Distinctly Dutch - New York State Museum

The Magazine
of the
New York
State Museum
Vol. 5 • No. 1
summer 2009
INSIDE:
1609 Exhibition
An Up Close Look
at Micro Minerals
Schuyler Flatts Research
Mohawk Globe Basket
New Collections
and Publications
Distinctly Dutch
Dutch New York lives on through the material
culture preserved in the Museum’s collection Page 18

Book Smarts
For more than 170 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 Dr. 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
Dr. 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 Dr. Donald
G. Mikulic, Dr. Ed Landing
of the State Museum, and
Dr. 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. 5 • No. 1
summer 2009
features
12
17
18
Understanding a Mohawk Globe
Basket in Its Makers’ World
by Dr. Betty J. Duggan
To fully appreciate the Globe Basket,
commissioned in 2006 and now on
display at the Museum, it’s important
to learn the story of the basket’s
creation, including its intended
meanings and experiences of its
makers, the Benedict family of the
Akwesasne Mohawk community.
NYSM In Person
A familiar face around the Museum,
Ryan Fitzpatrick of Visitor Services can
be seen welcoming student groups,
providing information about living or
extinct fauna in the state, introducing
children to the fish and turtle in
Discovery Place, leading educational
programs for Time Tunnel campers,
and more.
Distinctly Dutch
by John L. Scherer
For more than 150 years after New
Netherland became New York, Dutch
culture remained dominant. Furniture,
decorative pieces, and other material
culture from the 18th century preserve
our state’s Dutch heritage.
On the Cover: Dutch Delft Charger, c. 1760,
originally owned by Conrad Anthony Ten Eyck
(1789–1845) and his wife Hester Gansevoort
(1796–1861) of Albany. They may have inherited
the charger from either of their parents. Museum
purchase, funds provided by Georgann Byrd Tompkins.
NYSM H-2007.48.2
Cover Inset: The more than 400 photographs
included in A Great Day for Elmira were selected
from negatives in the collections of the New York
State Archives.
www.nysm.nysed.gov
departments
2
3
9
Director’s Note
Museum News
Discovery Now
Update on the Schuyler Flatts Burial Ground
Additional studies provide information
about the individuals buried at the unmarked
18th-century African cemetery.
By Lisa Anderson
10
Hidden Treasures
Micro Minerals
See crystal-clear views of the tiniest
minerals in the Museum’s collections.
By Dr. Marian Lupulescu
20
A stained glass window with the coat of arms of
Jan Baptiste van Rensselaer, the second son of
Killiean van Rensselaer and the third patroon of
Rensselaerswyck. The 17th-century window
(NYSM H-1937.4.2) was in the van Rensselaer
manor house and will be on display in the 1609
exhibition.
New York Stories
Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York”
In the 1920s, new construction changed
the face of New York City. Photographer
Berenice Abbott captured a city in transition.
By Craig Williams
Facial reconstructions of individuals
buried at an unmarked 19th-century
cemetery help bring to life the
enslaved in colonial Albany.
Below: Small, rounded, dark emerald
green crystals of chromdravite
from the Gouverneur # 1 Talc Mine,
St. Lawrence County. The central
crystal of chromdravite is 0.07 mm
in diameter. NYSM 22112
Below: Fulton Street Dock
(November 26, 1935). From the East
River pier, Berenice Abbott’s view is
facing the historic fish market, now
the South Street Seaport.
(NYSM H-1940.7.27)

John Whipple
The Magazine of the
New York State Museum
director’s note
The economic downturn has placed a great deal of stress on
museums and historical societies in New York state. Many
have seen endowments dwindle while gifts and sponsorships
have become more difficult to secure. The State Museum has
not been immune to financial difficulties—periodic spending and hiring
restrictions have been part of our operational landscape for many years.
It’s in the difficult times when the enthusiasm and creativity of our staff
spark a true appreciation for the privilege and responsibility of being
director of the State Museum. A few examples from the first half of the year:
n We’ve had to cancel cleaning contracts with outside vendors. In
response, staff organized a “strike team,” made a plan, and set
out to clean the galleries. Their pride in presenting the most
welcoming experience for our visitors while protecting the
objects on exhibit drove them to step up and voluntarily work
beyond expectations.
n Federal stimulus funds have been awarded to realize our vision
of the Day Peckinpaugh, the Museum’s 1921 motor ship, as a
traveling museum and educational presence on the state’s
waterways. This support is wonderful recognition of the value
of the Museum’s collections and the importance of our
educational mission.
n
Staff, working with outside exhibit planners and designers,
completed the design phases for our new natural history gallery
and new history gallery. These galleries will transform the visitor
experience, and our commitment to these projects continues
despite the sometimes daunting economic challenges.
Visitors often ask how I cope with such financial difficulties and
uncertainties. I tell them I take pride in the Museum’s legacy—and
in our stewardship of more than 12 million artifacts and specimens
representing New York’s past—knowing we continue to inspire our
visitors with the discoveries they make. Most of all, I take pride in and
appreciate the steadfast dedication of our staff. I invite you to come
to the Museum and meet them!
Maria C. Sparks, Managing Editor
Contributors
Lisa Anderson
Betty J. Duggan
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Lucy Larner
Marian Lupulescu
John L. Scherer
Michelle Stefanik
Craig Williams
Advisory Board
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, Cultural
Education Center, Albany, NY 12230.
Members can receive the magazine
via e-mail. For information about
membership, call 518-474-1354
or send an e-mail to:
membership@mail.nysed.gov.
Cliff Siegfried
Director, New York State Museum
www.nysm.nysed.gov
2 n Legacy

museum news
Exhibition Explores Hudson’s Voyage
and Its Legacy
This cannon (NYSM H-1937.4.1) was made
in 1630 in Amsterdam and may have been
sent to Fort Orange that same year. In 1663,
at the outbreak of the Second Esopus War,
Jeremias van Rensselaer demanded the
return of a cannon previously lent to the
Dutch West India Company, and this one
may have been sent by mistake. The logo of
the company is found on the cannon’s barrel.
The cannon remained in the van Rensselaer
family, and according to tradition, was only
used to announce the birth of a male heir,
until it was bequeathed to the Museum in
1939 by Mrs. William B. van Rensselaer.
Must-See
Exhibitions
1609
Opens July 3
Mapping the Birds
of New York:
The Second Atlas of
Breeding Birds in
New York State
Through August 16
Berenice Abbott’s
Changing New York:
A Triumph of Public Art
Through October 4
An upcoming exhibition at the State
Museum investigates, presents, and
celebrates 400 years since the 1609
voyage of Henry Hudson.
The aptly named 1609 opens July 3 and will
be the featured exhibition at the Museum during
its eight-month stay. The exhibition introduces
visitors to information about Henry Hudson,
Native People of New York, and the Dutch period
in New York by dispelling some commonly held
myths and showing the legacy these groups have
left to residents of New York state and to the
nation as a whole.
The New York State Museum collaborated
with the State Archives, State Library, and Office
of Educational Television and Public Broadcasting
on 1609, and these institutions provided additional
expertise, documents, and artifacts for the
exhibition. Archaeologist Dr. James Bradley, an
expert on Native Americans, Russell Shorto,
an authority on colonial Dutch history, and Steven
Comer, a Mohican Indian living within the original
territory of the Mohican people, consulted on the
project. The exhibition will also feature paintings
by Capital District historical artist L.F. Tantillo.
1609 presents two very different 17th-century
worlds: the world of Henry Hudson and the Dutch
and the world of the Native People of New York.
The exhibition investigates the myths that Hudson
deliberately set out to discover a new land and that
Native People were happy to see these newcomers.
It looks at the interaction of these two cultures
living in New Netherland and addresses the fallacy
that Europeans took advantage of Native People
and destroyed their culture. The exhibition gives
visitors a view of the trade-oriented existence of
New Netherland’s residents, both European and
Native, and show how Native People adapted to
these new people and materials in their world.
The exhibition concludes with an educational
and fun view of all things New York left to us by
the Dutch and Native Peoples of four centuries past.
Visitors can explore and discover the origins in New
York of contemporary cultural mainstays, such as
street plans, community names, holiday celebrations,
cultural diversity, and religious and cultural tolerance.
In addition, the exhibition takes a look at two harsh
realities of this cultural interaction: the introduction
of European-style slavery and the displacement of
New York’s Native People from their homelands. The
exhibition will be on view through March 7, 2010. n
– Michelle Stefanik, Exhibition Planner
Upcoming
Exhibitions
Through the Eyes
of Others
African Americans and
Identity in American Art
Opens September 8
This Great Nation
Will Endure
Opens October 2009
For more details on
the exhibitions, go to
www.nysm.nysed.gov.
Summer 2009 n 3

