The current building and a plaque commemorating the original Erie County courthouse built on the same parcel
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is located on Lafayette Square, Buffalo, New York, United States. The current facility, designed by Kideney Architects and built in 1964, replaced the original Cyrus Eidlitz Buffalo Public Library Building dedicated in February 1887.[1] The first Buffalo Public Library, in turn, replaced the Erie County, New York courthouse, which occupied the parcel from 1816-1876.[1][2]
Founded ca. 1835 as the Young Men's Association (not to be confused with YMCA), prominent members included Mark Twain, who was the editor of the Buffalo Express from 1869-1871. The Young Men's Association was a private subscription library, meaning that paid membership was required in order to borrow books. In 1883, the Association began a fund-raising campaign for a new building and held an architectural competition, which culminated in Eidlitz's 1887 design. Upon completion, the Association turned over its collections to the citizens of Buffalo and the Buffalo Public Library was born, with no requirement for dues or membership.[3]
Significant library collections include the original, hand-written manuscript of Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which Twain donated to the library in 1885; and the Milestones of Science, a collection of first editions announcing major advancements in Western science.[5]
Institutional services
The Institutional Services Division provides library services in three Erie County institutions.
Home Branch Library: Begun in 1956 with only a few books, this library at the Erie County Home has evolved dramatically. Users can now enjoy typical branch services as well as use the program room for coffee hour, old-time radio programs, read-alouds and travel club programs. Magnifying bars, book supports, tape-players, slides, slideviewers and electronic magnifiers are available for those needing special accommodations. Collections such as large print, video and audio cassettes create a warm place to find information or just sit and talk to a friend. For those unable to come to this library, room-to-room cart service to residents is provided.
Correctional Facility Library: This library located within the Erie County Correctional Facility contains both a law library and a general public library. Constructed in 1986, this 7,500-square-foot (700m2) library was the first to be built as a core or focal point of a Correctional Facility. Its general collection contains over 8,000 books for inmates' educational and recreational purposes, and 1,000 square feet (93m2) of the library is set aside to house a legal collection of over 4,000 volumes. Computers are available to inmates for their legal work.
Holding Center Library: Begun in 1969 as cart service to cells, this library has grown to encompass a new facility with both a legal collection and a general library. Residents can borrow all types of materials from adventure fiction to religious non-fiction and use a large legal collection while awaiting trial.
The Center for Afro-American History and Research: The Center for Afro-American History and Research is the largest resource center in Western New York for information on African-American history and is located at Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library. The reference collection includes books, microfilm and pictures with its emphasis on primary source material related to African-American history in Western New York. The "Buffalo Afro-American Collection" is a microfilmed collection, which contains the records of many local organizations as well as the personal papers of community leaders. Records include Urban League, BUILD papers, Bethel A.M.E. Church, First Shiloh, Raphael DuBard's papers and more.
Collection for Persons with Disabilities: For individuals with visual impairments, Niagara Frontier Radio reading service receivers, talking books, print-braille books for children, DVDs with descriptive narration and large print books are available. A Stand Alone Reading Appliance (SARA)reader, PC workstation with ZoomText Reader 10 software, NVDA screenreader software and table top magnifier are available for public use. For individuals with hearing impairment, a Sorenson Videophone SVR is available for use by ASL communicators. Assisive listening devices are available for use in the Damon O. Mason Auditorium and at the Ring of Knowledge located on the first floor.
Grosvenor Room: Genealogy, Music, Rare Books: [Pronounced GROVE-ner] This department of Central Library, opened in 1994 as the Special Collections Department, brings together the library's extensive genealogy and local history materials. The Grosvenor Room includes family histories; general and ethnic genealogical research manuals; vital records indexes; passenger lists indexes; church and cemetery records; surname dictionaries; local histories; military rosters; heraldry and family crest dictionaries; and directories of all kinds. In 1995, the Department became the home of the collection of the Western New York Genealogical Society, the region's oldest and largest genealogy organization. Materials from most Grosvenor Room collections are for in-library use only and cannot be borrowed.
