has mounted exhibitions
that were instrumental in his
career. Consequently, curator Dana
Miller was able to draw on works
created over a half century—
drawings, collages, prints, Katz’s
signature billboard-sized paintings,
and ‘cutout’ sculpture.”
The exhibition includes the
earliest of Katz paintings in the
Whitney’s collection, Untitled
(1951), a work of Abstract
Expressionism. Examples of
Katz’s more recent style are also
included; the small-scale works
show the process Katz uses
to create his large-size portraits.
The exhibition runs through
August 19 in West Gallery.
Reunited
and
It Sounds
So Good
The New York State
Museum’s carousel, built
in 1915 by the Herschell-
Spillman Carousel Factory in
North Tonawanda, and its
original band organ are making
music together once more. On
Wednesday mornings, and by
NYSM
request, the Wurlitzer military
band organ plays carousel music
the way it was heard for nearly
40 years: lively and loud.
The band organ was designed
to be played outdoors to attract
crowds. From 1915 until 1933,
the Stadel Brothers of Wellsville
traveled the carousel with its
booming military band organ—
complete with snare and bass
drums, horns, a cymbal, and a
pipe organ—to various fairs
around the Southern Tier. They
later sold the carousel and band
organ to Olivecrest Park on Cuba
Lake. The band organ was used
until the mid-1950s, when it
evidently became easier to use a
phonograph to provide carousel
music, according to John Scherer,
the Museum’s curator of popular
entertainment.
The owners of the carousel
sold the band organ to a man
who wanted to play it as he
boated around the lake. However,
without a large enough boat
and a portable power source to
make this a reality, he kept the
band organ in his garage. The
New York State Museum acquired
the band organ 45 years later,
in 2000, and recently completed
the restoration of its natural oak
case and playing mechanism.
The band organ plays music at
92 decibels, just slightly louder
than the 90 decibel rating of a
lawnmower. For more comfortable
listening, CDs of band organ
music are played daily, 10 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., no earplugs necessary.
4 ■ Legacy

▲
The Cohoes Mastodon, shown at right when it was exhibited in the “Old” Museum, now
resides in a brand-new exhibition in South Hall.
Excavation of an 18th century rum distillery in Albany, seen in Beneath the City:
An Archaeological Perspective of Albany.
▲
A Look Back:
The Cohoes
Mastodon
In 1866, during the construction
of Harmony Mill No. 3 near
Cohoes Falls, workers found
the remains of a mastodon that
lived 11,000 years ago. In life,
this male mastodon stood nearly
8.5 feet high at the shoulder,
was about 15 feet long, and
weighed between 8,000 and
10,000 pounds.
In the years since its discovery,
the Cohoes Mastodon (Mammut
americanum)—one of the State
Museum’s rarest treasures—has
been a popular exhibition for
generations of visitors. It was
first exhibited around 1870 in
Geological and Agricultural Hall
and moved into the new State
Museum when it opened within
the State Education Building
in 1915. When the Museum
relocated to the Cultural
Education Center in 1976, the
mastodon was dismantled and
put into collections storage.
However, in recognition of its
status as a Museum icon, the
Cohoes Mastodon was reassembled
and placed in the 1st Floor
lobby of the Cultural Education
Center in 1998.
The mastodon now has a new
home in the Museum’s South Hall.
The location is a more stable
climate for the bones, which
DR. NORTON MILLER, NYSM
helps the Museum preserve the
mastodon for years of display. It
also provides visitors with better
access to view the mastodon. The
new exhibition contains more
information about the Cohoes
Mastodon than ever before. It
explains and demonstrates,
through models, the differences
between mastodons and mammoths
and indicates what led to
the mass extinction of mastodons,
mammoths, and other large
The Moss Exchange and
the Bryophyte Herbarium
To identify plants correctly,
seeing is believing.
Through an exchange
managed by the State Museum,
scientists and teachers worldwide
receive specimens of mosses
that, when reviewed in tandem
with published descriptions,
provide more precise information
about the biodiversity of this
poorly known, species-rich group
of plants. The exchange enables
researchers to draw more accurate
animals 10,000 years ago. The
exhibition also presents what
science reveals about the
Cohoes Mastodon’s life and
death. The mastodon’s original
left tusk and a cross-sectioned
tooth are displayed in cases
next to the mastodon. Weighing
about 50 pounds each, the
tusks are too heavy to mount in
the skull. The right tusk remains
in the Museum’s collections for
scientific study.
Catoscopium nigritum, one of the thousands of moss specimens in the Museum’s Bryophyte
Herbarium, is known to occur only in Batavia.
conclusions, equips teachers
with the best-available information,
and provides scientists
with something new for their
herbarium reference studies.
It also helps to build the
Museum’s Bryophyte Herbarium,
a collection of more than
45,000 specimens of mosses,
liverworts, and hornworts,
which are otherwise known as
‘bryophytes,’ the second largest
group of green land plants. As
▲
Must-See
Exhibitions
Beneath the City:
An Archaeological
Perspective of Albany
Continuing
Cohoes Mastodon
Continuing
Bank of America Great
Art Series
Alex Katz: Selections
from the Whitney
Museum of American Art
Through August 19
Alton Frabetti, University at
Stony Brook, Ritratto, 2006.
