planning your first visit to the research library
TRANSCRIPT
Planning Your First Visit
to the
Research Library
Research Library
The Buffalo History Museum
1 Museum Court
Buffalo, NY 14216
We’re a National Historic Landmark
• Founded in 1862 as the Buffalo Historical Society
• Building designed by George Cary in 1900
• Expanded our name in 1960 to the Buffalo & Erie
County Historical Society
• Shortened our name in 2012 to The 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
Admission
• Free to Museum members and U.S. veterans
• Students & seniors: $5.00
• All others: $10.00
• Because of the irreplaceability and fragility of
library materials, children under 12 are strongly
encouraged to take advantage of the public library
• We encourage parents & teachers to bring children
to museum exhibits and programs instead.
Hours
• Library hours are Wednesdays through
Saturdays, 1-5 pm
• Plus Wednesday evenings, 6-8 pm
• No appointments necessary
• Professional librarians are always on duty to help
you find what you need
Visiting when we are closed? We suggest trying
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
• 3,000 manuscript collections
• 6,000 postcards
• Extensive Vertical/Pamphlet File
• 23-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
• House plans with a couple dozen exceptions
• Passenger lists or 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 stored in
our mini-lockers 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, address, email or phone
number, and what you’re researching
• Sign-in is done via touch-screen tablet computer
• 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 walk
• The Museum does not have an on-site café
• Your snacks & beverages can be enjoyed in the State
Court
Please silence phones and take
calls outside of the library
What about cameras?
Please do take pictures of museum buildings, interiors,
exhibits, grounds, programs, and events!
And post them on social media with #BuffaloHistory
What about cameras?
Please do not take pictures of library items until
you check with librarians. We limit picture-taking
of:
• Manuscripts
• Photographs
• Other library users
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 & tablets welcome!
• Two microfilm reader-printers, $.25/page.
• One microfilm reader-printer-scanner. Please bring a USB
travel drive to save your scans.
• Photocopies made only by staff, $.25 each. Our machine
cannot make color copies, just black & white.
Our Most Popular Tool
Screening Process for
Manuscripts & Rare Books
• 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 photo
ID upon arrival
• 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 28,000 books & manuscripts in our collection
• In your search results, books are indicated by blue icons;
manuscripts by red icons & hyphens in call numbers (like
A68-123).
• You can save items to the Clipboard & print out a list
NewYorkHeritage.org
Explore unique digital collections from us & peer
institutions, including:
• War of 1812 documents
• Crystal Beach photographs
• Buffalo address books
More Library collections online here:
• http://buffalohistory.org/Learn/Research-
Library/Digitized-Materials.aspx
WorldCat.org
• Consider it Google for
the offline world
• Free database listing 1 billion
offline items in thousands of
libraries, including us!
• Lists books, newspapers,
videos, films, sound
recordings, archival
collections, etc.
• We suggest trying the
Advanced Search
A Few Things We Cannot Do
• We do not have enough space to pull things for you
in advance
• We cannot draw genealogical conclusions or
find your ancestors for you
• We cannot appraise or advise you on the
market value of your books & collectibles
• We cannot scan and email books or 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 (ILL)
• Answer “How do I find…?” questions
• Suggest strategies & get out items that may
answer your questions
Contact us
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (716) 873-9644 x 305
For best results, call Wednesdays through Saturdays,
1-5 pm
We look forward
to your visit!