Research
Library
RCHS manages and administers the largest local history
library, archives and research center in Rensselaer County. These
collections, comprising more than 30,000 items, are the fastest-growing
and most well-used collections at RCHS.
The Rensselaer County Historical Research Library
is open
Tuesday - Saturday from 12:00pm to 5:00pm, February - December
23.
Members of the Historical Society and students with a valid I.D.
receive free admission.
A fee of $5.00 a day is charged to use the research library.
See the Visitor Information
page for more details.
The RCHS library and archives serve researchers
through visits to its reading room, and by mail, e-mail and telephone.
For researchers requesting information by mail and telephone,
there is a fee of $25 per request. Please include your full postal
address when inquiring by e-mail
(research@rchsonline.org)
so that we can send you the appropriate forms. Photocopying and
copystand work is also available for a fee.
Finding Aids to the
Archival Collection
RCHS has several finding aids to the archival collection.
These can be viewed by
clicking here. More will be added as they become available.
Brief Index to
Historical Records at RCHS
Primary Sources -
18th - 20th centuries
- Diaries
- Letters
- Scrapbooks
- Business Records
- Ephemera
Secondary Sources - 19th
and 20th centuries
- City Directories
- County Histories
- Family Histories
- Labor History
- Social History
- Town and Village Histories
Maps/Atlases - early 19th
century - 1990
- 19th and 20th century maps of towns - a printed
guide exists to this collection
- Sanborn Maps: 1903 - 1914, 1942, 1954
Photographs
19th and 20th centuries, representing various photographic
processes
- Aerial Views
- Agriculture
- Animals
- Architecture: churches, commercial buildings,
monuments, residences, schools, social and civic buildings,
street scenes, details. Click
here for information on local architecture.
- Cemeteries
- Disasters: blizzards, floods and fires
- Foreign Locations
- Group Portraits
- Individual Portraits
- Landscapes
- Objects: Burden Water Wheel, equipment, commercial
products, plaques and trophies
- Panoramic Views
- Parades
- Recreation and Sports
- Special Events
- Transportation: air, land, water
- Waterways and Bridges
Special Collections
- Cluett, Peabody &
Co. Papers, Troy, NY
- Congressman Dean P. Taylor Papers
- Organizational Papers such as Troy Chromatics,
Thursday Morning Club, Troy Day Home
- Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing Papers
- Hart Family Papers (owners of the Hart-Cluett
Mansion)
- Papers of Rensselaer County families
- Cable Flax Mill Papers, Schaghticoke, NY
- Burden Iron Company
Papers, Troy, NY
- Marshall Mills Papers, Troy, NY
Other local repositories
with special local history collections:
Troy Public Library
100 Second Street
Troy, New York 12180
274-7071
Emma Willard School Archives, Troy
274-4440
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Archives,
Troy
276-8340
Russell Sage College Archives, Troy
270-2249
There are also many records still in the hands of
local businesses, organizations, clubs, churches and individuals.
Other links:
National
Archives
Federal
Census Information (1790-1850)
Joseph
Melvin Leonard Camp #168
Cohoes,NY
Sons Of Spanish American War Veterans
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