New York History Journal

03/10/2024

The Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) is pleased to announce that our 2024 Annual Conference will be held in Port Jefferson, NY, on Long Island, September 16-18, 2024. Our annual conference draws more than 100 government-appointed historians and affiliates from across the s...

03/09/2024

Mark your calendars for Family History Day!
https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/programs/womens-history-month-family-history-day
On Sunday, March 10 from 12-3pm, learn about the dynamic role of women in New York history through interactive experiences with historians, guided gallery tours and programs, and hands-on activities to engage the whole family.

01/24/2024

New York History invites submissions for a special volume on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in New York to be published by Cornell University Press in Spring 2026. New York was a leading participant in the Revolutionary process and was critical to the Revolution's political, constitutional, military, and social outcomes. Over the years the story of the Revolution has become richer and fuller with the addition of exciting new scholarship and subjects of research, as well as thoughtful reinterpretations of long-debated topics. While new political, social, and constitutional scholarship continues, additional new work on the revolutionary experiences of peoples previously as seen as on the periphery has grown. Recent generations of historians have built on earlier interpretations while opening new ground on the Revolution in New York. Research on the important roles of Africa-descended people, Indigenous Peoples, women, soldiers, loyalists, and others who impacted, and were impacted by, the Revolutionary process, has enhanced our understanding of the Revolution and what it meant to the many thousands of New Yorkers involved.

Proposed contributions should focus on some aspect of the Revolution in New York. All areas of the Revolution - including political, military, social, economic, cultural, constitutional among others - are invited. Studies that examine the "memory" of the Revolution, the Revolution’s promise, and the Revolution's success and/or shortcomings are all invited for possible publication. Papers that are breaking new ground, looking at previously underrepresented groups, or reinterpreting past interpretation are particularly encouraged.

A 250 word abstract of your proposed topic and 1-2 page C.V. will be due by March 1, 2024. Interested contributors with questions are encouraged to contact Thomas Wermuth at [email protected].

Paper submissions will be due by October 1, 2024. Submissions should be 6,000-8,000 words, including notes.

12/21/2023

The New York History Conference proposal submission deadline has been extended until January 12, 2024! Happy Holidays everyone!

The New York History Conference is still accepting proposals that deal with the history, culture, economy, politics, geography, anthropology, or archaeology of New York State. We also welcome proposals that use New York’s history as a lens to under-stand a regional, national, or international issu...

09/14/2023

October is . Check out the lecture series being offered at the New York State Museum.

08/01/2023

Our Summer 2023 Issue is now available on Project MUSE and will be arriving in subscribers' mailboxes any day now. If you're interested in obtaining a copy from Cornell University Press, visit https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/new-york-history/.

Since 1932, New York History (ISSN 0146-437x) has served as the foremost scholarly journal on the state’s past. New York History, now under the leadership of the Cornell University Press, and working closely with staff from the New York State Museum, seeks to unify the diverse field of New York St...

07/26/2023

75 years ago, on July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 banning segregation in the United States Armed Forces. These photos from the collection of the New York State Museum feature segregated African American soldiers on maneuver in Canton, St. Lawrence County, prior to desegregation of the US Army.

07/24/2023

What is more summer than baseball?!?! July’s features Cornell History Department and Cornell University historians Stuart Blumin and Glenn Altschuler, whose essay, “When Sunday Baseball Came to Brooklyn” will be appearing in the forthcoming issue from Cornell University Press.

Stuart Blumin is Professor of American History Emeritus at Cornell University and a former Director of the Cornell in Washington Program. He is the author of a number of books, including The Emergence of the Middle Class: Social Experience in the American City, 1760-1900; The Encompassing City: Streetscapes in Early Modern Art and Culture; The Urban Threshold: Growth and Change in a Nineteenth-Century American Community; and, with Glenn Altschuler, Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century; The GI Bill: A New Deal for Veterans, and most recently, The Rise and Fall of Protestant Brooklyn: An American Story. He is a former Trustee of the New York State Historical Association.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He is the author or co-author of twelve books, including Cornell: A History, 1940-2015; All Shook Up: How Rock ‘n Roll Changed America; Ten Great American Trials; Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century; The G.I. Bill: A New Deal for Veterans; and The Rise and Fall of Protestant Brooklyn: An American Story.

07/06/2023

Following the celebrations of American independence, July's reminds us that the terms freedom and independence have not applied equally to all throughout the nation's history. From the January 1967 issue, Linda K. Kerber examines "Abolitionists and Amalgamators: The New York City Race Riots of 1834." This dark episode in occurred in July 1834 and is described by Kerber as a "virulent" episode of racial violence in which a "choleric mob held New York City at bay for three full days."