Wood, rusted steel.
2007 Best of SUNY
Student Art Exhibition
Through September 3
unseenamerica NYS
pictures of working lives
taken by working hands
Through October 21
Look-Alikes:
The Amazing World
of Joan Steiner
Through March 2, 2008
See the Museum Calendar
for details.
Summer 2007 ■ 5

museum
news
Leucobryum albidum, a common
forest floor moss, is found on
Long Island.
DR. NORTON MILLER, NYSM
a separate organized collection,
the Museum’s Bryophyte
Herbarium dates back to about
1950, and its content reflects
the work of Stanley J. Smith, a
former curator of botany at the
Museum. When members of
the American Bryological and
Lichenological Society (ABLS)’s
Moss Exchange send sets of
duplicate specimens to the State
Museum, one specimen of each
set of duplicates becomes part
of the Museum’s Bryophyte
Herbarium, and the rest are
distributed to as many of the
exchange participants as possible.
The addition of specimens is
important for the Museum and
its growing collection. “It allows
more definite scientific decisions
to be made about the species
composition of the state’s
flora,” says botanist Dr. Norton
Miller, who oversees the moss
exchange program.
Nearly 40 ABLS members—
typically colleges, universities, and
free-standing museums worldwide—participate
in the exchange.
Dr. Miller and Lorinda Leonardi,
who manages the collection,
have handled more than 3,500
exchange specimens in the two
years the State Museum has
managed the exchange program.
The moss exchange allows
ABLS members to gather comparative
samples from around the
world. Some plants are widely
distributed and may be known by
one name locally and by another
previously established name elsewhere,
explains Dr. Miller. For this
reason, the written descriptions
of the plants are only part of the
quest to know the species. The
real discovery occurs with seeing
the specimen.
BRIAN MALLOY, NYSM
MUSEUM VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION
Holly Osborn:
A Familiar Face Behind
Family Fun Weekends
People associated with
the State Museum learn
quickly that the number
of visitors surges on a rainy
or an especially warm day in
good weather and on a clear
day in the winter. As a craft
activity volunteer during
Family Fun Weekend, Holly
Osborn has learned to be
ready for anything.
On a warm July day, her
first as a volunteer, there was
a constant flow of people
looking to decorate sun
visors with glitter. The kids
approached the messy craft
with gusto. And Holly, the
mother of a 10-year-old
daughter, probably wasn’t
too surprised by what
happened next. “Some of
the kids went to town with
the glitter,” she says. Since
then, this regular volunteer
on Family Fun Weekend
Saturdays has helped participants
create birdfeeders, paint
through a butterfly stencil,
and make a birch bark canoe,
among others. “I really like
the people, and it’s fun helping
out,” says Holly. “It’s been
a very positive experience.”
Holly is one of two
dedicated volunteers who
make the weekend fun and
exciting for the hundreds of
families who participate in
the crafts, activities, and
special events. “It takes many
individuals and a great deal
of effort to make a successful
program,” says Brian Malloy,
coordinator of volunteers.
“Hours are spent planning,
setting up, and actually
hosting the program. Our
volunteers’ commitment to
the program, the project,
and the Museum is what
makes it all come together.”
The New York State Museum offers many interesting and educational
opportunities for volunteers, interns, and those interested in community
service placements. For more information, call 518-402-5869.
6 ■ Legacy

discovery now
Searching Old Ground
with New Methods
BY DR. ANDREW KOZLOWSKI
Acommon attribute among
geology, archaeology,
and history is that each
of the disciplines revolves around
the burial of information, be it
sediment, objects of cultural
antiquity, or events. As a glacial
geologist, I am trained to evaluate
inconclusive bits of information
long since buried or removed by
erosion and to make geologic
interpretations. Recently, I was
approached by a historian who
asked me if I could use groundpenetrating
radar (GPR) technology
to find unmarked graves in two
Pennsylvania cemeteries. I found
it ironic that my previous research
sought to unravel events from
tens of thousands of years of
glaciation, and that now I would
search the subsurface of two
quarter-acre parcels for lost,
missing, and misplaced graves
from the past 200 years.
The success of geophysical
surveys is dependent on individual
site conditions and the ability to
measure contrasting physical
properties (magnetism, resistivity,
conductivity, density, etc.) between
subsurface targets and the
surrounding background material.
I had only used GPR technology
to map glacial landforms and
subsurface deposits, but I was
willing to offer any assistance I
could to locate the graves.
The parcels are within two
40-acre cemeteries in Milton,
Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna
River. Site 1 is an open
area believed to contain the
re-interred remains from an intracity
cemetery after a flood in
1889 exhumed numerous graves.
In an attempt to prevent disease,
the scattered human remains and
coffins were hastily relocated to a
mass grave on a higher
elevation stream
terrace without documenting
the burial
location or installing
grave markers.
The other parcel, a
“Potters Field” burial
plot for individuals of
low economic status,
was estimated to
contain as many as
40 individuals buried
between 1780–1925. Any documentation
of the grave locations
had long since been lost, and
grave markers were absent or
had gone missing over time.
