planning your first visit to the research library at the buffalo history museum
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Planning Your First Visit to the Research
Library
©Buffalo History Museum1 Museum CourtBuffalo, NY 14216library@buffalohistory.orgJanuary 12, 2015
We’re a National Historic Landmark
Founded in 1862 as the Buffalo Historical Society Building designed by George Cary in 1900 Changed our name in 1960 to Buffalo & Erie
County Historical Society Changed our name in 2012 to Buffalo History
Museum
How to find us
1 Museum Court, formerly 25 Nottingham Court North of Rt. 198 off Elmwood Ave. Free parking & bike rack Take the #20 Elmwood bus route, exit at Nottingham The Library is on the main floor of the white marble temple
Three Closest Lodgings for Out-Of-Town Visitors
Foundry Suites Hotel Elmwood Village Inn Parkside House There are more options!
Admission
Free to Society members and U.S. veterans $7.00 for all others Because of the irreplaceability and fragility of library
collections, children under 12 are strongly encouraged to use the public library instead of our library
We invite parents & teachers to bring children to museum exhibits and programs instead.
Hours
Library hours are Wednesdays through Saturdays, 1-5 pm
No appointments necessary
Professional librarians are always on duty to help you find what you need
When we are closed, we suggest visiting the Grosvenor Room at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. It has a superb local history & genealogy collection.
http://www.buffalolib.org/content/grosvenor
Collecting since 1862! 20,000+ books 200,000 photographs 2,000 manuscript collections 6,000 postcards Extensive Vertical/Pamphlet File 22-drawer Clippings file 6,000+ microfilms of newspapers, censuses,
church records, cemetery records, and more
Our Collections at a Glance
A Few Things We Don’t Have
Vital records (government-issued birth, marriage & death
certificates)
Your house plans Passenger lists Immigration & naturalization records School attendance records Deeds or property transactions Employment records Motion picture or TV footage So where are these things?
Everything Can Be Retrieved in Minutes Except…
10,000 maps, drawings, posters, prints and other oversized works on paper
About 3 dozen extremely large, heavy ledgers from a few manuscript collections
Negatives All of the above are stored off-site and may be seen
by appointment
A Few Rules
Purses, backpacks, briefcases, etc., are kept behind the desk during your visit
Library materials may not be borrowed or removed from room
Cotton gloves are required for handling photographs. We keep a large supply.
Staff does all photocopying. Some things are too large or fragile to photocopy.
We scan only for publication or exhibition. Fees apply.
All Library Visitors Must Sign In
We ask for your full name and address Effective January 1, 2015, signing in will be done via
touch-screen tablet computers instead of clipboard We are happy to help anyone who is new to tablets
Please, No Food or Drink in the Library
Many good restaurants within a 10-minute walkThe Museum does not have an on-site caféYour snacks can be enjoyed in the State Court
Please silence phones and take calls outside of the library
What about cameras?
You may take pictures of museum buildings, grounds, programs, events, and the library interior for noncommercial purposes.
Please add them to our Flickr group!
www.flickr.com/groups/bechs/
You may not take pictures of library books, photos, maps, documents, collections, etc.
New! Museum Quality Reproductions
Order online at BuffaloHistoryStore.org
Custom archival prints of Buffalo scenes for home or office decor
Great gift idea
Pencils only. We have lots!This prevents accidental ink marks on irreplaceable items.
Technology on Site
FRANK, our online catalog Yes, we have WiFi, laptops welcome! Two microfilm reader-printers, $.25/page. Our
machines do not have scanning capability. Three microfilm readers Photocopies made only by staff, $.25 each. Our
machine cannot make color copies.
New policy effective January 1, 2015
In order to protect one-of-a-kind collections, those who wish to use manuscripts & rare books must apply for a Scholar Pass and present a valid picture ID
Pictures, microfilm, atlases, card files, and ordinary books do not require a Scholar Pass
Application and guidelines are online here: http://tinyurl.com/scholarpass
Search FRANK before your visit
http://tinyurl.com/frank-catalog Find Resources And New Knowledge. A searchable
online catalog of 27,000 books & manuscripts in our collection
In your search results, books are indicated by blue icons, manuscripts by red icons
To use manuscripts, you must apply for a Scholar Pass
NewYorkHeritage.org
Explore unique digital collections from us & similar institutions, including:
War of 1812 documents Crystal Beach photographs Buffalo address books
WorldCat.org
Consider it Google for the offline world
A free database listing 1 billion offline items in thousands of libraries, including us!
Books, newspapers, videos, films, sound recordings, archival collections, etc.
We suggest the Advanced Search
A Few Things We Cannot Do
We cannot set things aside for you in advance We are not qualified to draw genealogical
conclusions or find your ancestors for you We cannot provide open-ended research on a list
of names or “fill in gaps” in your family tree We cannot appraise or advise you on the market
value of your books or other collectibles We cannot scan and send collections
What We Can Do
Search for obituaries: http://tinyurl.com/TBHM-obitrequest
Retrieve books, etc., upon arrival Mail photocopies from items that can withstand
photocopying: $10 for the first 1-20 copies, $.50/page thereafter
Lend newspaper & other microfilm through interlibrary loan
Answer “How do I find…?” questions Suggest avenues for research
More About What We Have
Our online collections Our offline collections
Contact us
Email: library@buffalohistory.org Voice: (716) 873-9644 x 306 For best results, call Wednesdays through Saturdays,
1-5 pm
We look forward to your visit!
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