Press

ALBANY – The New York State Museum will host a series of evening lectures this fall focusing on the Hudson River Valley, as well as a separate lecture on the mastodons of New York State.

The Cohoes Mastodon and Other Mastodons of New York will be the topic of a lecture on Tuesday, October 23 at 7 p.m. Dr. Robert S. Feranec, the Museum’s curator of vertebrate paleontology, will discuss the discovery of the Cohoes and other famous mastodons in New York State and the scientific research associated with these important finds.

All lectures are free and will be in the Carole F. Huxley Theater. The following lectures will be held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.:

• October 3 –Archaeology at the Adirondack Iron and Steel Company’s ‘‘New Furnace.”

Museum Archaeologist David Staley presents the results of Cultural Resource Survey Program excavations at a 19th century industrial site, including new details about furnace construction, operation, and site-decay processes.

• October 10 -- Glacial Lakes and Landscapes of the Hudson Valley Region. During the last glaciation, blocked and altered drainage created large lakes in the Hudson Valley. Museum Senior Scientist Dr. Andrew Kozlowski discusses how lake systems and geologic deposits provided many resources for eventual settlers in the Albany region.
• October 17 --150 Million Years of New York History: Sedimentary Rocks of the Central Hudson Valley. The central Hudson Valley holds a history of Earth and life from about 520 to 370 million years ago. Museum Geologist Dr. Chuck Ver Straeten examines key events from that time and focuses on rocks and fossils west of the Hudson, including the Shawangunks and Catskills.
• October 24 -- The Decorative Arts: A Hudson Valley Sampler. John Scherer, the Museum’s curator of decorative arts, discusses the Hudson Valley’s distinctive furniture and early pottery manufacturing and how images of the region’s picturesque scenery flooded both the American

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and European market through the invention of lithography.

• November 7 -- The Revolution in Albany: Poverty and the Law, 1750 to 1800. Tricia Barbagallo, senior research associate at the Museum’s Colonial Albany Social History Project, highlights people listed on the City of Albany’s first poor list in 1799. She also discusses the causes of indigence, the state policy on relief, and how the city of Albany and paupers manipulated laws.
• November 14 -- Geologic History of the Lower Hudson River: Where North America Almost Broke Apart. State Paleontologist Dr. Ed Landing reconstructs the ancient history of the lower Hudson River Valley and explains why the modern river follows the western edge of the Appalachians south of Glens Falls, but crosses the Appalachians at the Hudson Highlands.
• November 28 -- The Schuyler Flatts Burial Ground: A Unique View of African Life in Colonial Albany. Discovery of an unmarked 1700s burial ground in the town of Colonie allows new insight into the lives of enslaved Africans in Colonial Albany. Museum Bioarchaeologists Lisa Anderson and Vanessa Dale discuss their research.
• December 5 -- Fishes of the Lower Hudson: Freshwater Fishes, Marine Strays, and the Exotic. The fish assemblage of the lower Hudson is the richest in New York State. The species list has changed over the past 200 years, with additions, losses, and a dramatic change in relative abundances. Museum Ichthyology Curator Dr. Robert Daniels explains what’s here, what’s gone, and whether we should be concerned.
• December 12 -- Hudson Valley Perspectives: Paintings from the NYSM Collection.

Curator of Art and Architecture Ron Burch discusses 19th and 20th century artists and their perceptions of the Hudson Valley. Examples from the collection include folk art, Hudson River School art, and art funded by the pre-WWII Works Progress Administration.

• December 19 – Iron Deposits Along the Hudson River Valley. The rugged Hudson Valley in the Adirondack Mountains and the Hudson Highlands are known for their abundant Precambrian iron ores and beautiful minerals. Dr. Marian Lupulescu, curator of minerals, presents his new research results and discusses iron deposit origins.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department. Founded in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the U.S. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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