Press

ALBANY – The New York State Museum will offer lectures on a variety of topics this fall, highlighting the diverse work of the Museum’s scientists and historians.

From October 1 through December 17, the free lectures will be held every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Huxley Theater. The topics are:

• October 1 – “Insect Biodiversity in the World’s Wild Places.” Museum scientist Dr. Jason Cryan, an entomologist and evolutionary biologist, will discuss his ongoing efforts to document insect biodiversity in the rapidly disappearing jungles and rainforests of the world.
• October 8—“Virtual Tour of the Fish Lab.” Curator of Ichthyology Dr. Robert Daniels will provide a virtual tour of the Museum’s fish collection, which contains more than 1 million specimens. The collection serves researchers around the world and is the basis for studies on natural history, zoogeography, and taxonomy of fishes. This virtual tour includes stops to identify interesting specimens and research.
• October 15 – “Archaeology of New York’s Early Hydroelectric Industry.” The Hudson River Electric Power Company’s substation in East Glenville, built in 1903, had a pivotal place in the early development of power transmission in New York. Martin Pickands, an archaeologist with the Cultural Research Survey Program, will discuss the structure of the substation and the function of its components.
• October 22 – “Hunter-Fisher-Gatherers in the Upper Ohio Valley.” Between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago, Native Americans in northern West Virginia first turned to the Ohio River to support their foraging way of life. Dr. Jonahan Lothrop, curator of archaeology, will describe how recent discoveries at the East Steubenville site shed new light on this unique Native American adaptation in West Virginia.

• October 29 – “The Hungerford Brothers and the Rocket Car.” Aviation pioneers, inventors, and promoters Daniel and Floyd Hungerford didn’t realize their dream of going to the moon in a rocket car but Senior Historian Geoffrey Stein will discuss their story and offer an illustrated lecture, followed by a visit to the rocket car, on display on the Museum’s 4th floor.

• November 5 – “The Basket at the Center of the World.” In 1984, archaeologists digging in lower Manhattan made an intriguing discovery underneath the 17th-century ground surface: a unique basket filled with remarkable things. Dr. Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology, will discuss the basket and its contents and explain why they are important.
• November 12 – “The Irony of Independence: Emancipation Celebrations.” Dr. Jennifer Lemak, curator of African-American history, will provide information on the first celebration of the abolition of slavery on July 4, 1827. The irony that the first celebration was held on Independence Day was experienced again 136 years later, when New York’s centennial celebrations of the Emancipation Proclamation took place in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.
• November 19 – “Tales from the Mineralogy Collection.” The Museum’s mineral collections are essential scientific, educational, and cultural resources. Dr. Marian Lupulescu, curator of geology, will present his research on the identification and description of new mineral species, mineral structures, and historical features of some classic mineral, rock, and ore localities of New York.
• December 3 – “Protecting Biodiversity by Reducing Chemical Pesticides.” In the 1980s, Museum researchers helped develop a safe, biological method for black fly control in the Adirondack Mountains, and, as a result, the use of polluting chemical insecticides stopped. Dr. Daniel Molloy, director of the Museum’s Field Research Laboratory, will discuss how history is being repeated with the development of a green alternative to the poisonous chemicals used to control the zebra mussel, an invasive, pipe-clogging species from Europe.
• December 10 – “Discovering the Life of the Steamer Baltic.” Ron Burch, curator of art and architecture, will discuss the process of discovery in researching a mid-19th-century ship’s “portrait” in the Museum’s collection. Inquiry into the history surrounding Samuel Walters’ painting of a storm-tossed transatlantic steamship disclosed a web of personal risk and corporate high stakes on the high seas. Participants may view the painting following the lecture.

• December 17 – “Birds Are Dinosaurs: Avian Origins and Evolutionary Affinities.” The idea that birds are descended from dinosaurs has become the consensus view of ornithologists in the past 15 years. Dr. Jeremy Kirchman, curator of birds, will discuss the many new lines of evidence that link modern birds to the extinct dinosaurs and explain how scientists reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among groups of species.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department. 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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