museum
news
Recent Acquisitions on Display
Detail of a decorated family record
produced in 1799 for the Garlogh
family who lived in Montgomery
County. NYSM H-2008.17.1
In April, the “Collections in
the New York State Museum”
display case in Adirondack Hall
was updated with some recent
acquisitions. Now on view are:
n An intricate Globe Basket made
collaboratively by three generations
of an Akwesasne Mohawk
family, the Benedicts. The State
Museum commissioned the
basket, which represents a striped
gourd and brings to mind stories
of the life-sustaining Three Sisters
(corn, beans, and squash-gourd),
for the Governor’s Collection of
Contemporary Native American
Art. (See page 12 for more on
this acquisition.)
n Eight mineral specimens from
an important early collection of
New York minerals acquired
from the Philadelphia Academy
of Sciences. The minerals on
display are from Niagara, Orange,
St. Lawrence, Ulster, Warren, and
Westchester counties, including
many localities long ago depleted
or built over.
n Bats and birds that crashed
into wind turbines while migrating
to and from breeding sites. To
help understand the impact of
wind power on wildlife, Museum
scientists are identifying the
species and preserving them
as research specimens.
n A decorated family record
produced in 1799 for a Mohawk
Valley family. The artist, William
Murray, worked in the style
of early European decorated
or “illuminated” manuscripts
to appeal to the German
immigrants of this region. The
document on display is one of
only about two dozen known
examples of this type from the
Mohawk Valley.
As part of the exhibition,
visitors can see additional digital
materials related to the artifacts
and a video of Museum biologists
providing a “behind the scenes”
window into their collections.
The collections case was
installed in 2006 to display
highlights from and new
additions to the Museum’s
collections. The comprehensive
collection includes more than
12 million artifacts and specimens
in the areas of biology,
geology, and human history.
It is the single most significant
record of New York’s natural
and cultural heritage. n
On the Bookshelf
The photographs included in A
Great Day for Elmira were selected
from thousands of Department of
Public Works negatives documenting
railroad projects. The negatives are
in the collections of the New York
State Archives.
The State Museum and
the Chemung County
Historical Society in Elmira
recently published A Great Day
for Elmira: An Illustrated History
of Twentieth-Century Grade
Crossing Elimination Projects in
Elmira and Elsewhere in New
York, New York State Museum
Memoir No. 28, by Senior
Historian Geoffrey N. Stein.
The 426-page book contains
hundreds of historical photographs
that show how communities and
landscapes changed when
railroad tracks were separated
from roadways. Three railroads
operated in Elmira, but in the
1920s, as more people began
driving cars, the tracks became
impediments to drivers as well
as a safety concern, says Stein.
Trains, previously essential to
communities, would begin to
fade from public view. “The
significance of railroads now
is lost for most people,” adds
Stein, who curates the Museum’s
transportation collections.
The photographs included
in the book were taken in the
1930s, 1940s, and 1950s by
photographers working for the
New York State Department of
Public Works. They document
track projects, from the onset
through completion, showing
how the work transformed
places where railroad tracks
and streets had intersected.
“Elmira is an example of what
was happening all over the state,
especially in the 1930s,” says Stein.
The Museum also recently
produced Interpretation of
Topographic Maps, New York
State Museum Leaflet No. 36,
by John B. Skiba. The leaflet
provides an overview of topographic
maps, how to read
them, and their use. n
4 n Legacy

volunteers in action
Jerry Haller Makes Plant Specimens
Available for Study
museum
news
At any given time of the
day, any day of the work
week, volunteer Jerry
Haller can be found mounting and
filing specimens in the vascular
plant herbarium. Haller, who
retired in June 2008 after a career
as a pediatric neurologist, is said
to be a full-time volunteer. His
involvement came at a fortuitous
time for the Museum because
in January 2009, the number
of specimens in the herbarium
topped the significant milestone
of 200,000.
“That’s remarkable for a state
museum,” says Dr. Charles J. Sheviak,
curator of botany at the New York
State Museum. The vascular plant
herbarium documents the flora of
the state, including flowering
plants, ferns, trees, grass, and
more. It records what was growing
in an area at a certain time. The
collection represents all portions
of the state and also includes
specimens from throughout the
United States and Canada that
are used to compare trends in
variation. All told, the herbarium
provides great historical depth,
stretching back to the earliest
part of the 19th century, says
Dr. Sheviak. It contains approximately
400 type specimens that
serve as the standard references
for the identification of species.
Dr. Sheviak recalls that when
he came to the Museum in 1978,
he inherited about 55,000 unprocessed
specimens. Then, 23,000
additional specimens were brought
in from other state institutions
and collections during one year
in the early 1980s. Although the
number of specimens grew, there
has not always been staff or time
to identify and label each specimen
for the collection. Processing
specimens would be just one
responsibility of a collections
manager, for example. “Needless
to say, there are still 10’s of
thousands of specimens remaining
from the original backlog,
and other material comes in regularly,”
says Dr. Sheviak. “Jerry,
by working full-time on this, has
been processing specimens at a
much higher rate than staff with
additional responsibilities.”
Haller reached his own milestone
by the end of April—he
has mounted more than 3,000
specimens since starting at the
Museum in August 2008.
Haller has had a longtime
interest in orchids and other
plants, and while in high school,
he thought about becoming a
field botanist. While his career
aspirations led in another direction,
his avocation returned to
botany. As a volunteer, he has
become increasingly familiar with
vascular plants and was able to
organize the recent addition of
400 specimens from the State
University of New York at
Oneonta’s herbarium. He has
also brought in specimens for
the herbarium.
If the specimen has an identification
label, he mounts the
specimen and the label on cotton
acid-free paper. Once mounted,
the specimen officially goes into
the collection and can be used
by scientists and others for the
purposes of research and reference.
“There’s a goal to clear up as
much [of the backlog] as possible,”
Haller says, then turns away
to work on another specimen. n
Jerry Haller focuses on mounting and filing specimens in the Asteraceae family. As a result
of his work, more than 3,000 additional vascular plant specimens are available for study.
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.
Summer 2006 2009 n 5

