Ariel Riger-Aberg's piece on Ardmore Place

A four-part series

Visiting an archives has something in common with using any public service. In each interaction with a service or a staff person, you’re seeing the small tip of a very large iceberg. Behind-the-sce...

Today on the blog we’re tackling one of our most frequently asked questions: "Why don’t you digitize everything?" and its related runner-up, “When will you be putting all your records on the web?”

Searchable guides to letters, diaries, personal papers, company records & other one-of-a-kind archival stuff in repositories across NY State.

What kind of archival records exist and who has them

Explains restrictions on state prison records and psychiatric records, which would include patient records from the Buffalo Psychiatric Center (Richardson complex).

An excellent resource for denominational histories, splits, mergers, name changes, etc.

In this video, we will show you how to create a free Ancestry New York account. We will also show you how to access the records that are freely available to ...

A guide prepared by the New York State Archives

This lengthy PDF "describes more than 300 records series comprising approximately 4,000 cubic feet of records. Most of the records described relate to inmates and programs at major correctional facilities and the facilities that preceded them. The records date from 1797 to about 1980, most dating from the 20th century. The majority of records relate to programs at maximum security prisons for male felons, which is the largest segment of the inmate population confined in New York." -New York Corrections Historical Society

A guide produced by John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

A detailed article about the holdings at the U.S. National Archives

This article originally appeared in "Business, Institution, and Organization Records" by Kay Haviland Freilich, CG, CGL, and Ann Carter Fleming, CG, CGL in "The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy."

This 227-page guide to understanding and locating federal court records is online in full text as a PDF.

More advice on where to look

Grownups and kids alike have had a certain fascination with the railroads, and genealogists have a similar desire to know if any of their ancestors played a role in the development of the American railways. Tracking down employment records from the railroad companies can be a serious challenge.

The National Archives explains what the St. Albans Lists are and why there probably isn't a record of your ancestor entering Buffalo from Canada before 1895.

If you have a place name (for example, the place where an ancestor was born) but you're not sure exactly where in New York - or the U.S., or the world - that place is, one of the resources listed here may help you to pinpoint the location. Brought to you by the New York State Library.