Mark Twain Room: This special exhibition room at the Central Library is the home of Twain's original handwritten manuscript, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain was a briefly a member of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library's predecessor, the Young Men's Association, and donated the manuscript of what is considered by many to be the greatest American novel. In 1885, Twain sent the second half of Huckleberry Finn, believing the first half had been lost by a printer. In 1991, the missing portion of the manuscript turned up in a small steamer trunk in a Los Angeles attic. It was among the possessions of descendants of James Fraser Gluck, a curator of the Buffalo Library who had requested the manuscript from Twain a century earlier. Eventually, Twain mailed the missing half of the manuscript to Gluck, but Gluck, who apparently took it to have it bound, died with it among his belongings in 1897. After gaining possession, the B&ECPL united the manuscript in 1992 for the first time in over a century. This priceless literary masterpiece is showcased in the heart of the Twain room.
The Mark Twain Room also houses an antique walnut mantel from the now-demolished Delaware Avenue home where Mark Twain lived during his short newspaper career in Buffalo. A framed oil portrait of Twain hangs prominently above this scrupulously restored hardwood mantel. Norman Rockwell prints from a 1940 edition of Huckleberry Finn enhance the walls on either side. Two bookcases feature hundreds of Twain publications, including many first editions and many in foreign languages. The Mark Twain Room is open during normal Central Library hours of operation.
May 14th Community Collecting Initiative
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is collecting, documenting and preserving an intentional and authentic record of the 2022 Buffalo shooting. This collection work will include, but is not limited to, oral history recordings and the preservation of mementos that will create a repository of collective memory. [6]
A Coalition of professionals, survivors, and the community working to document the tragedy includes Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, The Buffalo History Museum, Buffalo State University, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Canisius University, Darwin D. Martin House, Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, The Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department, Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women, victims’ family members, survivors, and broader community members. [7]
↑ Rooney, Paul M. (1978). "Walter Lewis Brown," pp. 65-66. In Dictionary of American Library Biography, eds. Bobinski. George S.; Jesse Hauk Shera and Bohdan S Wynar. 1978. Littleton Colo: Libraries Unlimited.
↑ Walters, Daniel and Petty, Mary E. "The Milestones of Science Collection: The Public Library and the Conservation of Cultural Heritage." Libraries & Culture (1999), v. 34 no.3: 262-276 "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2008-11-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885.
Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie were named for the regional Iroquoian language-speaking Erie tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the area before 1654. They were later pushed out by the more powerful Iroquoian nations tribes.
Amherst is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. It is the 14th most populated City/Town in New York.
Williamsville is a village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 5,423 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Jonas Williams, an early settler. It is part of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area.
Cheektowaga is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town has grown to a population of 89,877. The town is in the north-central part of the county, and is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. The town is the second-largest suburb of Buffalo, after the Town of Amherst.
Interstate 290 (I-290) is a 9.8-mile-long (15.8 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It connects I-190 in Tonawanda with I-90 in Williamsville, via Amherst. It provides a route to Niagara Falls and Canada from the east that bypasses the city of Buffalo. I-290 also connects to I-990 and, through this connection, provides access to the Amherst campus of the University at Buffalo. Its official name is the Youngmann Memorial Highway, but, locally, it is colloquially referred to as "the 290" and "the Youngmann". The highway provides the fastest road link between Toronto and the heavily populated Northeastern US via I-90.
Church is a Buffalo Metro Rail station located in the 300 block of Main Street in the Free Fare Zone, which allows passengers free travel between Erie Canal Harbor and Fountain Plaza. Passengers continuing northbound past Fountain Plaza are required to have proof-of-payment. Church is the closest to the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center, located two blocks east at Ellicott and North Division Streets.
