White Bros. Livery

The White Bros. Livery & Boarding Stable on Jersey Street, threatened with demolition in 2008, will soon be given new life as apartments.   Built in 1889 and designed by architect Richard Waite, the livery is considered an architectural treasure and a connection to Buffalo’s past.

Waite’s other Buffalo work includes Pierce’s Palace Hotel on Porter Avenue, the German Insurance building in Lafayette Square, the Grosvenor Library (a predecessor of the current Buffalo & Erie County Public Library), the Women’s Union Music Hall, and the New Music Hall of the German Young Men’s Association.

Image source: Buffalo New York: The book of its merchants exchange by Geo. W. Engelhardt. For general circulation through the business community 1896-1897. p.125 (Buffalo Collection F129.B8 E7)

Last weeks for In the Garden…

In the Garden: the Art of Botanical Illustration will close in just a few short weeks on September 26.  Don’t miss it!

The exhibit is on the first floor of the Central Library, and is open Monday to Wednesday, Saturday: 8:30-6; Thursday: 8:30-8; Sunday: 1-5 [after Labor Day].

Next up is The Ideal Book: William Morris and the Kelmscott Press, October 7, 2010 to January 30, 2011.

Birth Information in U.S. Census Records

Did you know that the census can be a valuable resource in determining birth information about your ancestors?  See the summaries below for the details.  You may be surprised about what you can find out!

Birth Information in the 1850-1930 Censuses

Age

• 1850 – 1900 – Children under 1 year old are listed in fractions of twelve.
  • Example:  3 months old = 3/12
• 1850-1930 – List age at last birthday before the census date.
  • May be an estimate
• 1870 – 1880 – Enumerators were instructed to record the month of birth if a child was  born within the year.
• 1900 – States a person’s birth month and year.
• 1910 – Children not 2 years old are listed in complete years and months.
  • Example: 1 year 4 months = 1 4/12
• 1920 & 1930 – Children not 5 are expressed in complete years and months .
  • Example: 3 years 2 months = 3 2/12

Birth Place

• 1850-1930 – Indicate person’s U.S. state or foreign country of birth.
  • Some years required specific foreign states to be listed instead of country.  To find out this information, you can read the instructions to census enumerators found at this site: http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/tEnumInstr.shtml.
• 1850 & 1860 – Some enumerators wrote the exact birthplace instead of U.S. state.
  • A list of these occurrences is in: Your Guide to the Federal Census by Kathleen W.  Hinckley.  GRO REF HA 37 .U6 H556 2002, p. 212.

Other Birth Information

• 1890 – 1910– Mother of how many children and number of children still living .
  • Could lead you to birth, death, church records.
  • Could be a clue to previous marriages.

Birth Information in the 1790-1840 Censuses

•  1790 – Lists number of free white males in age categories.
• 1800-1810 – Lists number of free white males and females in age categories.
• 1820-1840 – Lists in age categories, number of: free white males and females, enslaved males and females, free ‘colored’ males and females (“colored” most likely denotes African Americans, but those of other ethnic groups with a darker skin tone may also be included in this category.)

To see a list of census resources available in the Grosvenor Room, click the following link: Grosvenor Room Census Guides.

Bibliography

Dollarhide, William. The Census Book: A Genealogist’s Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes. Bountiful, Utah: HeritageQuest, 1999. GRO REF HA 214 .D63 1999

Hinckley, Kathleen W. Your Guide to the Federal Census. Cincinnati: Betterway Books, 2002.  GRO REF HA 37 .U6 H556 2002

Minnesota Population Center. Enumerator Instructions. In Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Census Microdata for Social and Economic Research. http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/tEnumInstr.shtml .

The National Archives. In Census Records. http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/census/ .

U.S. Department of Commerce. Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000.  United States: U.S. Department of Commerce, 2002.  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/ma.html.

Gypsy Wagon Bookmobile at Book Arts

Bookartists Peter and Donna Thomas.

Traveling book artists Peter and Donna Thomas have spent the last 4 months traveling across the country teaching bookmaking classes and holding exhibitions.  Next Tuesday, they will be in Buffalo at the WNY Book Arts Center for a free talk.  Afterwards, they will hold a workshop on making “scrolling books,” a technique they invented.

One day I thought to myself, “I love to make books and I love to play the ukulele. Can I put these two loves together? Can I make a book out of a uke?”

Happy Together (2010) Text is the song by the Turtles. A double scrolling structure, with multi-layered color letterpress printing. 2 ¾” x 2 ¾”. 30 copies.

The couple also makes book-themed jewelry. These are hair ornaments.

The Book Arts Center is located at the corner of Mohawk and Washington, 1 block north of the Central Library.  The talk is free, and the workshop is $40.

Source:  Images and caption text from Peter and Donna Thomas’ blog: Adventures of the Wandering Book Artists.

Local Histories in Genealogy Research

Sources that often get overlooked in genealogy research are local histories.  County and town histories can provide important information about our ancestors, lead us to records, and help us get a better picture of our ancestors’ lives.  Here are some examples of the types of information that may be found in local history books and useful to genealogy research:

• Biographies of influential citizens, pioneers,  general family histories
• Vital and related record lists – births, deaths, marriages, taxpayers, property owners, registered voters
• Lists of individuals – government officials, club and society members, church members, professionals, business owners
• Portraits of prominent individuals or families; pictures of homes, buildings, and businesses
• Military rosters
• General name indexes
• Details about what life was like during specific time periods
• Details of what life was like for specific population groups such as ethnic, socio-economic , or for those in certain professions
• Physical description of towns/locations

Local histories are kept in two of our major book collections in the Grosvenor Room.  Our Buffalo Collection houses materials related to Buffalo and Erie County.  The Grosvenor Genealogy Collection includes local histories for areas outside of Erie County.  It includes a significant collection of New York State county and town materials as well as out-of-state sources.

