The New York State Museum was founded in 1836 as part of the State Geological and Natural History Survey. According to their web site, over three quarters of million people visit each year and over 12,000,000 specimens in their collections.
The museum has a rich history whose foundation was formed by geologists and naturalists of the 1800s (see their History of the Museum web site for details). My cousin Kenny recently visited this museum and gave me some pictures he took. He commented that it is an amazing place but the fossil displays had some areas of low lighting. That being said, the museum has announced they have the designs finished for the updated natural history section of the museum.
New York state has lots of diverse fossil exposures. The diversity of fossils allows the museum to have some great displays. Here are some of them.
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| Cohoes Mastodon - Found 1866 |
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| Eurypterus |
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| Eospermatopteris - early land plant Devonian |
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| Colpodexylon deatsii - early late Devonian |
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| Climactichnites fossil tracks - Cambrian |
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| Nephriticeras - Devonian Hamilton Sea |
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| Coelophysis of the Late Triassic |
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| Billion Year Old Stromatolites |
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| Mineral Gallery |
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