Cornell University Library

United States New York Archives and LibrariesCornell University Library

Cornell University Library Olin Library, with McGraw Tower in back, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Contact Information E-mail:  www.library.cornell.edu/ask/email Address: 201 Olin Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Telephone: (607) 255-3393 Fax: (607) 255-6788 Hours and holidays: Library hours correspond to the University semesters. Winter Library Hours. Library Spring Hours. Library Summer Hours. Library Fall Hours. Directions, maps, and public transportation: One map showing all libraries. Scroll down to bottom of screen to see one map showing locations of all the libraries. Individual Map for each of the Libraries. Directions, and public transportation Parking Internet sites and databases: Cornell University Library Internet site-Home: Libraries; Library Services; Hours and Maps; Articles; Ebooks; Databases; Research Help; Library Services; Search for books, journals, and more at Cornell and libraries worldwide; FAQs; Renew books. Cornell University Library Online Catalog and in WorldCat. Has a keyword, title, author, and subject search. Cornell University Library Databases Biographies, Newspapers, History, Geography, Maps Collection Description Cornell University has a large collection of Protestant church records for western New York as well as an excellent collection of histories, maps, newspapers, and New York censuses. Rare books and manuscripts are outstanding, and they publish the best research guides to New York counties. Collection Overview Gateway to one of the largest libraries in the world, including online search features and access to linked databases and websites for the Cornell community.  The Cornell University Library's collections encompass a rich and varied universe of printed volumes, digital resources, maps, media, and archival materials. Tips Finding Articles Tips To find articles on specific topics, start with an article database that covers many subject areas. Guides Subject Guides Alternate Repositories If you cannot visit or find a source at the Cornell University Library, a similar source may be available at one of the following. Overlapping Collections National Archives at New York City, has Holland Land Company deeds, federal censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty land, photos, passenger indexes, New York port records, naturalizations, inventions. New York Public Library, NYC, has one of the best genealogy collections in the USA, including Revolutionary War soldiers and Irish research. The Genealogy Division has an outstanding collection of American history at national, state and local levels; international genealogy and heraldry in Roman alphabets; Dorot Jewish collection; photos; New York censuses, directories, vital records, and the Holland Land Company deeds. Similar Collections SUNY Fredonia Reed Library preserves most of the original deeds of the Holland Land Company in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. Neighboring Collections Tompkins County Health Vital Records, Ithaca, births for at least 75 years, and deaths for at least 50 years. Tompkins County Clerk, Ithaca, marriages 1908-1935, divorces, court records, and land records since 1817. (Town clerks also have marriage records.) Tompkins County Surrogate's Court, Ithaca, has probate records since 1817. The History Center in Tompkins County, Ithaca, manuscripts, 4000 books, 2000 genealogical files, maps, photos, obituaries, cemetery transcripts, censuses, city directories, local histories, and finding aids. Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca, newspapers, censuses, online genealogy subscriptions, handbooks, yearbooks, and directories. U.S. District Court Northern District of New York has recent civil, criminal, and bankruptcy cases for Tompkins County. Ithaca New York Family History Center has premium online services for free, offers research suggestions, and can order microfilms from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Repositories in surrounding counties: Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Schuyler, Seneca, and Tioga. Albany Institute of History and Art with the best indexes and colonial Albany records of the 1600s. Archives of the Archdiocese of New York, Yonkers, includes parish register births, confirmations, marriages, and deaths, school records, and leadership papers. Bronx County Historical Society has a large manuscript collection, biographical files, family folders, obituaries, cemetery transcripts, city directories, and marriages. Brooklyn Historical Society includes finding aids and collections guides to archives, manuscripts, oral histories, photographs, paintings, oral history database, and maps. They have sources for New England immigrants to Long Island, NY. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a good collection with good indexes including biographies, family folders, county and local histories for all of New York. Children's Aid Society, NYC, an institution which from 1853-1930 sent children on orphan trains to homes in other parts of America and Canada. The New-York Historical Society has most of the CAS archival records. Historic Hudson Valley Library, Tarrytown, has unique early Hudson River migration sources such as steamboats, industries, and culture. Holland Society of New York, NYC, has 7,000 New Netherland family and local history books, Dutch Reformed Church records. Good collection for other ethnic groups along the Atlantic coast. Huguenot Society of America, NYC, open by appointment: history, settlement, genealogy, biography, theology. They have the largest Huguenot collection outside London, including 1600s records of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and colonial America. Leo Baeck Institute, NYC, preserves family and community histories about Jews in German speaking countries. Montgomery County Department of History and Archives, early Montgomery (formerly Tryon) County had jurisdiction over much of upstate New York. These archives have an extensive genealogy section. New York City Department of Records has New York City (all five boroughs) earlier births, marriages, and deaths; the 1890 Manhattan police census; city directories; voter registrations; almshouse records; and municipal government records. New York City Municipal Reference and Research Center can provide street name origins, city council minutes, serials, books, and 400,000 documents focused on the history of New York City. New York Foundling Hospital, NYC, an orphan train sending institution, can do records research for close relatives only. NYHS houses some of their records. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, NYC, has donated their collection to the New York Public Library. NYG&BS now offers educational programs, publications, and digital communication. New-York Historical Society, NYC, houses the Children's Aid Society archives, and some New York Foundling Hospital records, both orphan train sending institutions, as well as has the largest manuscript collection in New York State, many town records, colonial records, newspapers, periodicals, biographies, histories, directories, maps, photos. New York State Archives, Albany, has manuscripts, vital record indexes, land grants, maps, military, court, alien depositions, prisoners, Erie Canal passenger lists, wills, estates, and state censuses. New York State Library, Albany, has local histories, genealogies, atlases, church, cemetery (including DAR), city directories, microfilmed newspapers, censuses, passenger lists, periodicals, and copies of the Holland Land Company deeds. Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, has the best collection of family folders (10,000) on the East Coast Queens Historical Society, Flushing, This large facility has many indexes to biographical and historical sources in their collection. Staten Island Historical Society is the best place for Staten Island research. Because many immigrants settled there, they have a strong immigration collection. Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, has a good collection of indexes to biographies, genealogies, family folders, books, periodicals, and manuscripts. Vital Records Section of the New York State Department of Health, Menands, NY, for outside New York City births and deaths (1881-present), and marriage licenses (1880-present). Also, all divorces since 1963. Repositories in surrounding states (or provinces): Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, and Vermont. Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, and collections of manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, and published material, strong in North America and New York (such as the Holland Land Company deeds), the British Isles, and German sources. New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Boston, Massachusetts, is national in scope. Over 100 million name database, of vital records, genealogies, journals, over 200,000 books, 100,000 microfilms, and over 20 million manuscripts with emphasis on New England and a good New York collection since the 1600s. Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam Municipal Archives in the Netherlands) Some of the earliest New York (New Netherland) records are also stored here. Also, the earliest European New York settlers often lived in Amsterdam before their move to the New World. Includes the Holland Land Company 1801-1840 deeds from western New York state, and northwestern Pennsylvania. Sources