museum
news
Memory Keepers
John Pasquini (right) and Ralph
Rataul (center) interview Senior
Historian John Scherer about his
experiences at the State Museum.
The two anthropologists initiated
an oral history project to record
the unwritten history of the people
“who’ve worked at and shaped”
the Museum.
When Senior Historian
John Scherer retired in
April, he took with him
nearly 42 years of firsthand knowledge
of the decorative arts, popular
entertainment, and print collections
as well as information about the
Museum’s history and day-to-day
activities. While it’s impossible
to capture all of a person’s institutional
knowledge, an ongoing
oral history project aims to record
the experiences of longtime staff
members to compile a history of
the State Museum.
Museum anthropologists
John Pasquini and Ralph Rataul
conceived the research project in
April 2006. The 2002 death of
Dr. Robert Funk, who served as
State Archaeologist from 1973
to 1993, had left a void in their
professional lives. They both considered
Funk “a great resource and
friend” and knew he had “a wealth
of tales” about his time working
at the Museum and could provide
the answers to questions about
decisions made during his tenure.
As a result of this loss, Pasquini
and Rataul identified a need to
capture and preserve the first-person
accounts, stories shared among
colleagues, and personal remem-
brances that shape an individual’s
institutional memory.
“Some of this information can
and does live on in the written and
oral traditions that surround us
everyday as friends and co-workers
reminisce about the individuals in
question, but that information is
secondhand and is often altered
through these recollections and
time,” says Pasquini, a director of
the archaeology lab in the Cultural
Resources Survey Program. “The
Oral History Project collects these
memories firsthand and records
them for future generations.”
Pasquini and Rataul, a research
and collections technician for
anthropology, have interviewed
more than a dozen longtime
employees and former staff members.
During the recorded interviews,
topics range from the
general background of the staff
members and how they came to
work at the Museum to details
about how they did their job, who
they reported to, what accomplishments
they are most proud
of, and how the Museum operated.
Oral histories have the advantage
of being from the “insider’s perspective,”
says Rataul, who points
out that neither he nor Pasquini
or the majority of the current
staff were Museum employees
at the time many of the recalled
events took place.
“These insider perspectives,
covering the last half century,
provide a very real conception
of coping and thriving during
periods of massive facility and
management change,” says
Rataul. “Potential blueprints for
how we, the current staff, might
promote and manage pending
changes within our time at this
institution can be found in these
interviews… .”
A key area of interest is past
relocations of the collections, and
many of the Museum’s senior staff
participated in the last major move
[from the State Education Building].
“We suspect the lessons learned
during that effort would be
applicable to any future relocations
of the Research and
Collections department,” say
Pasquini and Rataul.
The oral history initiative is
one of several internally funded
Research and Collections projects.
Pasquini and Rataul were granted
a percentage of time from their
regular positions to work on this
additional project. n
6 n Legacy

Discovery Squad
Student Receives
Prestigious Scholarship
Ocasio Willson joined the
Discovery Squad as a
9th grader looking for
a job; this June he “graduated’
from the after-school program
looking ahead to Vassar College
and beyond. And the Museum
community couldn’t be more
proud of him—In April, Willson
received a 2009 Gates Millenium
Scholarship, a prestigious award
that will cover the cost of his
undergraduate education.
The Albany High School graduate
was one of 1,000 high school
seniors from throughout the
country, and 37 in New York
state, selected for this scholarship.
The scholarship provides educational
support by covering the
costs that remain after a college
or university provides its financial
aid package. The scholarship,
initially funded by a $1 billion
grant from the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, is renewable
each year. It will also provide
funding for graduate school and
doctoral programs, if the recipient
pursues education in computer
science, education, engineering,
library science, mathematics,
public health, or science.
As a member of the Discovery
Squad, Willson received academic
and personal support, career
guidance, and assistance with
college preparation and applications.
He mentored the young
students in the Museum Club
after-school program, helping
them with homework and facilitating
educational programs. He
also worked as a junior counselor
for Time Tunnel summer camp
and as a staff host for birthday
parties. This is all in addition to
his involvement in about a dozen
community and school organizations.
“I’m the type of person
who goes for any opportunity
open to me,” says Willson.
Stephanie Miller, the director
of the after-school programs at
the Museum, describes Willson as
“the epitome of a role model” with
his selection as a Gates Millenium
Scholar. “I don’t know if I have
Discovery Squad member Ocasio
Willson, a Gates Millenium Scholar,
helps Museum Club students with
their homework.
ever met a young person so
focused and driven to achieve
his goals …,” says Miller. “We
are very proud of this young
man’s many accomplishments
and know that his strength of
character and dedication to
hard work and excellence will
take him a long way.” n
Dutch Apple-New York State Museum
Hudson Heritage Cruise
The State Museum and Dutch Apple
Cruises offer a Hudson Heritage Cruise to
celebrate the quadricentennial of Henry
Hudson’s exploration.
To complement the new
exhibition 1609, the
Museum has teamed with
Dutch Apple Cruises to offer
a two-hour, narrated cruise on
Albany’s popular Dutch Apple.
And thanks to the generosity
of Dutch Apple Cruises, the
Museum’s educational programs
will benefit from a donation
from ticket revenue at the end
of the cruise season.
The Hudson Heritage Cruise
is available on selected dates
though October 31, at a special
cost of $16.09 per person.
During the two-hour cruise, the
boat passes historic and contemporary
landmarks.
Guide “Henrietta Hudson”
holds forth, covering these important
sites along the shoreline. This
mysterious, long lost “relative” of
Henry Hudson shares her vast
knowledge of the history of
the Dutch in Albany and their
interactions with Native People,
sprinkled with a touch of humor
and personal anecdotes from
her many travels on the river.
The cruise departs from the
Steamboat Square dock in
downtown Albany at 11 a.m.
and returns at 1 p.m. Boarding
begins at 10:30 a.m. For more
information on cruise dates,
please visit www.dutchapplecruises.com;
for reservations,
please call 518-463-0220. n
– Lucy Larner, Executive
Director, New York State
Museum Institute
Summer 2009 n 7

museum
news
a look back
The Big Move: Museum Collections
Relocated from the Education Building
The largest of the Museum’s
three dugout canoes in the
anthropology collections
(NYSM CN A-37517) was
hoisted out of the Education
Building in 1980 (shown at
right) and now resides in the
Museum’s off-site collections
facility. This canoe was
reported found along the banks
of the Susquehanna River near
Binghamton and gifted to the
Museum in 1922.
All three dugout canoes are
undergoing dendrochronology
dating analysis to determine
their exact ages. Recovered in
1893 from Glass Lake, Rensselaer
County, the Museum’s second
largest dugout canoe
(CN A-37516) measures 20 feet
in length and will be on view
in the 1609 exhibition.
In 1976, when the Museum
opened in the new Cultural
Education Center, the research
collections remained a few
blocks away in the Education
Building on Washington Avenue.
By 1979, however, an effort to
remove the thousands of artifacts
and specimens (as well as
a few intact exhibitions) housed
there was underway.
Like any move, it was not
without challenges. At more
than 27 feet in length, a large
dugout canoe that had been
displayed on top of cases in
Morgan Hall was too long to
fit inside the building’s freight
elevator. The solution was
to place the canoe in a crate
that would be lifted through
one of the upper windows in
Biology Hall, according to John
Krumdieck, who as a new hire
at the Museum in October 1978
was charged with coordinating
the move of the collections.
Special scaffolding was
constructed to hold the crated
canoe at the height needed
for it to slide out the window,
which overlooked Elk Street.
Early on a Saturday morning
in August 1980, two cranes
were positioned outside for the
delicate operation of removing
the canoe. “Two slings were
attached to the crate as it slid out
the window,” Krumdieck recalls.
“As the crate emerged out of
the window, the first sling was
attached to the first crane, which
supported one end of the crate
until it had moved far enough
out of the window for the
second crane to be attached to
fully support the crate. The two
cranes then lowered the canoe
evenly onto a flatbed truck.”
The canoe was temporarily
housed in what is now South Hall,
with some of the history collections,
remembers Krumdieck. The biology,
anthropology, geology, and
paleontology collections were
also moved from the Education
Building to the Cultural Education
Center. Prior to this move, the
bulk of the history collections
had been moved from other
locations and consolidated
at the Museum’s off-site
storage facility. n
8 n Legacy

