Browse Items (1396 total)

Hill was the son of a well-known commercial lithographer, and was only 17 years old when he created this and other watercolors of the Erie Canal with an eye toward eventual publication. That never came to pass, but as historical documents the…

Photo captures much of what is distinctive about New York's Finger Lake region: long, glacially carved lakes; open vistas from which to behold them; and agriculture benefiting from the deep water's moderating influence upon temperature. The location…

This stereocard was part of the "Artistic series, scenery at Watkins Glen and vicinity, N.Y." The picturesque series of falls and rock formations became a popular destination during the post-bellum period, and many other such images were created.…

This small watercolor uses a technique Dove called "extraction": abstracting from some landscape only those elements necessary to render it. Here we see a few lines of ink used to trees, clouds, and a power line; watercolor and gouache then complete…

Cropsey, initially trained as an architect, turned to painting in the style of Thomas Cole's sublime renderings of nature. He traveled in the Northeast and Europe, gaining recognition for his increasingly vivid fall hues and more restful settings.…

Despite inscription on the photo, probably what's shown is Sloat's Dam located a few miles upriver in Rockland County, NY. The structure was built in 1792 by Isaac Sloat for the purposes of milling, and was approximately four feet high by 200 feet in…

Centered upon an area roughly bordered by the Adirondack State Park, this map synthesizes basic topographical features—borders, lakes and waterways, cities, early roads—with pictorial elements. Some of these latter reference historical events; still,…

These four images come from a book of 33 views featuring the Thousand Islands, located in the St. Lawrence River as it exits Lake Ontario. Some of the photographs are focused on natural features, but a majority admire larger-than-life "castles" built…

The Raquette River has its headwaters at the outlet of Raquette Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains, and flows 146 miles to the St. Lawrence River. It passes through numerous marshes and small lakes; both before and after European arrival, it has been…

A 19th-century gazetteer described Potsdam, located on the Raquette River, as having "a great variety of beatiful situations" and in particular a waterfall near the center of town. During that time its uses were directed primarily to milling…