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Planning Your First Visit
to the
Research Library
Research Library
The Buffalo History Museum
1 Museum Court
Buffalo, NY 14216
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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• 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
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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?
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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Please silence phones and take
calls outside of the library
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What about cameras?
Please do take pictures of museum buildings, interiors,
exhibits, grounds, programs, and events!
And post them on social media with #BuffaloHistory
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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
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New! Museum Quality Reproductions
• Order online at BuffaloHistoryStore.org
• Custom archival prints of Buffalo scenes for
home or office decor
• Great gift idea
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Pencils only. We have lots!
This prevents accidental ink
marks on irreplaceable items.
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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.
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Our Most Popular Tool
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Contact us
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (716) 873-9644 x 305
For best results, call Wednesdays through Saturdays,
1-5 pm
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We look forward
to your visit!