Posts from the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy

If you find yourself with time on your hands at home right now, it might be the perfect time to undertake a genealogy project.

The long tradition of private efforts to protect the public’s health.

These stories illuminate how the census is used and shapes our country.

Primary documents, historical newspapers, court records, manuscript collections and much more.

Many of the resources you'll need are available online, so you don’t have to wait to get started.

The Milstein Division is a treasure trove for local history researchers.

As part of our series on researchers who use NYPL collections for their work, we interview an NYU student about his favorite Library spaces, places to work, and even lunch choices.

On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution became official. On paper, every American woman had the right to vote.

Visiting New York City and want to look for records of your ancestors at The NYPL? With these fantastic online resources, you can start your research at home and continue after your trip - so, after your Library visit, you can spend more time seeing more our city!

For over 130 years, the Brooklyn Bridge has been an icon of the New York City landscape—longer if you account for the 13 years required to construct it. This beloved connection between boroughs is still in use while many of its contemporaries have been replaced or dismantled worldwide.

In 1890, New York City Mayor Hugh Grant believed the recent federal census undercounted the city's population. Local pressure from Tammany Hall and the potential loss of seats in Congress spurred the mayor to deploy the NYPD to conduct its own enumeration of NYC, which results tallied 200,000 more New Yorkers. Some defended the authenticity of the police census - others called it fraud.

Looking for your family history? Wanting to find your ancestors? Consulting a genealogy research guide will almost certainly save you time, effort, and frustration. Check out our recommended how-to books and references, and start finding what you're looking for.

Did you know the Library is home to 433,000 sheet maps, and 20,000 books and atlases published between the 16th and 21st centuries? In the first of this five-part series, we review the various ways genealogists can use these maps in their research.

Born of necessity, fire insurance maps can be used with other sources to create family histories with color and context. Find out more in this second part of our five-part series of genealogy research.

Determining an ancestor's place of origin, and how they arrived in the U.S., is one of the engaging aspects of genealogy research. In this 3rd part of our five-part series, see the role that maps play in that research and follow the story of one immigrant family from Northern Italy to Iron Belt, Wisconsin.

Discover how topography can help inform your research, creating a powerful narrative that can bring the past to life. Part 4 of our five-part series.

We wrap up our five-part series with a look at the importance of gazetteers in your genealogical search, and a summary detailing how to find the maps at NYPL.

From wayward Thanksgiving parade balloons to masked trick-or-treating, here are some New York City Thanksgiving-time traditions we bet you didn't know about.

Autumn in New York City brings the annual celebration of the Big Apple's buildings, Archtober. This year's Building of the Day list includes The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, among others, and this post invites readers to explore five sites' history and design through NYPL resources.