New York

Discover you family history through historical newspapers at Newspapers.com

New York

The New York State Archives, like the state itself, is a large, sprawling, diverse landscape, with many wonders to behold. But it's easy to get lost.

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Discover you family history through historical newspapers at Newspapers.com

To travel through the Archives, you might start your journey with the Archives' Digital Collections, which are arranged by Topics:

  • Business and Labor
  • Environment & Landscape
  • Legal
  • Military
  • People, Groups, & Cultures
  • Politics
  • Transportation

A few favorites here are:

You genealogical types can search for family members and other individual people in a large name index. This is one-stop searching on a large number of databases, including (for example):

  • Auditor Certificates Submitted by Disabled Revolutionary War Veterans Claiming Pensions and Audited Accounts of Pensions
  • Attica Correctional Facility inmate case files
  • Military Patents
  • Engineer and Surveyor Records of Surveys and Maps of State Lands

There are some Archive Exhibits online:

America's Civil War

Website gallery comprised of historical photos and documents from America's Civil War.

Erie Canal Time Machine

Web resource that examines the Erie Canal from its opening in 1825 to the creation of the Barge Canal System in 1918.

Global History and Geography

Historical images showing people and places as they appeared in the early twentieth century.

Electronic Schoolhouse/La Escuela ElectrĂłnica

Bilingual resource focusing on Latino history and culture in New York State. Includes lesson plans for teachers.

Legacies Project

Web resource that explores the history of Chinese and Latino populations throughout New York State. Includes lesson plans for teachers.

New York's Electoral College

Historical documents illustrate the Electoral College from the general election in November to the meeting of electors in December.

Throughout the Ages

Historical documents illustrate New York, U.S., and World History through a variety of topics. Includes lesson plans for teachers.

I also suggest you stop off at Excelsior, the main catalog of the New York State Library/Archives/Museum. Note that there are several search options here, including one for Archives, a separate one for Digital Collections, and yet another for the Historical Documents Inventory. I think you can get all online materials at once by clicking Search Entire Catalog, then Power Search, and then use the Location pull-down to select Online.

Simple, eh?

More historical archives and research materials can be found at these excellent resources:

Historical Newspaper Archives

Intelius - Public Records Information