I used multiple geophysical
methods, with an emphasis on
3-D GPR, to painstakingly survey
the parcels. Tantalizing clues
began to appear after the data
were processed into maps. Buried
amongst the noise of a century’s
worth of human activity, several
anomalies appeared about 1 meter
below the ground surface. The
radar anomalies appeared as
elongate 6-foot ovals oriented
east-west, and the amplitudes of
the radar data suggested the
burial methods varied throughout
the parcels. The maps produced
from the other geophysical
methods correlated with the
radar data and supported our
interpretations about probable
grave locations. In all, a total of
14 suspected unmarked burials
were located.
As this was my first attempt
at using near-surface geophysics
for an archeological project, I
was enthralled with the results,
fascinated by the challenges of
this project, and reminded of
the interdisciplinary nature of
scientific research.
Currently, I am collaborating
with Aaron Gore of the Museum’s
Cultural Resources Survey Program,
using GPR to search for the buried
remains of Fort La Presentation in
Ogdensburg, N.Y. I’m also using
GPR to map the thickness of cave
sediments, as part of Dr. Robert
Feranec’s search for vertebrate
remains in the Albany area. More
opportunities exist to use this
technology, now that the Museum
has acquired a state-of-the-art
GPR system to complement
geological, archaeological, and
other research interests. ■
Above: Scientist Dr. Andrew
Kozlowski brings experience
using ground-penetrating radar
to the State Museum.
Left: Ground-penetrating radar
generated this 3-D map that
displays high amplitude anomalies,
shown by the arrows and ovals.
The anomalies indicate the location
of graves.
Images courtesy of Dr. Andrew
Kozlowski.
Dr. Andrew Kozlowski is
the glacial geologist at the
New York State Museum.
He directs the STATEMAP
program and the Museum’s
earth science workshop for
teachers. Dr. Kozlowski’s
research interests include
glacial geology and
near-surface geophysical
applications, particularly
ground-penetrating radar.
Before joining the Museum
in 2006, he was a university
professor in Pennsylvania.
He earned a Ph.D.
from Western Michigan
University in 2004.
Summer 2007 ■ 7

hidden treasures
Strange Creatures
from the
Archaeology Collections
BY DR. PENELOPE B. DROOKER AND GEORGE R. HAMELL
Dr. Penelope B. Drooker is
curator of anthropology
and assistant director of
research and collections
at the New York State
Museum. Senior historian
George R. Hamell is the
ethnology collections
manager at the New York
State Museum.
Among the Museum’s
collections of Native
American archaeological
artifacts that document human
history in this region during the
past 13,000 years are thousands
of representations of animals
and people. Such artifacts
include bear-headed stone
pestles used around 4,000 years
ago; amazingly lifelike birds,
animals, and human faces on
stone and clay smoking pipes
that were made and smoked
during the past 600 years; and
starting in the 1500s, intricate
bone and antler combs depicting
all manner of living things,
including Europeans with trademark
hats, horses, and guns.
Such representations also
include quite a few mysteries:
depictions of fantastic creatures
whose stories might be lost in
the depths of time—or might live
on in oral traditions accessible
today. These strange creatures
include unique and rare images
in unusual materials as well
as classes of artifacts that still
remain mysterious.
The State Museum’s archaeology
collection had its origins in
1847 as part of a newly established
Historical and Antiquarian
collection. The Regents sought
contributions to this collection
through a circular, which asked
their “fellow citizens ... [for]
their aid, in furnishing the relics
of the ancient masters of the
soil, and the monuments and
remembrances of our colonial
and revolutionary history.” The
first “antiquities” were donated
in 1848 by collectors in Avon,
Canandaigua, Lake George,
and Rochester. Those earliest
donations often came with little
contextual information, making
it difficult to assess the ages
of some of the more unusual
artifacts and to deduce how they
fit into the daily life of the people
who made them. Some of the
most unusual and fascinating
artifacts in our collections—
several of which are shown
here—were donated during this
time. Research over many decades
has added to our understanding
of them, but this is still a work
in progress. ■
8 ■ Legacy

▲
▲
This engraved plate of mica, depicting a horned water monster (head to left) surrounded
by the tails of a half-dozen fish, whales, or other water creatures, was donated to New York
State in 1849 by Nathaniel Miller, M.D., member of the Assembly from Suffolk County. The
second annual Regents report in 1849 records that this artifact was “turned up by the plow
several years since, in the town of Brookhaven [Long Island], at a depth of about two feet
below the ground.” It probably depicts an ocean-dwelling water monster known to the people
living in the area. The drawing at right provides a more detailed look at the
engraving. NYSM A-16079, 19.7 cm x 15.5 cm x 0.7 cm. Photograph
by Thaddeus Beblowski. Drawing by Patricia Kernan.
Many artifacts of this shape, known colloquially as
pop-eyed birdstones, have been excavated at sites in
the lower Great Lakes region as well as farther afield in the Southeast and Midwest, and date
generally to c. 1000 B.C. They often are fashioned from strikingly patterned granitic or dioritic
porphyry or other colorful stone, which adds to the strange appearance of these weird
creatures. Birdstones with and without umbrella-shaped pop-eyes probably served as atlatl
(spear-thrower) weights. This eye-catching example, acquired by the NYSM in 1914 as part
of the Otis M. Bigelow Collection, was found in Lysander, Onondaga County. NYSM curator
William M. Beauchamp described it in 1897 as “the finest example of this class of amulets
yet found.” NYSM A-31776, 12.1 cm x 4.7 cm x 6.2 cm H. Photograph by Thaddeus Beblowski.