Lafayette Square is a Buffalo Metro Rail station near City Hall and is near the center of the Buffalo Central Business District at Lafayette Square located in the 400 block of Main Street in the Free Fare Zone, which allows passengers free travel between Erie Canal Harbor station and Fountain Plaza station. Passengers continuing northbound past Fountain Plaza are required to have proof-of-payment. Lafayette Square station is the closest to the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, located one block east at Washington and Clinton Streets. On February 28, 2019, The Buffalo News announced that Evans Bank, which opened its downtown headquarters in the Main-Court Building the previous October, bought the naming rights to the station for nearly $161,000 for five years and nearly $352,000 if extended to 10 years.
Amherst State Park is an 80-acre (0.32 km2) park in Erie County, New York, United States. The park is located northeast of Buffalo, partially in the Village of Williamsville with the balance located in the Town of Amherst. The park is managed by the Town of Amherst under an agreement with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Ellicott Creek is a stream in Western New York, United States. It is a tributary of Tonawanda Creek, which in turn flows into the Niagara River.
New York State Route 324 (NY 324) is an east–west state highway located in the western portion of New York in the United States. Officially, NY 324 begins at NY 384 in Niagara Falls and overlaps Interstate 190 south to Grand Island, where it separates from I-190 and continues southward as Grand Island Boulevard. As signed, however, NY 324 begins at the southern end of the official overlap and is contained entirely within Erie County. At the southern edge of Grand Island, NY 324 joins I-190 to cross over to the mainland, where it runs due east across three towns before reaching its eastern end at a junction with NY 5 in the town of Clarence.
Kevin P. Gaughan is an attorney and an advocate of government reform, in particular for the establishment of regional government and regional consciousness within the Buffalo-Niagara region, which encompasses the cities of Buffalo, New York and Niagara Falls, New York, their suburbs and surrounding rural areas.
Since the Buffalo Metro Rail light rail was proposed in the 1970s, there have been multiple proposals for expanding the system, which is currently a single 6.4-mile (10.3 km) long line. Public officials, agencies and advocacy groups have created plans, with the most recent and extensive being an extension to the town of Amherst. Groups have formed on both sides of the issue.
Snyder is a hamlet within the town of Amherst in Erie County, New York, that is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The hamlet was established in 1837. It was named for Michael Snyder, its first postmaster, who also operated a store at the corner of Harlem Road, which is also known as New York State Route 240, and Main Street, which is also known as New York State Route 5. The hamlet blossomed due to retail activity demand created along the Main Street transportation route between Buffalo and points to the east in the 19th and early 20th century.
Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve is located near the city of Buffalo in the Town of Cheektowaga in Erie County, New York, USA. Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve is a 292-acre (118 ha) forested complex that also includes wetlands and ponds, located within a developed suburban area. The nature preserve also features an environmental education center.
Bee Group Newspapers are a family of suburban newspapers published in Western New York by Bee Publishing, Incorporated, of Williamsville. The forerunner of the corporation began in 1877 with the founding of the Lancaster Bee. Bee Group Newspapers publishes newspapers for Erie County, New York, targeting towns, villages, and school districts. The weekly readership is 175,672. All papers include local government news, their award-winning classified sections, and special themed sections produced throughout the year. Bee Group Newspapers are members of the New York Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. The Amherst Bee and Cheektowaga Bee are still paid circulation newspapers that are mail-delivered weekly to subscribers.
Entranceway at Main Street at Roycroft Boulevard is a suburban residential subdivision entranceway built in 1918. It is on Main Street in the hamlet of Snyder, New York, in the town of Amherst within Erie County. The entranceway is a marker that represents the American suburbanization of rural areas, suburbanization that occurred through transportation-related land development on the edges of urban areas. It consists of a variety of half-height wall formations, featuring a semicircular wall on the Roycroft Boulevard median's intersection with Main Street. The entranceway was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 7, 2005.
Eggertsville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Amherst in Erie County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 15,019 at the 2010 census.
Josephus Nelson Larned was an American newspaper editor, author, librarian, and historian. As superintendent of the Young Men's Association Library, he presided over its transformation into what is now the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.
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