Read the full article at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23162902

06/12/2023

Our features Dr. John Boos, author of "Fear & Betrayal: Smallpox and the Turning Point of the French and Indian War" in our most recent issue from Cornell University Press.

Boos has had a long-standing interest in viruses. With Margaret. M. Esiri he published Viral Encephalitis in Humans (1986; and ASM Press, 2003). In To Catch a Virus, he examined with Marilyn J. August how viral infections are recognized and diagnosed (ASM Press, 2013). A second edition of this book, with Marie Louise Landry, was published in October 2022. His articles examine the ways in which epidemics among Native Americans have changed history: “Survival of the Pilgrims: A Reevaluation of the Lethal epidemic among the Wampanoag,” Historical Journal of Massachusetts 47, no. 1 (Winter 2019); and with Melanie J. Norton, “Missionaries, Measles, and Manuscripts: Revisiting the Whitman Tragedy,” Journal of the Medical Library Association 107, no. 1 (January 2019). Booss is Professor Emeritus at Yale University and former National Program Director, Neurology Service, with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

06/08/2023

As we look forward to warmer weather and the onset of summer, June's features and article from our Winter 2005 issue. "Dr. Dudley Sargent's Summer at Chautauqua: Evangelizing the Gospel of Physical Culture" by Dr. Thomas J. Finnegan, explores the work of Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent, an early proponent of the importance of physical exercise for one's health and his experience at Chautauqua Institution.

Check out the full essay at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23183415 and subscribe to our latest issues from Cornell University Press.

06/01/2023

Happy Pride Month!

Cornell University Press
New York State Museum

05/29/2023

05/25/2023

Calling all practitioners of public history in New York! The New York State 250th Commemoration Field Guide is now available for download.

2026 will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the foundational document of the revolution that occurred between 1774 and 1783 and resulted in the creation of the United States of America. What is now the State of New York played an immense and vital role in both the Revolutionary Era and the subsequent 250 years of American history. Planning for such an important commemoration in a comprehensive way at the local, regional, and/ or state level can be a daunting task. Because of this, the Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) has partnered with the Office of State History at the New York State Museum to produce the New York State 250th Commemoration Field Guide which provides suggested commemorative themes, ideas, and information to help planners at the local and regional level in all parts of the state.

"We ask you to consider each of the themes in this field guide as suggestions for how your community or organization can begin to think about commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation. Each local community and region of the state has its own unique story to tell which together tell the history of the state itself. We urge you to take this once per half-century opportunity to help tell that history so that it may be preserved for the coming centuries.

If your organization or community would like to be included in the digital field guide please contact [email protected]."

05/25/2023

In the January 1937 article, "Co-operation for Democracy," Sir Robert Falconer reminds us that "The word "democracy" slips glibly off our tongue; but we must do a great deal of sincere thinking about it. In fact, is the democracy which we know worth saving?

05/15/2023

As students across the state prepare for end of year exams, we thought it was a good time to feature today's by Zachary Deibel, "Teach NY: Engaging with the NYS Regents Exam's Civics Engagement Essay" in our latest issue from Cornell University Press.

Deibel is a doctoral candidate in history at Binghamton University History Department, where he studies the history of learning, state formation, and education in eighteenth-century New York. He has taught high school and college history courses for the past ten years, and he is a graduate student intern at New York History.

04/24/2023

April's features Dr. Daniel Koch, author of "Working-Class Germans in the Salt City: Syracuse, New York, 1860-1916," in the most recent issue of New York History Journal from Cornell University Press.

Koch is headmaster of Loughborough Grammar School, founded in 1495, in Leicestershire, England. He is originally from central New York and studied History and Modern Languages at the State University of New York at Albany before completing his doctoral studies at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Ralph Waldo Emerson in Europe: Class, Race, and Revolution in the Making of an American Thinker (I. B. Tauris, 2012). His second book, Land of the Oneidas, a history of central New York from its prehistory to the present, is now available from SUNY Press.

04/06/2023

Today's features the cover from our April 1992 issue.

"This 1884 cartoon-which alludes to Maria Halpin, the mother of Grover Cleveland's illegitimate child-was captioned ''From One Maria to Another.'' It features "Grover the Good," who states, ''To the White House, please." The policeman replies, ''No; to political retirement and penitential meditation.'' From The Judge, September 20, 1884. See Geoffrey Blodgett 's article, page 133."

Read Blodgett's full essay, "The Emergence of Grover Cleveland: A Fresh Appraisal" at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23181775.