▲
Snakes, lizards, and salamanders have fascinated people everywhere since
the beginning of time. This flat-bottomed slate salamander effigy at one
time probably boasted inlaid eyes of shell, freshwater pearls, metal, or glass
beads. There is no closely similar object in the Museum’s archaeological
collections. It came from Montgomery County and was cataloged in 1906,
but its collector and the circumstances of its discovery are unknown.
Unfortunately, the records for many artifacts acquired before 1911 were
lost in the great Capitol Fire of that year. NYSM A-4371, 17.4 cm x 2.8 cm
x 1.2 cm H. Photograph by Thaddeus Beblowski.
▲
This tiny pewter or lead figure of a human-faced animal or human on
all fours was collected by Donald A. Rumrill at the mid-17th century Mohawk
village Printup site in Montgomery County and donated to the NYSM by his
children, Barbara Dahn and Donald M. Rumrill, in 2005. It may once have
had a tail, now broken off. Native-made lead effigies are common at Mohawk
sites occupied during the 1650s, but this particular figure may be unique.
Such a depiction is highly unusual within Iroquoia and only slightly more
common elsewhere in eastern North America. It echoes the appearance of
some large stone effigy pipes from Ohio and Illinois that date to about
800 years ago. It also bears a resemblance to the upper Great Lakes region
mythological underwater panthers, sometimes described as having coppery
scales, who guard native copper sources there. However, a direct relationship
is highly unlikely. NYSM A-A2005.13BJ.19, 3.5 cm x 0.8 cm x 2 cm H.
Photograph by Thaddeus Beblowski.
Summer 2007 ■ 9

Rock
DeepAges
OF
Step onto the Indian Ladder
Trail and walk back into
ancient Thacher Park
BY DR. CHUCK VER STRAETEN
Dr. Chuck Ver Straeten
specializes in sedimentary
geology at the New York
State Museum. His research
focuses on Devonian-age
geology and volcanic ash
layers in sedimentary rocks.
He lives in the Helderbergs
and is vice president of
the Friends of Thacher
and Thompsons Lake
State Parks.
Avisit to John Boyd Thacher
State Park provides a
variety of interesting
subjects to delight the eyes and
mind of the naturalist. Up on the
Helderberg Escarpment west of
Albany, the park’s 2,162 acres
abound in wildlife and a variety
of forest types, meadows, and
wetlands. The cliffs and rock
outcrops there have been famous
among geologists around the
world since the early 1800s.
With a curious mind, observing
eyes, and a little bit of geological
information, you can view the
park through deep time—an
historical perspective that reaches
back thousands, millions, and
even billions of years. What was
Thacher Park like so long ago?
The clues are found throughout
the park, including in the rocks
along the Indian Ladder Trail that
are approximately 418 million
years old. Let’s take a walk.
A Geological Treasure Hunt
Starting from the west end of
the trail, descend the broad
steps, past the sign that explains
some of the geological history.
Look at the rocks on your right
as you walk down the stone
steps. How would you describe
them? Step back, take the big
view and then step forward and
look up close. The rock is coarse,
largely made of broken bits of
shells or whole shells. [Clue #1].
And what is that large semispherical,
mound-like thing in
the rock, with a honeycomb-like
pattern on it? A coral? [Clue #2].
Notice that there are few welldefined
layers in the rock. Keep
that image of poorly layered
rocks in your mind for a while
and compare it with the layering
style found lower down the cliff,
farther along the trail.
So, shells and broken-up pieces
of shells. Sounds like the seashore?
Well, not exactly. The shells on
a beach come from the sea, not
from the shore. If we were to
swim out from a shelly Florida
beach, with mask, snorkel, and
fins, we’d find the ocean floor
blanketed with shell material
some distance out. In fact, much
of the shell material may be
broken by waves offshore and
later transported to the beach.
And the coral. What does the
coral tell us? Most of us know that
IMAGES: DR. CHUCK VER STRAETEN
10 ■ Legacy

The Manlius and Coeymans
limestones at Mine Lot Falls,
along the Indian Ladder Trail.
The distinctive layers in the
Manlius Formation (below),
and the smooth, difficult-to-see
layering in the Coeymans
Formation (above) reflect the
deposition of sediments in
different environments.
corals are found in salt water—
the oceans, the tropical seas. Yet
there are two fossil coral reefs
found in the vicinity of Thacher
Park, in slightly younger rocks.
Reefs form in warm tropical
seas—and at present, the warm
tropical locations are found
between 30 degrees north and
south of the equator. This
provides a hint not only about the
climate at Thacher 418 million
years ago, but also about where
on the globe it sat at that time—
which was approximately 25 to
30 degrees south of the equator,
according to many lines of
geological evidence.
Picture this environment where
the rocks in the upper part of the
Indian Ladder cliff were formed:
some distance offshore from the
beach, where waves are constantly
crashing against the sea floor,
moving shells around, breaking
many of them; where you can
see the waves break and tumble
over; where you’d want to go
surfing (if you jumped into a time
machine with your surfboard).
