New York State Vital Records

Vital records (births, deaths, marriages) are an important resource for genealogists. They often provide a connection from an individual to their parents, tell us where an individual and their parents were born, and may provide other details such as places of residence and occupations.

The Grosvenor Room carries some important collections of Erie County vital records and provides access to the New York State Vital Records Index on microfiche and through the online database, Ancestry Library Edition. Learn about these resources with the following webinar by the Grosvenor Room’s Genealogy Specialist: https://youtu.be/1huCngiDCZw.

To learn more about the Grosvenor Room and its resources, see the Grosvenor Room’s subject guides.

An example of a 1931 Erie County marriage record found on microfilm in the Grosvenor Room.

The 1950 Census is Here

Genealogists everywhere are celebrating the release of the 1950 census today. The records are now freely available on the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) website. U.S. residents answered 20+ questions for the 1950 census. The questions are similar to the 1940 census and range from age to occupation to education. See NARA’s website for a complete list.

There is extra excitement for this census release because this is the first time NARA is providing a name index on the opening day. The index was created using an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool. Because the index was computer generated errors are expected, so don’t discount names that look similar but are not exact. (You might see a name like Felix Hoffman indexed as Felip Haffman.)

If you do not have luck finding your ancestor by keyword searching, you can browse the images page by page. Census records are arranged by enumeration district. Each city and town will have one or more district. Browsing small towns for a name is not difficult, but large cities may have hundreds or even thousands of districts. In 1950, Buffalo had almost 900. Enumeration district maps are online. If you’re not sure where your Buffalo ancestor lived, Buffalo city directories are available for use in the Grosvenor Room.

For more information on the 1950 census and how to find your ancestor’s address, see this 1950 Census Prep video, a program by genealogist Amanda Perrine which was held at the Central Library and cosponsored with the Western New York Genealogical Society. Ms. Perrine discusses many record types that are held in the Grosvenor Room. See our research guides to find out more about our holdings or contact us with specific questions.

Buffalo raised CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer and his family who lived on Hartwell Road in 1950.