Update on the Schuyler Flatts
Burial Ground
discovery now
By Lisa anderson
Gay Malin, a facial reconstruction artist at the
Museum, created this initial reconstruction
of Burial 3, one of the individuals buried
at the unmarked 18th-century cemetery on
property owned by the Schuyler family.
When an unmarked 18th-century African cemetery was
accidentally discovered during construction in Colonie in
2005, it was an unprecedented opportunity to learn about
the lives of people who otherwise would be little known. Although
there was no record of the burial ground, historical research suggested
it probably was used by African individuals enslaved by the prominent
Schuyler family. Studies of the skeletal remains of 14 individuals (eight
adults and six children) gave a glimpse into their lives, showing that
they worked hard and suffered from arthritis and poor dental health.
Additional studies, including DNA analysis, were recently conducted
to learn about their origins and histories. In particular, tests were conducted
to confirm their African ancestry and identify the regions where
they, or their ancestors, originated. Accounts in Ann Grant’s Memoirs of
an American Lady describe two extended African families enslaved in the
household of Margaret Schuyler, who lived at the Flatts from about 1723
to 1771. Because of this, tests also were conducted to determine if any of
the people from the burial ground were related.
DNA testing revealed some
unexpected results. Looking at
mitochondrial DNA, a type of
DNA inherited from our mothers
that is more abundant and easier
to identify in ancient bone, Esther
Lee at the Andrew Merriwether
Lab at Binghamton University
determined that none of the
adults tested were related to
each other through their mother’s
line. She did find, however, that
three of the Schuyler Flatts people
had maternal ancestry that could
be traced to Africa. One of them
had DNA commonly found in west
and west central Africa while two
others traced their maternal lineages
to east Africa. The results
mean that those individuals or their
mothers, grandmothers, or even
great-grandmothers were from
Africa. Their paternal ancestry, or
father’s heritage, remains unknown.
The DNA for two other individuals
was initially difficult to
identify but was eventually traced
to Madagascar, an island off the
southeast coast of Africa. In the
late 18th and 19th centuries,
Madagascar was home to a
lucrative and illegal slave trade,
where pirates sold Malagasy men
and women in exchange for rum
and other merchandise. Members
of at least one wealthy New York
family, Frederick Philipse and his
son Adolph, were slave traders
who profited from the illicit trade
off Madagascar. They were also
associates of the Schuylers, who
may have purchased slaves directly
from Philipse’s Madagascar
slave ships.
Another individual, a woman
known only as Burial 3, had DNA
that was different from the other
people buried at Schuyler Flatts.
Her maternal ancestry was identified
as Native American. Even
more interesting, the closest
match for her DNA is not with
Native American groups in New
York but with the Micmac, a
tribe from the Gulf of St. Lawrence
around Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick in eastern Canada.
While additional DNA analyses
are being conducted to confirm
the identity by comparing DNA
from members of the Aroostook
Band of Micmacs living today in
Maine, historical evidence may
explain the connection. Heavily
involved in the fur trade, the
Schuylers seized upon opportunities
to trade with Native groups
in Canada despite laws on both
sides of the border prohibiting
such trade. They may have profited
from trade in areas as far away
as Micmac territory, apparently
returning with more than furs.
Each new piece of information
sheds more light on the story of
the Schuyler Flatts people and
the complex history of enslavement
and diversity in colonial
Albany. Once the tests are
concluded, plans will be made
for reburial of the Schuyler Flatts
people. Their story will be told
as part of the planned Empire
State gallery. n
Lisa Anderson is the
curator of human
osteology at the New
York State Museum
and coordinator for the
Museum’s compliance
with the Native American
Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act.
Summer 2009 n 9

hidden treasures
MicroMinerals
By Dr. Marian Lupulescu
Beautiful yellow calcite “flower,”
CaCO 3
, on dolomite matrix,
Middleville, Herkimer County.
The calcite cluster is
5 mm across. NYSM 22263
By Dr. Marian Lupulescu
The minerals in some specimen samples are too tiny to
be seen by the naked eye, but mineralogists can study
their form, color, and relationship with other components
by using digital imaging software. The software used by Museum
scientists extends the capabilities of the optical microscope,
such as the depth of field, and produces perfect image stitching
from samples with considerable depth of field. For the images
shown here, the scientist used the optical microscope to take
a number of images from different levels between the base
and the top of the mineral. Then, the software assembled
all the images and rebuilt the crystal in high-resolution 3-D
digital photography. n
Dr. Marian Lupulescu is
curator of minerals at the
New York State Museum.
His research interests in
mineralogy include mineral
classification and new
mineral species as well as
how minerals form and
change their composition
and structure with the
environment.
“The Tower of Pisa.”Cluster of shinny
golden crystals of marcasite, FeS 2
, with
white melanterite, FeSO 4
.7H 2
O, from
the Cicero clay pits, Onondaga County.
The cluster is 3 mm in length.
NYSM 22265
Short prism of pale yellow olenite, NaAl 3
Al 6
Si 6
O 18
(BO 3
) 3
(O 3
)(OH), associated with white rossmanite,
[ ](Li 2
Al)Al 6
Si 6
O 18
(BO 3
) 3
(OH) 3
(OH), from Newcomb, Essex County. The olenite crystal is
1 mm in length. NYSM 426.21
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
10 n Legacy

Tiny wine-red crystal of the tourmaline-group
species, manganese-rich hydroxy-uvite,
CaMg 3
(Al 5
Mg)Si 6
O 18
(BO 3
) 3
(OH) 3
(OH),
from the Arnold Pit, Balmat, St. Lawrence
County. The crystal is 0.5 mm in length.
NYSM 15248
Square crystal of wulfenite, PbMoO 4
, with
rounded corners from Ellenville, Ulster County.
The crystal is 0.9 mm on the outer edge.
NYSM 19307
Small, rounded, emerald-dark-green crystals of chromdravite, NaMg 3
Cr 6
Si 6
O 18
(BO 3
) 3
(OH) 3
(OH),
associated with green tremolite and quartz, from the Gouverneur # 1 Talc Mine, St. Lawrence
County. The central crystal of chromdravite is 0.07 mm in diameter. NYSM 22112
Two beautiful golden sprays of goethite,
FeO(OH), on quartz from the Sterling mine,
Jefferson County. The sprays are 0.4 mm
across. NYSM 22533
Beautiful spray of pale green fibers of
pecoraite, Ni 3
Si 2
O 5
(OH) 4
, in a tiny vug in
quartz, from the Sterling mine, Jefferson
County. The longest fiber is 3.9 mm.
NYSM 22549
Cluster of lamellar white crystals of gypsum, CaSO 4
.2H 2
O, with calcite (brown) peppered by
balls of pyrite (dark). The longest gypsum crystal is 3 mm in length. NYSM 22300
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Summer 2009 n 11

Three generations of an Akwesasne
Mohawk basket-making family, (from
left to right) Rebecca, Luz, and Florence
Benedict, offer a collaboratively made
Striped Gourd Basket from Florence’s
Globe Basket series. Photo by Salli
Benedict, 2006.
Understanding a
Mohawk Globe Basket
in Its Makers’ World
By Dr. Betty J. Duggan

