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

¿Eres Boricua? ¿Te preguntas cómo encontrar a tus antepasados? La División de Historia de los Estados Unidos, Historia Local y Genealogía de Irma y Paul Milstein se complace en anunciar el lanzamiento de nuestra nueva guía de investigación: Puerto Rico Genealogy.

¿Eres Boricua? Are you Puerto Rican? Wondering how to find your roots? We're happy to announce the launch of our latest research guide.

The influence of the New York City tenement is layered upon the city much like the apartments themselves are layered atop each other. Get a comprehensive look, including tenement history and research sources.

When used wisely, family histories lend incredible color and context to the past for any budding genealogist.

The NYC subject clippings collection in the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy includes a small, supernatural file.

Archtober is an annual month-long celebration of New York City's built environment, with thirty-one "building of the day" sites. Here are seven locations that archi-lovers can explore any day of the year, using materials at NYPL.

Genealogy and local history research is not often headline-making news, but resources in The New York Public Library's Milstein Division are highly relevant to controversies currently flashing big across the news ticker.

Once genealogy hobbyists get hooked, they often encounter a few surprises in their research.

What's Open House New York? It's an invitation to explore the city. Every October, the five boroughs open up for the annual weekend—this year on October 14 and 15, with over 200 buildings and projects. Can't make it? In honor of the festival's fifteenth anniversary, I selected seventeen long-time participants you can explore more through NYPL resources.

Interested in learning more about New York's role, and the early battles of the American Revolution? Inspired by Hamilton?

Researchers will often ask librarians in the Milstein Division about where to find historical “police records.” If a researcher is looking for an individual who was in law enforcement, The City Record might be a helpful resource.

To keep the spirit of adventure and travel going all month long, a look into the Writers' Project Series of American Guide books, published in the 1930s-1940s and available from The New York Public Library and online.

May is Preservation Month! I know, there are only a few days left, but you can celebrate Preservation Month all year long with great books and other resources from The New York Public Library.

The Library has a number of items that highlight the development and presence of synagogues in New York City, including at least one photographic collection wherein Beth Hamedrash Hagodol features prominently. This post pays tribute to the building, with a short history, and a view back to better days.

Architectural historian and New York Times columnist Christopher Gray died last week. He was 66. Milstein Division librarians took a moment to reflect on Gray's work, and his impact on the written history of New York City and research of its built environment.

Try your hand at research at the Schwarzman Building at 42nd Street, and be amazed at what you can learn—about your own family. Just ask Jennifer Maston, who took a course on African-American genealogy and came away with more than she expected.

History is often subject to an arrogant and belabored information literacy.

An interview with John Keene: a writer-in-residence in the Library’s Wertheim Study in 2013, where he researched and wrote Counternarratives, for which he received an American Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award in Fiction in 2016.

New York Public Library is digitizing its collection of New York City Directories, 1786 through 1922/3, serving them free through the NYPL Digital Collections portal. The first batch—1849/50 through 1923—have already been scanned, and the 1786–1848/9 directories are right now being scanned. The whole collection will be going online over the coming months.