HeritageQuest Online also includes local histories.  HeritageQuest Online is a subscription database available through the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.  The following link gives details about the database, tells how you can access it, and includes user guides: https://www.buffalolib.org/genealogy/genealogy-databases

Local histories can be found in the book section of the database, and the collection includes materials from all across the United States.

Here are some examples of Buffalo and Erie County histories with significant biographical detail:

• Hill, Henry Wayland, ed.  – Municipality of Buffalo: A History. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1923. – Buffalo F129.B8 H54, HeritageQuest Online
•  A History of the City of Buffalo: Its Men and Institutions. Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Evening News, 1908. – Buffalo F129.B8 B75
•  History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County.  Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., 1884. – Buffalo F127.E6 S6, HeritageQuest Online 
• Jackman, Warren. History of the Town of Elma: Erie County, N.Y., 1620-1901. Buffalo, NY: 1902 – Buffalo F129.E85 J2, HeritageQuest Online 
• Fiddler-Woite, Julianna.  Snyder, New York: A Brief History . Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2009. – Buffalo F129.S6935 F53 2009
• Baker, Oneta M. History of the Town of Clarence.  Clarence Center, NY: Diane C. Baker, 1983. – Buffalo F 129.C55 B3
• Briggs, Erasmus. History of the Original Town of Concord, Being the Present Towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins and Sardinia, Erie County, New York.  Camden, ME: Picton Press, 1992. – Buffalo F 129.C72 B8 1992, HeritageQuest Online (1883 edition)

Miniature Books

Circus Wagons (Los Angeles, California: Ten Fingers Press, 1972) by Frank J. Thomas. Copy 46 of 150.

With more than 40,000 items, the Grosvenor Rare Book Room includes numerous and varied holdings in both subject and format.  One of the most fascinating are the more than 300 miniature books held within the collection.  Generally, miniature books must be smaller than 3 inches measured in each direction.  However, some collectors argue there are four types: Macro-mini, between 3 and 4 inches tall, Miniature, between 2 and 3 inches tall, Micro-mini, between 1 and 2 inches tall, and Ultra-micro-mini, less than 1 inch in total.

Het Onze Vader (Mainz: s.n., ca.1958). The smallest book in our miniature collection, and claimed to be the smallest book in the world at the time of printing, contains the “Lord’s Prayer” in 6 languages: English, Dutch, German, French, Swedish, and Spanish.

Souvenir of Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls, New York: s.n., 1874) by Brundage and Trugby.

At first, miniatures were made for convenience; they could be carried in a pocket or tied to the waist.  Later, books of this size were created as a challenge for bookbinders and printers, allowing for experimentation in bindings, coverings, illustration, and typography. Miniatures can be of any subject and genre, and are often made the same way as standard books, for example, with a sewn or glued binding, letterpress text, calligraphy, lithography, or engraving.  They can also be pop-ups, foldouts, or even scrolls.  Rare Book Room holdings include examples of illustration, reference works, children’s books, religious texts, literature, songsters, local interest, and books about books.

Remember the Aud!

Bell Aircraft in Buffalo

 

The Bellringer. April 1943, p.11

Recently the Buffalo News featured two articles (July 6, 2010, August 15, 2010) on the Bell Aircraft Corporation plane that was recovered in Russia more than 60 years after it left the plant in Wheatfield.  Astonishingly, the penciled signatures of two local women who worked on it in 1943 were still visible.

We learned more about the plane, a P-39Q Aircobra, and the people who built it in The Bellringer, a monthly Bell Aircraft company publication.  The Grosvenor Room’s Buffalo Collection includes bound copies of Volumes 1-5 (Dec 1940 – Dec 1945).  A staff-created index lists articles as well as mentions of employees, with notices of marriages, children born, and deaths.  These publications provide a fascinating look at Buffalo’s role in the war effort.

Advertisement from back cover of The Bellringer, July 1943.  Diagram from March 1943, p.12, 13.

It’s a Book!

Lane Smith, known for his charming and inventive illustrations for The Stinky Cheeseman, has written a new book that cleverly and wryly pokes fun at how reading has changed in the digital age.  Read more about how he created the characters, illustrations, and text on his blog.

This past Sunday, the Buffalo News reviewed It’s a Book:

Framed as a conversation between a reading monkey and a wired jackass (“how do you scroll down?” “can it Tweet?”), it cleverly includes a truncated “text message” translation of a passage from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” that speaks volumes about the chasm between the joy of leisurely savoring truly great writing and the stripped-down, colorless quality of a high-speed texting-Twitter mind-set.

University at Delaware Conference on William Morris

The Ideal Book: William Morris and the Kelmscott Press, will be the next Rare Book Room exhibit running from October 7, 2010 to January 30, 2011. 

 

If you’re interested in William Morris you may also like to know about an upcoming conference in Delaware.

“Useful & Beautiful: The Transatlantic Arts of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites” will be the subject of a conference and related exhibitions to be held 7–9 October 2010 at the University of Delaware (Newark, DE) and at the Delaware Art Museum and the Winterthur Museum & Country Estate (Wilmington, DE). Organized with the assistance of the William Morris Society in the United States, “Useful & Beautiful” will highlight the strengths of the University of Delaware’s rare books, art, and manuscripts collections; Winterthur’s important holdings in American decorative arts; and the Delaware Art Museum’s superlative Pre-Raphaelite collection (the largest outside Britain).