In 2006, the New York State
Museum commissioned a
basket from a Mohawk family
from Akwesasne. A year later,
soon after I joined the Museum,
the Anthropology Department
was abuzz one day with the
basket’s arrival, and I was introduced
to a gracefully wrought
Benedict “Globe Basket,” in all
the newness of its natural colors
of black ash and sweetgrass, and
the latter’s distinctive fragrance.
Once examined, named, catalogued,
measured, and technically
described for entry in the
Museum’s electronic database,
this gem became a part of the
Museum’s Ethnology Collection/
Governor’s Collection of
Contemporary Native American
Art, to await future study and
exhibitions. As an ethnographer,
an anthropologist who studies
contemporary cultures from
cultural insiders’ and scholarly
viewpoints, usually including
original field research, I was
eager to conduct my first fieldwork
with the Benedict family.
From my initial in-depth ethnographic
interview with them in
March 2008, through subsequent
follow-up inquiries over the next
year, I would explore with the
Benedicts the making—contexts,
meanings, and particular story—
of this basket, its relation to
earlier, stylistically very different
Mohawk baskets, and their own
lives as its makers.
Meeting the Benedicts
Just entering the Akwesasne
Mohawk community and then
reaching the home of the Ernest
Benedict family, on Cornwall
Island (Kawehnoke), Ontario, in
the middle of the St. Lawrence
River, is a lesson in Mohawk,
U.S., and international history,
politics, and culture. Akwesasne
(“land where the partridge
drums”) is the Mohawk name
for the now-drowned rapids
at this place in the mighty
St. Lawrence when it still ran
free, reverberating with a sound
reminiscent of the partridge’s
drumming call. It is a Mohawk
community that pre-dates both
the United States and Canada,
first split by those two powers
in 1783 at the point where the
provinces of Ontario and Quebec
and St. Lawrence and Franklin
counties now converge. Yet,
culturally and in daily life for the
Mohawk people, Akwesasne
remains seemless as Native
Nation and social community.
The Benedict family, though its
members might modestly beg to
differ, saying they simply live by
Mohawk ways, holds a critical
place in modern Mohawk history,
politics, and cultural revitalization
(see page 15, For Further Reading).
Florence Katsitsienhawi
Benedict (trans., “she carries
flowers”), born in 1931, who
like the central globe in the
Globe Basket, is the heart of this
traditional matrilineal Mohawk
family. She is a lifelong community
worker, as well as a stellar
and widely recognized basket
maker, and granddaughter of a
Wolf Clan Mother. At 78, she
continues as a basketry instructor
and supervises interns in the
Akwesasne Museum’s crafts
revitalization programs. Ernest
Kaientaronkwen Benedict (“he
gathers the small sticks of wood
as in the ceremonial game”),
born in 1918, is the eminent
Mohawk intellectual, activist,
early leader in Native-controlled
education reform, professor,
spiritual leader, and
condoled Mohawk Life Chief
(Rotinonkwiseres). He is founder
of the North American Indian
Traveling College (now Native
North American Traveling
College and Ronathahonni
Cultural Center) and the noted
Indian Country activist news
journal, Akwesasne Notes.
During one visit by Pope John
Paul II to Canada, he was chosen
to present the sacred eagle
The Benedict family followed traditional Mohawk kinship and collective work patterns when
they joined together to produce the Globe Basket commissioned by the State Museum. Left to
right: Rebecca, Salli, Ernie, Florence, and Luz. Photo by Dr. Betty J. Duggan, 2008.
Curator of Ethnography
and Ethnology Dr. Betty
J. Duggan joined the
New York State Museum
in 2007. She is the first
to hold this recently
created position.
Dr. Duggan received a
Ph.D. in anthropology from
the University of Tennessee
and a graduate certificate
in museum studies from
Harvard University. Her
research, and more than
60 professional publications,
focus on North
American Indians, material
culture, folklife, applied
ethnography, anthropology
in museums, and cultural
tourism. She was Hrdy
Visiting Research Curator
at Harvard’s Peabody
Museum of Archaeology
and Ethnology during
1999–2000 and a visiting
professor and research
associate for Wake Forest
University from 2003 to
2005. From 1983 to 2004,
she directed and/or curated
more than two dozen
grant-, university-, and
tribal-funded collaborativeresearch
exhibitions and
community projects in
Tennessee, North Carolina,
Mississippi, and Georgia.
She is a guest editor for
Practicing Anthropology
in 2010.
At the State Museum,
she negotiated a new
Native American Advisory
Committee (NAAC), with
formal representatives from
ten Native Nations, with
whom she now partners to
plan and research new historic
through contemporary
exhibits for the renewed
Native Peoples Gallery
(slated for 2012).
Summer 2009 n 13

“
Mohawk baskets
and design
elements tell us
stories, and must
have purpose, even
if only decorative;
otherwise, to take
the life of a tree
is selfish.
”
Page 15: Globe Basket made by
Florence, Rebecca, Luz, and Salli
Benedict (basket); Kevin Lazore
(ash splints). Iroquois, Mohawk.
Black Ash and Sweetgrass, 34.5 cm
x 32.5 cm. Ethnology Collection/
Governor’s Collection of
Contemporary Native American Art.
NYSM E-2007.12.01A–B
Below: Florence, Rebecca, and Ernie
Benedict sort fresh sweetgrass
before air drying and then braiding
it, preparatory to basket making.
Photo by Salli Benedict, 2008.
feather to the Pope on behalf
of all First Nations of Canada.
Growing up, Florence and
Ernie’s daughters and sons
witnessed, participated in, and
learned from their parents’
important cultural work. In their
own lives they consciously base
their choices and actions in
Mohawk values, language,
teachings, and traditions, even
as they engage in materially
modern lives and careers.
Daughters Salli Kawennotakie
Benedict (“she brings a
goodword”) and Rebecca
Wenniseriiostha Benedict (“she
makes the day nice”), both are
artists and authors. Between
them, the sisters work for two
of the three Mohawk Councils
that govern at Akwesasne:
Rebecca is office manager for
the St. Regis Mohawk Health
Service Dental Office and Salli
is a manager in the Mohawk
Council of Akwesasne Aboriginal
Rights and Research Office. More
than two decades ago, Salli
and brother, Lloyd Skaroniati
Benedict (“beyond the sky”),
also a former Mohawk Council
of Akwesasne District chief,
founded CKON Radio (“Sekon”
the Mohawk greeting), which
brings community news and
Mohawk language, music,
and arts to Akwesasne residents.
Lloyd has also undertaken
numerous environmental projects,
including growing black ash trees
and sweetgrass. Another brother,
Daniel Kiorenhakwente Benedict
(“light coming through the
trees”), previously a media specialist
at CKON and director of the
Akwesasne Freedom School, now
works for the St. Regis Mohawk
Tribe Environment Division.
Florence’s granddaughter
and Salli’s oldest daughter,
Luz Teiohontasen Benedict
(“sweetgrass is around her”),
a linguist and life coach by
training, worked at a group
home for Akwesasne youth and
will continue a private practice
in coaching young people. She
and younger sisters, Jasmine
Kahentineson Benedict and
Kawehras Benedict-George (“it
thunders”), all learned basket
making at an early age from their
grandmother, Florence, and assist
her with new basketry projects
today. Also, significant for
Akwesasne basket weavers, a
cousin, Les Benedict, of the St. Regis
Mohawk Tribe Environment
Division, co-directs a long-term,
black ash restoration project aimed
at revitalizing this species and
area forests devastated by decades
of industrial contamination and,
more recently, invasive insects.
Exploring the “Globe Basket
Series: Striped Gourd Variant”
In the comfort of Ernie and
Florence’s home, a solid structure
built by his grandfather, in a living
room lined with commemorative
honors, diplomas, family pictures
and memorabilia, and, everywhere,
baskets in various stages of
completion, Florence, with Salli,
Rebecca, and Luz, who have
driven in from their homes
tonight, settle in to tell me about
the Museum’s new basket, and
14 n Legacy