That’s where the rocks that
form the upper part of the cliff,
called the Coeymans Formation,
were deposited as sediments in
a shallow, tropical sea.
A Surprising Contrast
Walk farther along the Indian
Ladder Trail and descend
the metal steps to the path along
the base of the cliff. One of the
first things you might notice are
the well-defined layers in the
rock, generally a few inches or
less in thickness. Quite different
from above, yes? Different enough
to give the rocks a different
name—the Manlius Formation.
Look closely—you won’t see visible
pieces of fossil shells, except
rarely (and then, shells of very
different animals). The rock feels
fairly smooth to the touch, and
no grains are visible. Remember the
large shells and shell fragments
in the rock higher up? All of the
sediment grains in the rocks
down here are very fine—microscopic,
in fact. Why the difference?
Think about the turbulent water
energy it takes to move shells. And
then think about places where
fine muddy sediments settle out
of the water. This occurs in environments
with very low (to no)
water energy [Clue #3]. These
are very different environments
from those that formed the rocks
high in the cliff.
Farther along the trail, in a few
places you will see other kinds of
mound-like forms. Some of these
are fossils of mound-like sponges.
Other mounds are formed by
cyanobacteria, formerly known as
blue-green algae. The sponges
are called stromatoporoids; the
bacterial mounds are called
stromatolites and thrombolites
[Clue #4]. These latter mounds
form today in extremely shallow
waters, just below the low-tide line.
In other places, where the
rock layers have a kind of buff,
yellowish color, thin crinkly layers
are visible, like the pages of a
book that became wet and then
dried. These are other types of
stromatolites, also formed by
cyanobacteria, but ones that
form within or just above the
tide zone. In some of those layers
you also can find cracks through
the paper-thin layers, and if you
see them from above (or below),
you’ll realize they look like the
cracks seen in a mud puddle
that dried up [Clue #5]. The mud
cracks in the rock tell us that
those rocks formed in an environment
that was sometimes wet
and sometimes dry; in this case,
on a tidal flat.
Now you’ve figured out the
environments at Thacher Park
about 418 million years ago.
The rocks in the lower half of the
Indian Ladder cliff, which were
deposited as sediments first,
formed in tidal environments—
sometimes above, sometimes
within, and sometimes just below
the tide zone. And the rocks in
the upper half of the cliff? They
formed a little later in time, in an
environment a little deeper and
farther offshore from wide tide
flats—where the waves were
crashing, in a tropical sea, where
every day was warm and pleasant
(well, ok, not so pleasant on days
with hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.).
That’s just one small part of
the geological history of John
Boyd Thacher State Park. Put on
your boots and go exploring. ■
Page 10: Ancient mudcracks in the
Manlius Limestone, seen here from
the underside, indicate that the
sediments were originally deposited
in an environment that alternated
between wet and dry conditions.
Below: This “thrombolite” mound,
similar to a stromatolite mound,
was formed by bacterial mats in
shallow water. A U.S. quarter is
shown for scale.
Summer 2007 ■ 11

Digging
for Deeper
Meaning
Archaeologists excavate a burial from a site on
Pearl Street, at the intersection of Howard and Norton
streets, where the Lutheran Church and cemetery were
located from the 1670s to 1816. After study, the skeleton
of this man was reburied at Albany Rural Cemetery.
Beneath the City:
An Archaeological
Perspective of Albany
BY DR. CHARLES L. FISHER*
This spring, the Museum
opened a new long-term
exhibition demonstrating
how archaeological research
contributes toward a richer, more
complete understanding of the
history that is not restricted by
wealth, education, ethnicity,
religious beliefs, or political views.
Documents such as publications,
letters, treaties, inventories,
pictures, and maps are rich in
historical details. However, they
are closely associated with a
powerful minority—the literate,
wealthy, and politically connected.
If we want to learn about the
If we want to learn about the lives of
The new exhibition Beneath the City:
An Archaeological Perspective of
Albany spotlights the field of historical
archaeology and how recovered artifacts
can help us learn about the past. In
this series of articles, a curator and
an educator discuss how the detailed
study of things left behind forms the
basis for the new exhibition and
improves our understanding of people
who lived in the past. Archaeologists
in the Museum’s Cultural Resource
Survey Program share how historic
sites are identified and studied to learn
about human history, from Colonial
times through the 20th century.
city of Albany and its residents.
Archaeology solves mysteries
through the detailed study of
things left behind. Scientific
excavations connect us to the
daily lives of people from our
community’s past. Artifacts are
more than objects. They express
the values and beliefs of the
people who made and used
them. Archaeologists attempt
to discover the cultural meaning
of these artifacts to the people
who once lived and worked at
the sites being excavated. In
this process, the archaeological
remains become part of our
culture and provide us with
knowledge of and questions
about our own past.
Archaeological evidence of
people’s actions can be used in
combination with documentary
records to construct a democratic
lives of ordinary people, we
need to consider what they
leave behind.
The material things that
people make, exchange, use,
and discard or lose in their daily
activities reflect their assumptions
about the world and their
actions in it. People are not
aware of the historical record
they create when they throw
away broken objects. Such
unintentional actions create
numerous archaeological sites.
