On November 21, 1868, under the guidance of Dr. Ebell, sixty-two people, mostly teachers, alumni, and students from the Albany Female Academy (known today as the Albany Academy for Girls) met in the school to form the Albany Chapter of the Dana Natural History Society. The Society was named in honor of Dr. James Dwight Dana a famous geologist, mineralogist, and zoologist from Yale College. This collection contains materials such as newspaper clippings, member written articles, histories, documents from meetings and proceedings, scrapbooks, photographs, letters, awards, and other ephemera.