their family’s long history in
basket making. Three hours go
by quickly, with occasional interruptions
as these and other family
come and go in the course of
daily routine. The interview
proceeds intently, yet
probingly respectful,
and slowly
a dialogue
emerges,
alternating
conversations
in
Mohawk
between
Florence
and Salli and
English translations
for the benefit
of the other two, less
fluent in Mohawk, and me.
The women gradually chronicle
for me the making and meaning
of this Globe Basket. At points,
their narrative is enriched with
the names and basketry styles
and techniques learned throughout
Florence’s life, first in
childhood from her grandmother,
and then from other female
relatives and neighbors. Other
stories emerge: of economic
necessity, exceedingly low prices,
and changing basket forms and
function geared to non-Indian
tastes over more than two
centuries; of periodic boat
crossings of the St. Lawrence
within living memory to sell
stockpiled baskets to non-Indian
stores. Ernie listens quietly to our
conversations in the adjacent
den; later he is persuaded to
join us for photographs.
I am instructed that Mohawk
baskets and design elements
tell us stories, and must have
purpose, even if only decorative;
otherwise, to take the life of
a tree is selfish. Following the
traditional rootedness and
interweaving of story and spoken
language within craft and
production, Florence decided a
few years ago to create a series
of globe-shaped baskets woven
from sweetgrass and black ash
to represent key messages
associated with Mother
Earth. Each unique
variant’s form,
story, and
name—“Hair
of Mother
Earth,”
“Friendship,
Peace and
Respect,”
“Striped
Gourd,”
“Onenhakenhra:
White Corn,” “Globe
Thistle,” “Onenhakenhra
Spirit”—illuminates in
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and
Mohawk worldviews, essential
values, relationships, and
obligations human beings have
in sustaining this Earth, now
and into the future, to the
Seventh Generation.
I learn the Museum’s Globe
Basket is of the “Striped Gourd
variant” and in intended
meanings and making demonstrates
the Benedicts’ traditional
collective and individual
commitments to expressing,
living, sharing, and passing on
Mohawk culture. The viewer is
visually and figurativelypresented
with a striped gourd, prompting
remembrance of traditional
stories about three special Life
Givers or Kionhekkwa (“The
Three Sisters”: corn, beans, and
squash-gourd-pumpkin), which
in Haudenosaunee worldview
and agricultural practice work
in tandem to sustain life physically,
emotionally, and spiritually.
As Salli writes (2008a:20), for
contemporary Mohawk people,
the actual striped gourd is still
used for multiple purposes:
“… as a container for holding
our food or water, or
for supporting our fishing
nets … [and] in making
music, so that we can sing
the songs that are our
thanksgiving tribute to the
Creator and all elements
of Creation … so that
the World will have the
resources we need to
survive. Everybody sing!”
I discover that from idea to
completion, this Striped Gourd
basket’s creation was a traditional
collaborative effort, requiring
more than four months of coordinated
work by five people.
Salli designed it. Kevin Lazore,
another Mohawk from the
Sugarbush area of Akwesasne,
harvested, debarked, pounded,
and prepared splints from a black
ash tree, as he does for many
basket weavers. (In earlier
generations, male family
members did the arduous preliminary
preparation of black
ash. Ernie, now 91, still assists
the Benedict women in gathering
and preparing sweetgrass.)
From the pounded splints,
Florence then wove the large
central basket, while Rebecca
and Luz made the roughly
27 dozen miniature baskets
that stripe its curved sides.
I am informed the thin gold,
green, and brown strands that
ring the globe’s lid and rims and
completely form the miniature
baskets are made of native
sweetgrass (Anthoxanthum
nitens), harvested from a wild
patch tended by Florence and
Rebecca. The sweetgrass’ colors
will ripen and change over time,
as the long strands of grass age
after cutting; its pleasant aroma
will always return, strong and
fresh, when dampened with
life-giving water. Later, in going
For Further Reading:
Writings by or About
the Benedicts
Benedict, Ernest. 1999. “‘I
would say when you search after
truth, truth is that which you will
find that is dependable and is of
use to you.’” In In the Words of
the Elders: Aboriginal Cultures in
Transition, Peter Kulchyski, Don
McCaskill, and David Newhouse,
eds., p. 95–140. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press.
_____. 1995. “’Through these
stories we learned many things.’”
In Native Heritage: Personal
Accounts by American Indians
1790 to the Present, Arlene
Hershfelder, ed., p. 111–112.
MacMillan Publishing Company.
_____. Editor, Akwesasne
Notes, 1994–1996.
Benedict, Les and Richard
David. 2003. “Propagation Protocol
for Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra
Marsh).” Native Plants: 100–103.
Benedict, Rebecca and Charis
Wahl. 1976. St. Regis Reserve.
Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry &
Whiteside.
Benedict, Salli. 2008a.
“Akwesasne Basket Making: An
Enduring Tradition.” In North by
Northeast: Wabanaki, Akwesasne
Mohawk, and Tuscarora
Traditional Arts, Kathleen
Mundell, ed., p. 11–15. Gardiner,
Maine: Tilbury House, Publishers.
_____. 2008b. “The Globe
Basket Series of Akwesasne
Basketmaker Florence
Katistsienkwi Benedict.” In
North by Northeast: Wabanaki,
Akwesasne Mohawk, and
Tuscarora Traditional Arts,
Kathleen Mundell, ed., p. 16–23.
Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House,
Publishers.
_____. 2007. “Made in
Akwesasne.” In Archaeology of
the Iroquois: Selected Readings
and Research Sources, Jordan
E. Kerber, ed., p. 422–441.
Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press. [Originally published in J.V.
Wright and Jean-Luc Pilo (2004).]
_____. 2000. “Tahotahontanekenseratkerontakwenkakie.”
In Stories for a
Winter’s Night, Maurice Kenny,
ed., p. 146–148. Buffalo, NY:
White Pine Press. [Also published
in Jerome Beaty and Paul Hunter
(1999) and Simon Ortiz (1983).]
Summer 2009 n 15