Archaeologists attempt to
determine what the artifacts
meant to the people who made
and used them. The information
archaeologists record about an
artifact is essential to this goal.
Its physical form, its condition, its
precise location, and the other
things found with it all provide
clues to an artifact’s meaning.
12 ■ Legacy

Beneath Albany’s streets,
sidewalks, backyards, and
buildings are layers of soil that
contain objects made, used, and
discarded by former residents.
Each item reveals information
about the people who created
and used it. The study of each
fragment in its context and its
relationship to other places and
things is necessary to learn about
the people who left them behind,
how they interacted with others,
and how they constructed the
world around them.
Albany itself is a defining
artifact of New York society. It is
one of the oldest European cities
in North America: A permanent
settlement was established in
1614 on Castle Island, and
continuous settlement began in
19th century commercial activities,
the 19th–early 20th century
county almshouse, and the daily
life of residents in the past.
The archaeological collections
at the New York State Museum
are a result of development and
expansion of the city. Federal
and state laws require archaeological
explorations prior to
public-funded construction.
These laws serve to protect and
preserve important information
about the history of the city.
The new exhibition Beneath
the City: An Archaeological
Perspective of Albany illustrates
how research employing these
materials can greatly enhance
our understanding of the city’s
development and the lives of its
residents over time.
A view of visitors at the completed excavation
of an 18th century rum distillery in Albany.
No historical maps showed a distillery at this
location, so its discovery during routine preconstruction
archaeological investigations at the
site of a new parking garage was unexpected.
It was built in 1758–59 by Peter W. Quackenbush
and Volckert A. Douw, members of two Albany
Dutch families related through marriage.
ordinary people, we need to consider what they leave behind.
1624 with the establishment of
Fort Orange. The town of
Beverwyck, just to the north of
Fort Orange, became Albany
after the English peacefully took
over the Dutch colony in 1664.
Albany developed as a Dutch
settlement among Native
Americans, then it was a Dutch
settlement under English rule.
This helped to produce a distinctive
American city with a heritage
unlike any other.
Research in Albany demonstrates
how archaeology can
provide us with a unique way of
learning about our past. Some
of these discoveries and their
meaning in the history of the city
and New York State are presented
in the new exhibition, which
focuses on the 17th century
Dutch settlement, an 18th century
rum distillery, late 18th–early
Tools of Discovery
BY MICHELLE STEFANIK
By exposing the past we
never knew, historical
archaeology helps us learn
about the middle class and the
poor as well as women, slaves,
traders, and merchants.
Beneath the City: An
Archaeological Perspective of
Albany is an educationally exciting
exhibition. It shows how archaeologists
combine information
from historical maps, government
documents, and evidence
discovered during excavations
to capture stories of businesses
and people previously unknown.
Maps as old as 1698, 1756–57,
and 1798 as well as the modern
maps in the exhibition offer the
opportunity to teach geography
and map-reading skills while giving
visitors a view of the physical
changes and development of New
York’s capital city. By using these
maps, we can begin a dialogue
with visitors about the changing
landscape of a nearly 400-year-old
city. We can discuss the outline
and extent of the city’s stockade,
see the changes and similarities
of streets, and rediscover the
streams and small rivers that
have been tunneled over but still
pass beneath our feet.
The exhibition also offers
visitors the chance to learn
about archaeology. In 1797, a
fire destroyed 30 percent of the
city of Albany. Archaeologists
excavating the Department of
Environmental Conservation/
Picotte building site in downtown
Albany saw evidence of
the fire and used this fact to
help date other layers of the
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Charles L. Fisher was
the curator of historical
archaeology at the
New York State Museum.
Michelle Stefanik is an
educator within the
Museum Education office.
Martin Pickands is an
archaeologist, and Victoria
Schmitt is an architectural
historian with the Cultural
Resource Survey Program,
headed by State Archaeologist
Dr. Christina B. Rieth.
*Published posthumously
from exhibit text panels
written by Dr. Fisher.
Summer 2007 ■ 13

Above: Major archaeological sites
in downtown Albany
Right: The well of 18th century
Albany merchant Stewart Dean
was uncovered during excavations
at the SUNY Construction Fund
Parking Garage site in 1999.
Dean, a Revolutionary War hero,
was active in the China trade. His
voyage to China in 1785 was only
the second from the United States
to the important trading port of
Canton. Artifacts found in this
well, which later silted up and was
used for a privy, included an ivory
cricket cage and an Asian sandware
teapot with a cartouche of
Chinese characters translated as
“New Joint Venture.”
ABOUT THE IMAGES
Photographs taken by
Hartgen Archeological
Associates and the New
York State Museum
Cultural Resource Survey
Program are now part
of the New York State
Museum Collections.
site. By using a technique called
relative dating, archaeologists
can date layers of a site based
on its relationship to other layers.
Everything above the level of the
fire dates to after the 1797 fire;
everything below it was deposited
before that event. Knowing this,
scientists can see what buildings
and other features were present
before the fire and who did or
did not rebuild, or how that part
of the city changed after the fire.
