The old NYS Museum in the wonderfully iconic State Education Building was a garden of earthly delights. Tens of thousands of NYS school children visited the museum during its 60 some odd years, until it closed when the “new” Museum in the Cultural Center in the Empire State Plaza opened in the 1970s.
But for the children of Albany, especially the baby boomer kids of the ’50s and ’60s, the Museum was special. It was a source of infinite wonder; it was our own very, very cool playground. The Museum was on bus lines; it was located within walking distance of two ethnically diverse neighborhoods, Arbor Hill and the South End,; both teeming with children. And it was free. When kids in Albany sighed, “I’m bored”, many an Albany mother replied, “Go to the Museum”. That was the big deal about the old Museum.. it was kid friendly.
The Museum was on the 5th floor; to get there you passed though the grandeur of the State Ed Building. The exterior of the building is magnificent and imposing with its massive 36 Corinthian column colonnade. But it’s even more gorgeous inside. The scale is part of it; but it’s also a stunning example early 20th century Beaux-Arts architecture. The central rotunda with a barrel vault ceiling and stupendous chandelier are awe-inspiring. It never failed to take my breath away. Even the rowdiest kids calmed down, lowered their voices and stopped fidgeting, sensing they were in the presence of something special. 
When you reached the Museum floor, the first thing you saw was a replica of the Gilboa prehistoric forest, filled with ancient fossilized tree stumps and wonder of wonders, a waterfall. I don’t know about other kids, but for me, it was so peaceful, it was the equivalent of a Zen garden.
But then the fun began. The old Museum was really a museum of natural history. Just up the street was the Albany Institute of History and Art. It had an excellent collection of old Dutch paintings, china, furniture and artifacts, and 2 Egyptian mummies! But other than the mummies, the Institute held little attraction for most of us kids. So when I think about the old Museum, it’s impossible not to think of the movie, Night at The Museum.
Where you went next depended on your mood.. did you want to go visit the Iroquois Indian diorama exhibits? I remember the first time I saw them; I swear it was if the pages of a National Geographic had come alive. There were Native American artifacts… huge pots and best of all, arrow points and arrowheads. Arrowheads were part of our Akbany childhood. Between digging in back yards and playing in the residential, commercial and public constructions sites that dotted the city for 2 decades, kids were always finding, them. They were a staple of school “show and tell”. But the Museum placed them in context.. you understood that cool thing you found dated back thousands of years. And then you looked back at the Iroquois exhibits and began to have a better understanding of the people who used them.
You could visit the huge Cohoes mastodon; one of three on display. or maybe a stroll through the taxidermy animal collection (which I found sort of creepy.) The paleontology collection was amazing.. rows upon row of cabinets of miilion year old fossils, There were botany and biology exhibits; beautiful illustrations of the birds, flora and flowers we saw in our yards and park, and those funky mushrooms we saw growing in the woods.
The fossilized sea life and shells were pretty nifty. I still love a curvaceous wentletrap or a nautilus.
Every time I visited, there seemed to be something new.. or something I’d missed. I first fell in love with
sedimentary rocks; fascinated by the layers and strata in limestone and shale. But there were so many choices.. the sparkling Herkimer Diamond, the “man made diamond”, iridescent quartz of all hues, meteorites, minerals and rocks that shimmered like gold or looked like coral.
The was a tall (maybe 4′) pillar of rock salt that showed the tongue depressions of decades of New York school children who had licked it. And we licked it too, just like our parents and aunts and uncles had done before, (I always called it Lot’s Wife.)
There was a bunch of rocks that glowed in the dark in a small room. Recently someone said that the State Museum was the perfect “group date” for young teen kids in Albany. You could go into the little dark nook and steal a first kiss. The Museum had it all.
A friend’s father was the building superintendent of the State Ed Building; I’m still jealous.
If you are on Facebook, you might want to join the Facebook Group, “Albany …the way it was”, to share your memories of Albany, NY with others. Here’s the link.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/375351089205442/606197369454145/?notif_t=group_comment
Albany Muskrat 
I was born in Albany in 1932 and lived there ’till 1944. We were por, as we’re many in those days. I had an opportunity to attend a children’s summer art program ot the beautiful NYS Museum. We were, as I recall, assigned to copy art in various parts of the museum and as I recall I spent some time in the basement copying hieroglyphics from the coffins of Egyptian mummies. This was in the morning, before the museum opened. At the age of six I was alone in a room of mummies. I’ll never forget it.
Thomas,,,I wasn’t around in ’44 but, a few years later I was and the Mummies are the property of The Albany Institute of History and Art…..just up the street a block from The (Old….but superior in every way from the New C.E.C) State Museum
The Old State Museum was awesome. A place you could dream. The new is a pile of crap. Another Crime Rocky committed against Albany, NY (BESIDES THE REMOVAL OF OVER 8000 FAMLILIES FROM THEIR HOMES.)
I was heartbroken when they closed this museum down and moved bits of it to the “new” museum. We spent many an afternoon there. The gem room and the mastodons were my favorite and all those displays and dioramas! I remembered the floor as black marble, though, which is odd. Thanks for this post. Made me a little misty.
We are all in the same boat, or canoe. I will never forget the field trip I went on from School 4 in 1965 in 5th grade. What stood out for me was the Iroquois Indian exhibit. It was overwhelming for this 10 year old. I too was heartbroken when I heard they moved the museum. But they are memories that will never be taken away.
My mom worked at the Museum as an artist in the paleontology department during the sixties and seventies, so I got to roam around in there many days during off hours. It holds a profound place in my memories. I was very saddened when the old museum moved. I tried to get hold of some of the older, hand painted backgrounds they used for the exhibits (which my mom helped to paint) but no one at the museum would respond to me, or they simply didn’t know what happened to them. I can’t even go in the “new” museum, it’s too cold and has zero character. Such a shame.