For Further Reading:
Writings by or About
the Benedicts (continued)
_____. 1999. “Mother Earth.” In
The Words that Come before All
Else: Environmental Philosophies
of the Haudenosaunee.
Haudenosaunee Environmental
Task Force.
_____. 1997. “The Serpent
Story.” In Reinventing the
Enemy’s Language: Contemporary
Native Women’s Writing of North
America, Joy Harjo and Gloria
Bird, eds., p. 311–314. New York:
W. W. Norton & Co.
Hauptman, Laurence M. 2008.
“Where the Partridge Drums: Ernest
Benedict, Mohawk Intellectual as
Activist.” In Seven Generations
of Iroquois Leadership: The Six
Nations Since 1800. Syracuse:
Syracuse University Press.
Johansen, Bruce. 2007.
Grandfathers of Akwesasne
Mohawk Revitalization: Ray Fadden
and Ernest Benedict. In The Praeger
Handbook on Contemporary
Issues in Native America, p. 209–
219. Praeger Publishers.
over an essay by Sue Ellen Herne,
Mohawk author, artist, and
curator, I find another quotation
by Salli (in Herne and Williamson
2008:7) that connects this
Striped Gourd basket’s material
and symbolic essence back to
the first story and name in
Florence’s inspired Globe Basket
series. She explains, “In
Rotinonshonni [Mohawk for
Haudenosaunee] culture, sweetgrass
is the ‘Hair of Mother
Earth.’ Its sweet fragrance is
appealing and endears us to
her. We know that we are not
disconnected from our Mother
Earth when we can smell her
sweet hair.”
On Making Mohawk Art
and Community
There is yet deeper meaning
and purpose to consider in
understanding the Museum’s
Globe Basket. This is the role
of creation and continuation
of Mohawk social community,
in this case, glimpsed through
Mohawk basket making and its
embeddedness and interconnectedness
within the larger,
collective cultural frames of
Mohawk society.
Taking us further, in speaking
of distinctions between understandings
of meaning and
purpose of art/craft and
aesthetics in Western and
Native American societies, the
distinguished Tuscarora and
Haudenosaunee artist, museum
director and curator, author,
educator, and activist Richard
W. Hill, Sr. (2002:10) explains:
“From birth, the Native
child is immersed in a
circle of tradition and
surrounded with objects
of belief, power, and
identity … The sacredness
of life, the interconnectedness
of community,
and the preciousness of
knowledge are expressed
through art. Images of
power, of spiritual beings,
and of personal dreams
and visions become the
legacy of the first artists
of this land … Taking
the time to craft objects,
to decorate them to feel
connected to a community
aesthetic are all part of
the creative process.
However, the act of creating
is also an act of faith
in your individual and group
identity that connects you
to your ancestors, as well
as to future generations.
Art is the linking of the
past, present, and future
and is thus the reason for
making objects as much
as it is the object itself.”
To appreciate the deepest
meanings of the Museum’s
Globe Basket for its makers
ultimately is to understand it
as part of ongoing Mohawk
society— to see it as one
microscopic element in the
making, renewal, and remaking
of Mohawk art/craft, community,
culture, and history through
generations. Here the intertwined
words of two generations direct
us (S. Benedict 2008a:11):
“It’s an old question
that people have asked
Akwesasronon [Mohawk
people of Akwesasne],
and that is, “What does
the art form of Akwesasne
basket making mean to
its people?” One answer
that was provided by an
Akwesasne elder is that
“it brings us together”…
“
To appreciate the
deepest meanings
of the Museum’s
Globe Basket for its
makers ultimately
is to understand it
as part of ongoing
Mohawk society.
”
When we gather to make
baskets, we speak our language,
share our culture,
tell stories of the past,
and share ideas for the
future … Basket making
may seem like a simple art
form to some people, but
it ensures our continued
engagement with the land
and our environment, and
that connection is the foundation
of our culture.”
NOTE: I thank the Benedict
family for graciously sharing
home, time, knowledge, and
memories with me. Salli gladly
and unfailingly provided comments,
corrections, and translations,
which I hope I have used appropriately.
Thanks also to Sue Ellen
Herne, Dr. Laurence Hauptman,
and Dr. Charles Orser for other
assistance. The quotation by Rick
Hill is from his preface to Uncommon
Legacies: Native American Art
from the Peabody Essex Museum
(Grimes et al. 2002:10), and the
quotation from the Herne and
Williamson article can be found
in the Mundell (2008) edited
volume, cited in the “For Further
Reading” sidebar on page 15. n
16 n Legacy

NYSM in person
Ryan Fitzpatrick
of Visitor Services
Q. Describe your typical
day at the Museum.
A. Every day brings such a
variety that I often have
difficulty describing what I
do at the Museum.
On a regular weekday while
school is in session, my morning
typically involves interacting
with incoming students and
their chaperones for field trips
and Museum visits. When
assigned to receive school
groups, I give an orientation
suited to the goals of their
visit and must be prepared
to accommodate anyone with
special needs. Some days
Visitor Services staff will
receive and process hundreds
of visitors before lunch.
During the summer months,
the second floor is less trafficked
by outside groups but is
used by our own Time Tunnel
Summer Camp. Having helped
to create the themes for Time
Tunnel, my job is to execute a
series of educational programs
for the children that tie in with
what they have learned that
week. Keeping today’s overstimulated
youth entertained
and educated is an energysapping
challenge, but as the
eldest of seven children, it is
something that I’ve been doing
most of my life.
At any other time I could be
speaking with other visitors
regarding exhibits. During our
informal cart talks, we use the
Museum’s teaching collection
to educate our visitors. I need
to be able to carry a discussion
beyond a perfunctory explanation
of the exhibit.
Visitors are both curious and
knowledgeable, and as part of
the Museum’s face toward the
public, I need to stay abreast
of current information as best
I can. I also take my turn
supervising Discovery Place
and operating the Herschell-
Spillman Carousel. I also
typically run programs in
the Star Lab or use our Starry
Night software to teach about
astronomy for our Family Fun
Weekends. In addition to the
Time Tunnel Summer Camp,
seasonal events also include
working New York in Bloom,
the Gem, Mineral & Fossil
Show, and Chocolate Expo,
and building and acting in the
annual Haunted Museum of
Unnatural History. Recently, I
have been assisting with the
after-school program as well.
Q. What do you enjoy most
about working here?
A. I most enjoy the variety of
exhibits that are displayed at
the Museum. If there’s anything
this job gives me besides
a paycheck, it’s the constant
immersion within a cultured
environment. I appreciate
lifelong learning.
Q. What would you like
visitors to be thinking as
they leave the Museum?
A. I want their heads to be
spinning, so much so that they
need to return to absorb it all.
I want them to think, “I want
to know all I can about that.”
I want to be the catalyst that
helps young children grow into
scholars. I want the public to
know that we haven’t squandered
their hard-earned tax
dollars. With the body of learning
that we have accumulated
upstairs [in the Research and
Collections Division], I want the
public to first understand it and
then to love it. For the deeper
they love it, the deeper they will
want to understand it. Then
they, too, will pass it on. n
Ryan Fitzpatrick of Visitor Services leads
presentations in the popular Star Lab.
“The Star Lab Planetarium has proved quite
popular with the kids and the counselors
alike, and I use it roughly two to four
times a month during the summer,”
says Fitzpatrick. He joined the New
York Museum in February 2005.
Summer 2009 n 17

