Archival Finding Aids for Manuscript Collections at the New-York Historical Society

Archival Finding Aids are detailed guides to the contents and intellectual organization of a repository's archival and manuscript collections. The finding aids posted here in alphabetical order describe selected collections in the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library's Manuscript department. For information on how to consult the actual collections, please follow this link to the Klingenstein Library

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Alphabetical Listing of Archival Finding Aids for the  Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections at the New-York Historical Society

Finding Aids are detailed guides to the scope and content of archival collections. The finding aids posted here are ordered alphabetically; additional finding aids are available for consultation in the Reading Room. For further assistance contact the reference librarian for these collections.

Some collections have been catalogued at the item level; where available, a link to that item level database is provided.

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We ask that students at the high school level or younger visit the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library with an adult, such as a teacher or parent, and that the teacher or parent call ahead to discuss briefly the nature of the student's project with a reference librarian. The Klingenstein Library's research collections are not geared primarily to school history projects and students should undertake secondary source research prior to visiting this library. Please contact the Education Department if you're a school teacher and would like to bring your class to the New-York Historical Society.

Teachers of college and graduate school classes who would like to schedule a class visit to the Klingenstein Library should contact Nina Nazionale at nnazionale@nyhistory.org

The Patricia D. Klingenstein library offers reference service by mail, e-mail and fax for those unable to visit the Library. There is no charge for this service. We do ask, however, that our correspondents keep in mind that the reference staff is small and those answering letters are also providing on-site and telephone reference assistance. For this reason, please limit the number of questions asked in each letter and be as specific as possible.
Reference queries are answered in the order in which they are received, regardless of format. Those e-mailing or faxing, as well as those writing letters, should expect a response within three to four weeks. One or two photocopies are often included as part of the response to a reference question, so those contacting us by e-mail should be sure to include their full mailing address, so that we have the option of mailing attachments. One or two photocopies are included with each reply free of charge. For more information about ordering photocopies, see the photocopying section below.

Click here for mail, e-mail and fax contact information.
 

We ask that students at the high-school level or younger visit the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library with an adult, such as a teacher or parent, and that the teacher or parent call ahead to discuss briefly the nature of the student's project with a reference librarian. The Klingenstein Library's research collections are not geared primarily to school history projects and students should undertake secondary source research prior to visiting this library. Please contact the Education Department if you're a schoolteacher and would like to bring your class to the New-York Historical Society.
Teachers of college and graduate-school classes who would like to schedule a class visit to the Klingenstein Library should contact Nina Nazionale at nnazionale@nyhistory.org.
 

Card catalogs available in the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library's reading room provide access to portions of the manuscript collections not yet included in the Klingenstein Library's online catalog. Separate card catalogs also exist for the newspaper and sheet music collections. Also available on-site are non-electronic finding aids, a published guide to the manuscript collection, and printed inventories of circus ephemera, church records and extensive vertical files.

Finding aids provide descriptive details about manuscript and graphic collections. All of these finding aids can be searched through a full-text searchable database. More search options are available for a small group of graphic collections.