Thanks to creative design and
excellent graphics, the part of the
exhibition that presents the fire is
one of the most educationally
valuable sections. It helps to teach
about this topic of stratigraphy
as it relates to archaeology and
to geology as well.
To learn about people who
lived in the past, nothing gives a
better snapshot than their garbage.
One of my favorite features
in the exhibition is the well of
Stewart Dean, an 18th century
businessman who built his home
on Albany’s busy waterfront. The
well was built at a time when
Albany residents living near the
waterfront dumped fill along the
shores of the Albany basin. They
were literally making land along
the riverbank. However, the well’s
location in this new land and its
stacked stone design could not
keep out silt and sand from the
tidal river that had been in the
same spot. Eventually the well
silted up, and the Deans made
this convenient hole into a privy.
Privies are revealing archaeological
features. Visitors can see
some of the amazing objects
that came from this well-turnedprivy—including
an Asian sandware
teapot and an ivory cricket
cage from China—and how they
reflect the life and travels of the
family who owned them. This
lesson can then be turned back
upon the visitor with a discussion
that is often intriguing and
insightful: What does your trash
tell others about you?
Historical Archaeology
at the New York State
Museum
BY MARTIN PICKANDS,
VICTORIA SCHMITT, AND
DR. CHRISTINA B. RIETH
Historical archaeology
seeks to understand
groups that lived in
the recent past through their
material remains. It focuses on
the portion of human history
that begins with the appearance
of written records extending from
Colonial times to the 20th century.
The study of historical archaeology
informs us about the
past and teaches us about events
that have occurred during
our lifetime.
Historical archaeologists recover
information from sites containing
evidence of past human activity.
The artifacts recovered from
these sites help us understand
when the site was occupied, in
what capacity the site was used,
and who used the site. Archaeological
sites, and their associated
artifacts, are non-renewable
resources. Once destroyed, they
cannot be restored.
The State Museum’s Cultural
Resource Survey Program (CRSP)
identifies several dozen historical
sites each year. Since the program’s
inception in 1958, more
than 400 historical sites have
been identified during highway
and building construction projects
completed for state agencies
such as the New York State
Department of Transportation,
Office of General Services, and
Department of Environmental
Conservation. The collections
generated by these projects are
curated at the State Museum
and are used for research and
educational purposes as shown
14 ■ Legacy

in the Beneath the City exhibition.
Historical sites are identified
through historical documents and
fieldwork. Excavations by CRSP
staff include 18th, 19th, and
20th century rural and urban
domestic sites and farmsteads,
battlefield sites, and sites representing
the development and
decline of regionally oriented
industries in New York. In recent
years, a variety of industrial sites
have been identified and documented,
including Carpenter’s
Mill, a 19th century woolen mill
in Rensselaer County; the Alvord
Plaster Mill, a grist mill in
Onondaga County; the Glen
Tannery in Warren County; the
New York Knife Company in
Orange County; and two rural
blacksmith shops, one at Bemis
Heights, Saratoga County, and
one in Parishville Center, St.
Lawrence County. The Fort Plain
Canal Store site represents one
important business that supported
the transportation industry on the
Erie Canal, and Spain’s Boarding
House in Thendara represents
worker’s housing in an Adirondack
frontier industrial setting.
The study of such sites and
their relation to the local and
national community highlights
the social and economic forces
of the time and the ways that
such businesses reflected their
environment. The Parishville
Blacksmith Shop can be seen to
be intimately involved with its
isolated community, using locally
supplied raw materials to produce
and repair farm tools and
vehicles and to shoe the horses
of the immediate community.
The business operated a wagon
and wheelwright shop until
competition from mass-produced
The excavation of the SUNY Construction
Fund Parking Garage site shows remains of
18th and 19th century waterfront structures.
The Hudson River is in the background. The
river shore had been gradually built out.
In the 17th century, the river shore was
located along the street in the lower right.
vehicles, components, and shoes
drove it out of business in the
20th century.
Architectural surveys are
required when the existing
landscape is modified. An architectural
survey near Glenville,
Schenectady County, produced
two unique examples of architectural
resources. Conifer Park,
a residential treatment center,
was originally built as a tuberculosis
sanatorium in 1927. An
architectural drawing dated that
year shows that the brick building
remained fairly unaltered
for 80 years. This building is not
only historically important as a
rare example of a tuberculosis
hospital still standing, but also
as a structure built in the
Spanish Eclectic architectural
style, a style more likely to
be seen in Florida and the
Southwest. Also discovered was
a buried trolley bridge with two
arches (one for the north line,
the other for the south line).
Built in 1904, this bridge carried
the Boston and Maine Railroad
over the trolley tracks of the
Schenectady Railroad Company.