Distinctly
Dutch
Dutch New York lives on through the material
culture preserved in the Museum’s collection
Kast, c. 1760, the most readily
identifiable form of Dutch furniture,
was used for the storage of linens
and valuables. The style of moldings
and paneling indicate that this piece
was made in Kings County, New
York. Gift of Wunsch Americana
Foundation. NYSM H-93.23.3
Looking Glass, c. 1770, made of
gumwood or billstead, a favorite
wood of early Dutch settlers, originally
hung in the 18th-century home
of Hendrick Van Wie at Van Wie’s
Point, on the Hudson River, four
miles south of Albany.
NYSM H-68.26.9
Senior Historian John L.
Scherer retired in April
after nearly 42 years
at the New York State
Museum. He was curator
of the decorative arts
collection and also the
popular entertainment
and print collections. His
research interests include
furniture, particularly
labeled and documented
examples made in New
York and decorated
examples of New York
stoneware.
By John L. Scherer
Shortly after Henry Hudson
sailed up the river that now
bears his name, the Dutch
established fur trading posts at
New Amsterdam on present-day
Manhattan and Fort Orange at
present-day Albany. Merchants,
tradesmen, and farmers from the
Netherlands followed, bringing
treasured furnishings from home
and constructing houses similar
to those they left behind. By the
time the English took over this
thriving Dutch colony in 1664,
the Dutch were well established
and New Netherland, renamed
New York by the English, continued
to be a stronghold of Dutch
culture. Distinctive architecture,
language, and decorative arts,
including household furnishings,
gave New York an undeniable
Dutch flavor.
This “Dutchness,” as reflected
in New York’s material culture,
is preserved at the New York
State Museum in a number
of 18th-century artifacts. The
most distinctive piece of furniture
owned by early Dutch New
Yorkers was the kast, a very large
and impressive architectural piece
of furniture with double doors
opening to shelves with a drawer
below and a large cornice above.
Linen sheets, wool blankets, and
quilts could be stored in this large
closet. Since the piece could be
locked, valuables might also have
been stored inside. Kasten usually
came apart in three places: the
lower part with large ball-shaped
feet and drawer; the middle part
with the shelves; and the upper
cornice. This made kasten easier
to transport.
Initially, these large pieces of
Dutch furniture were imported
from the Netherlands. Before
long, however, Dutch cabinetmakers
in New York began
making kasten for their clients.
Interestingly, because of certain
style characteristics preferred in
different regions of New York,
it can be determined whether a
kast was made in Long Island,
Manhattan, or the Albany area.
Country versions are very simple
and lack the identifying moldings
and paneling of the more elaborate
formal examples. They are
usually painted, some decorated
with a gray and black design
known as griselle, showing pears
and other fruit. Kasten continued
to be made in New York until the
early 19th century.
Hudson Valley chairs, commonly
known as “Dutch” or
“York” chairs were also favored
by the Dutch in New York. New
Englanders referred to the chair
style as “Dutch,” which underscores
their popularity. These
chairs typically have a solid vaseshaped
splat, sometimes referred
to as a fiddle; a yoke-shaped
crest; pad feet in the front; and a
bulbously turned front stretcher.
They became a popular style in
about 1730 and remained in vogue
as late as 1820.
Another typically Dutch chair
from this period (see page 19)
has a low back with elliptical
spindles, stretcher turnings, and
tall urn-shaped finials. Similar
chairs are shown in 17th-century
Dutch paintings and were found
throughout the Netherlands.
These chairs were made by
a turner. The legs, stretcher,
and back were all turned on a
lathe and then the chair was put
18 n Legacy

Table, c. 1760, exhibiting a type of bracing found only in Hudson Valley furniture. It
is similar to tables found in 17th-century Dutch genre paintings. NYSM H-82.187.1
together. They were often
painted black, red, or green,
and the seat was usually made
of rush or of splint. Dutch New
Yorkers tended to brand their
chairs with their mark to
indicate ownership.
Seventeenth-century Dutch
genre paintings also showed
rather simple tables with an
X form of bracing. Several of
these X-braced tables dating to
the mid-18th century, having
descended through generations
of Hudson Valley families, are in
museum collections. The tables,
usually made of pine and painted
red or blue, look like work tables
and were probably used in the
kitchen. Perhaps because they are
so basic, they were not treasured
as heirlooms. This might explain
why they are so rare today.
Decorative Details
The Dutch favored scrolls and
bulbous turnings. These elements
are reflected in many decorative
arts forms such as candlesticks,
silver, and furniture. A mirror in a
frame of heavy scrolls (see page
18) came from the 18th-century
Van Wie Homestead south of
Albany and a table with elaborately
turned legs and scallopedshaped
apron below the top was
owned by the Vandenburgh family
of Rensselaer. Both pieces were
Pottebunk, c. 1720, originally stood
in the Decker House (Shawangunk)
built by Johannies Decker at Gardner,
Ulster County, in 1720. Gift of Fred
Johnston. NYSM H-77.105.1
made of gum wood or billstead,
a favorite wood of the Dutch
settlers, and are now in the
collections of the State Museum.
The bold scalloped outline on
open cupboards found in the
kitchens of many early New York
homes is a Dutch characteristic.
These cupboards contain several
shelves, the top shelves stepped
back from the bottom shelves.
Each shelf is grooved to support
plates. The pottebunk as it was
referred to in inventories of the
period, is one of the earliest forms
of Hudson Valley furniture. Literally
meaning “a pot bench” or “shelf
for pots,” these cupboards were
used to display earthenware,
pewter, and other tableware.
Early New Yorkers of Dutch
descent also appreciated the bright
colors of Dutch Delft ceramics.
Side Chair, c. 1700, was originally
owned by an unknown Albany
family. It is a style of chair found
in the Netherlands during the
17th century and depicted in Dutch
genre paintings of the period. Gift
of Wunsch Americana Foundation.
NYSM H-94.48.3
Dutch Delft Charger, c. 1760, originally
owned by Conrad Anthony
Ten Eyck (1789–1845) and his wife
Hester Gansevoort (1796–1861) of
Albany. They may have inherited
the charger from either of their
parents. Museum purchase, funds
provided by Georgann Byrd
Tompkins. NYSM H-2007.48.2
Colorful plates and sets of decorative ceramics were displayed
on top of the kast, interior doorframes, and mantels. Delft tiles
often decorated fireplace openings and were sometimes used
as baseboards.
The large number of immigrants moving into New York from
New England after the American Revolution tended to dilute the
dominant Dutch culture. Eventually by the second quarter of the
19th century, the descendants of New York’s early Dutch families
became acculturated to the tastes of their New England neighbors.
However, for more than 150 years after New Netherland became
New York, the Dutch culture remained dominant. n
Summer 2009 n 19

new york stories
Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York”
By Craig Williams
Right: Bread Store on Bleecker
Street (February 3, 1937). This
type of family business was still
common in Abbott’s time.
NYSM H-1940.7.49
Bottom Right: Washington
Square (August 12, 1936). These
19th-century town houses at the
northwest corner of the square are
now part of New York University.
NYSM H-1940.7.48
Below: Tempo of the City (May
13, 1948). At the corner of Fifth
Avenue and 42nd Street, Abbott
photographed office workers and
shoppers on one of city’s busiest
intersections. NYSM H-1940.7.7
Senior Historian
Craig Williams is
curator of photography
at the New York
State Museum.
In the 1930s, amidst the hardships
of the Great Depression,
the State Museum had a
remarkable opportunity. The
federal government’s Works
Progress Administration funded
many of the Museum’s activities
in science and history. It also
supported unemployed artists
and scholars across New York
state. The Museum’s director,
Charles Adams, linked these
WPA-sponsored programs
to bring exhibitions to the
State Museum.
The first of these occurred
in the summer of 1938 with
“Changing New York,” Berenice
Abbott’s remarkable photographic
documentation of New
York City. Abbott had returned
to New York City from Europe in
1929, and the changes she saw
in the city’s landscape inspired
her. First on her own and later
with support from the WPA’s
Federal Art Project, Abbott
carefully photographed the
city. The loan exhibit of these
photographs was a great
success at the State Museum.
Recognizing the richness of
Abbott’s documentation of New
York, Adams was convinced that
the State Museum should have
a set of her prints. With the
support of Abbott and her
partner, Elizabeth McCausland,
Adams obtained the backing of
Governor Lehman to acquire a
set of the Abbott prints from
the WPA in 1940. Many of
these original prints are being
featured in the Museum’s
current exhibition, Berenice
Abbott’s Changing New York:
A Triumph of Public Art. n
20 n Legacy

Celebrate
Your Child’s
at the

close-ups
Tell us what you think
about Legacy. Send
your comments to
msparks@mail
.nysed.gov.
Clockwise from top left: Detail from the Tuck High Company display in the “City of Neighborhoods” section
of New York Metropolis; an oil lamp on the Hansom Cab made by Brewster & Co. in 1903, on display on the
4th Floor; detail of the caribou from the Ice Age Hunters: New York’s First People life group, in Native Peoples
of New York; and Hydnoceras, fossil glass sponges from near Ithaca c. 375 million years ago, on display near
Discovery Place.
For a schedule of exhibitions, programs, and events, 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