Heroes and Shakers
The New York State Museum, the nation’s largest and oldest state museum, gives groups a thorough overview. Exhibits encompass the state’s geological makeup, historic inhabitants and pioneers and a poignant 9-11 exhibit. The fourth floor offers sweeping vistas of the Empire State Plaza and the chance to ride a restored carousel.
“The 9-11 exhibit displays the Engine 6 Pumper, which was among the first to respond,” said Bull. “The truck’s front cab was crushed and burned, but the back is still largely intact because it was covered by a collapsed pedestrian bridge.”
Also historically significant, the Shakers’ first American settlement started just north of Albany in the late 1700s. They remain one of the most influential religious groups in American history. A major exhibition at the New York State Museum, “The Shakers: America’s Quiet Revolutionaries,” displays artifacts from pre-eminent Shaker collections that are now exhibited together for the first time. The exhibit opened in late 2014 and will continue through 2016.
“A lot of people think of Shakers as only making furniture, but they also transformed the seed package industry and invented vacuum-sealed tin cans and the flat broom,” said Bull. “They were revolutionary in marketing their products. The exhibit gives visitors a sense of the Shakers’ ideals that they strived for in their personal and religious lives.”