The trolleys traveled between
Schenectady and Ballston until
1941, and the bridge was
buried shortly thereafter. This
bridge is an important historical
resource as one of the last
surviving intact features of the
trolley company. ■
For Further
Reading
Museum publications
related to historical
archaeology topics
Bulletin #509, Before Albany:
An Archaeology of Native-
Dutch Relations in the Capital
Region, 1600–1664, by James
W. Bradley
Bulletin #506, Mohican
Seminar 2, The Challenge, An
Algonquian Peoples Seminar,
edited by Shirley W. Dunn
Bulletin #503, Three Sixteenth
Century Mohawk Iroquois
Village Sites, by Robert E. Funk
& Robert D. Kuhn
Bulletin #501, Mohican Seminar
2000, The Continuance–An
Algonquian Peoples Seminar,
Selected Research Papers,
edited by Shirley W. Dunn
Bulletin #500, Perishable
Material Culture in the
Northeast, edited by
Dr. Penelope B. Drooker
Bulletin #499, People, Places,
and Material Things: Historical
Archaeology of Albany,
New York, edited by
Dr. Charles L. Fisher
Bulletin #498, The Navigators,
A Journal of Passage on the
Inland Waterways of New York,
by Phil Lord, Jr.
Bulletin #495. Nineteenthand
Early Twentieth-Century
Domestic Site Archaeology in
New York, edited by Dr. John P.
Hart and Dr. Charles L. Fisher
Cultural Resources Program
Series #2, The Most Advantageous
Situation in the
Highlands, An Archaeological
Study of Fort Montgomery
State Historic Site, edited by
Dr. Charles L. Fisher
Software Series No. 4, The
Science and Art of the Facial
Reconstruction Process, by
Gay Malin
Summer 2007 ■ 15

new york stories
Bats: Gone with
the Wind?
BY DR. ROLAND W. KAYS
Museum researchers are collaborating
with the New York State
Department of Environmental
Conservation to find the correlation
between declining bat populations
and Tug Hill wind farms.
Dr. Roland W. Kays is the
curator of mammals at the
New York State Museum.
From the slow decline of New England Cottontails
to the rapid extinction of the Passenger Pigeon,
the scientific collections of the New York State
Museum document changes to the state’s fauna
over the past 150 years. A tragic new collection of
bats received by the Mammal Lab in fall 2006 shows
that these changes can occur in unpredictable places;
in this case, wind turbines.
The attraction of humans to wind turbines is
obvious: environmentalists see the promise of
pollution-free energy; farmers see a new source of
income for their rural communities. We don’t know
why bats are attracted to wind turbines, but recent
research by the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation and the New York State
Museum shows how important it is to find out.
Bats fly into wind turbines and die at disturbing
rates. Infrared video actually records bats going
out of their way to fly into the whirling blades!
Since wind turbines are relatively new to the state,
biologists are scrambling to study the problem. In
2006, consultants for the owners of a new wind
project (PPM Energy) monitored a sample of 50 of
their 120 wind turbines in the Tug Hill region of
northern New York, looking for dead bats or birds.
All dead bats were collected and brought to the
Museum for identification and processing.
In total, 326 bats were found from mid-June to
mid-November, probably an underestimate of the
total problem since some had likely been removed
by scavenging animals. The timing of the kills
provides the first clue—there was a clear peak during
bat migration, when the animals move south to
warmer weather. Identification of the bats provided
a second clue—75 percent of the mortalities were
in the tree bat family, which are the most migratory
species, the least frequently encountered, and
among the rarest in the state. The tree bats include
some of the most beautiful animals in the region,
like the Red Bat and the Silver-haired Bat. Ongoing
genetic and isotopic analysis of the samples taken at
the Museum will determine where these migrating
bats came from and whether these wind turbines
are causing their populations to decline.
Do the bats think wind turbines are big trees
where they can rest on their long migration south?
Are the number of dead bats found this year, and
expected in the future as wind power becomes more
popular, enough to cause entire bat populations to
decline? No one knows yet, but we’re working to
find out soon to prevent these fine creatures from
going the way of the Passenger Pigeon. ■
IMAGES: NICHOLAS LUE, NYSM; AT LEFT, NYSDEC
16 ■ Legacy

Celebrate your child’s birthday
with an adventure party
The New York State Museum’s theme parties
make for a memorable, fun-filled day!
CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING PARTY THEMES:
• Clowning Around for 3- and 4-year-olds
• Carousel Party for 4- and 5-year-olds
• “Bear”thday Celebration for 5- and 6-year-olds
• Bug-a-full Birthday! for 6- and 7-year-olds
• Museum Detectives for 7- to 10-year-olds
• Blast from the Past for 8- to 10-year-olds
• Art Party for 10-year-olds and older
Parties are available on weekends at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. For more information or to
schedule a party, call 518-473-7154 weekdays or send an e-mail to psteinba@mail.nysed.gov.
Parties must be scheduled at least three weeks in advance of the requested date.

close-ups
IMAGES: TRUEMASTER TRIMINGHAM, NYSM
Clockwise, from top left: Coiled-shelled nautiloid from the Middle Devonian seascape, in the Ancient Life
of New York exhibition; detail of the figure representing a labor organizer, in the Black Capital: Harlem in
the 1920s exhibition; detail of a tugboat, modeled after one operated from 1924 by the New York Central
Railroad, in the Port exhibition; and detail of the Sesame Street sign, in the Sesame Street exhibition.
Tell us what you think about Legacy. Send your comments to nysmfeedback@mail.nysed.gov.
For a schedule of exhibitions, programs, and events, see The Museum Calendar or visit
www.nysm.nysed.gov/calendar
The New York State Museum is a program of The University of the State of New York/The State Education Department