04/04/2023

Fifty-five years ago, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated outside the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. Today, we honor his legacy and continue his commitment to the ongoing struggle in this nation to achieve its founding ideals.

On September 12, 1962, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech in New York City to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the issuance of Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. In a measured but passionate tone, Dr. King reviewed the history of human rights in A...

03/29/2023

Check out the new “A New York Minute in History” episode from WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the Office of New York State History. The Persistence of Dr. Mary Walker. Hosted by journal editor ⁦‪Devin Lander.

For Women's History Month, Devin and Lauren tell the story of Dr. Mary Walker: physician, heroine of the Civil War, and the only woman in history ever to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

03/20/2023

March’s features Dr. Jennifer Lemak. Lemak is the chief curator of history at the New York State Museum. Prior to this appointment, she served there as senior historian/ curator of social history. Major exhibition and publication projects include Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial (2017) and An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War (2012). Lemak is the author of Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany’s Rapp Road (SUN Press, 2008) and several articles on the Great Migration to Upstate New York. Her Artifact NY feature, “Marion Weeber’s Flatware of the Future” from the collections of the New York State Museum can be found in our most recent issue from
Cornell University Press (https://doi.org/10.1353/nyh.2022.0044).

03/01/2023

March is ! In recognition of the importance of New York's history-making women past & present, we feature a July 1988 essay from historian Judith Wellman, "Women's Rights, Republicanism, and Revolutionary Rhetoric in Antebellum New York State."

Readers can find the entire essay on JSTOR at https://jstor.org/stable/23177962. Followers can subscribe to the journal from Cornell University Press to find more fascinating stories about women in .

02/22/2023

We're excited to announce the publication of our Winter 2022-23 issue! Print editions should be arriving in your mailboxes soon. Our digital subscribers can access content via Project MUSE.

Thanks to our fantastic contributors, including Dillon Streifeneder, John Boos, Nolan Cool, Paul C. King, and Hamilton Craig, with features by Jennifer Lemak and Zachary Deibel.

And thanks, too, to Cornell University Press and Longleaf Services, Inc. for another stunning issue featuring cover art from the collection of the New York State Museum.

02/20/2023

Dillon Streifeneder is a historian of colonial America and the early American republic. His current project focuses on state formation and governance in New York during the era of the American Revolution. Streifeneder recently completed his PhD in early American history from the Ohio State University.

Look for his essay, "War Comes to Westchester: The Killing of William Lounsbury," in the forthcoming winter issue from Cornell University Press.

02/02/2023

In recognition of , we invite you to explore our Fall 2014 issue by special guest editor Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. The special issue featured scholars exploring race and resistance in 20th century New York. Check out the full issue at https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/newyorkhist.95.4.fm.

01/16/2023

Happy New Year! Our January features four contributors whose collaboration seeks to decenter Early New York City's history as presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the . Read the whole essay from Cornell University Press at https://doi.org/10.1353/nyh.2022.0002.

Benjamin L. Carp is Daniel M. Lyons Associate Professor of American History at Brooklyn College, and is affiliated with the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is writing a book on the Great Fire of New York City in 1776.

John M. Dixon is Associate Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, and is affiliated with the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the author of The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden: Empire, Science, and Intellectual Culture in British New York (Cornell University Press, 2016), and is currently completing a history of Jews in the early modern Americas.

David N. Gellman is Professor of History at DePauw University and is author of Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York, to be published by Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, in 2022.

Joyce Goodfriend is Professor of History at the University of Denver and the author of Before the Melting Pot: Society and Culture in Colonial New York City, 1664–1730 (Princeton University Press, 1992) and Who Should Rule at Home? Confronting the Elite in British New York City (Cornell University Press, 2017).

01/05/2023

As Buffalo and Western New York continue to recover from last month’s devastating blizzard, this month’s recalls another major winter storm and its impact on the Empire State. From the July 1993 issue of New York History, Marsha Ackermann’s essay explores the Blizzard of 1888 in New York City. Read the entire essay at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23182524.

12/19/2022

Elizabeth George holds a PhD from Stony Brook University and is an Associate Professor of History at Taylor University Her scholarly work focuses on the social and gendered aspects of the Seven Years’ War. Her scholarship includes the article “Intimate Enemies: Captivity and Colonial Fear of Indians in the Mid-Eighteenth-Century Wars” in Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. She is currently researching the development of women’s leaderships in clubs and organizations in the nineteenth century.

Check out her article, "A Frontier Place: The Transformation of Colonial Albany, 1756-1763" in New York History Journal from Cornell University Press at doi:10.1353/nyh.2022.0009.