Summer is here and with it the Grosvenor Room has received a slew of new reading material to satisfy the armchair historian and/or expand upon any would be researcher’s available resources. Spanning a variety of subject matter, it is abundantly clear that the history of Buffalo is still ripe for mining, and the following examples are a welcome addition to our constantly growing collection.
We might as well get the most painful material out of the way first. As most Buffalonians know, we are a passionate lot when it comes to our sports teams. That said, we are also, if you believe author Greg D. Tranter, cursed at virtually every level of fandom in Buffalo sports. Nevertheless, our optimism knows no bounds, thus we can use the pain Tranter so thoroughly details in his book to strengthen our resolve and continue to root for our beloved Bills, Bisons, Sabres and Bandits (who, by winning the National Lacrosse championship this year, have done their very best to counter Tranter’s thesis).
With the help of a gifted cache of documents accumulated over the course of 25 years, University at Buffalo’s director of campus planning, Kelly Hayes McAlonie, has written a book that illuminates the life and times of America’s first professional female architect, Louise Blanchard Bethune. While the groundbreaking architect’s personal papers and diaries (if she kept any), along with her firm’s office records, have been lost, there is no excuse for her having slipped into historical obscurity. McAlonie rights the ship by unveiling Bethune’s hidden history. Whether you are interested in the city’s architecture (Bethune designed many landmarks, including the Hotel Lafayette) or Bethune’s vociferous advocation for women’s rights 30 years before women’s suffrage, here is a book that sheds much needed light on a major American figure.
Fittingly following the Bethune book, Images of America has released a new title dedicated to Buffalo’s art deco architecture. Full of lovely photographs that highlight the style’s influence on various city buildings, the book provides an in depth look at the structures we love and look at on a daily basis.
Lawrence Dale Bell was an industrialist and founder of the Bell Aircraft Corporation. The Niagara Aerospace Museum has published a comprehensive overview of Bell and his corporation’s contributions to the field of aeronautics. Whether it was lending a massive helping hand to the war effort during WWII, designing the plane (the Bell X-1) that broke the sound barrier (the scene is depicted in the movie The Right Stuff), or developing the Lunar Ascent Rocket Engine to get astronauts off the moon, Bell truly was an aerospace pioneer.
While it is easy (and taught to us growing up) to look at history through the lens of major figures and decision makers – world leaders, famous generals, titans of industry – it is the smaller, lesser known, hidden stories of everyday people that truly makes up the fabric of our past. Bruce Dennis Ryan (who donated the book to us) has painstakingly pieced together the story of his Buffalo native father’s service during WWII and published it for anyone interested in the little, but no less important, details that go into a person’s life and experience. The overarching event covered in the book was globally momentous, and there is endless material available that dissects the ramifications and major details of it, but there will always be something humane about digging so thoroughly through one person’s experience of it. And our collection will always have room for these personal stories.
Speaking of personal stories, Mr. Undercover is bombastic. Reading like a Martin Scorsese script (the author is close friends with Robert De Niro no less), Ronald Fino recounts his life as boy born into the Buffalo mafia who grew up to resent everything about it and did all that he could do to try and dismantle it from within. His undercover work didn’t end there, and Fino finds himself in the thick of all sorts of trouble, painting vivid scenes that leave you on the edge of your seat, knowing he made it out of every exploit alive, worried still that he might get caught at every turn. Michael F. Rizzo, Buffalo born author whose work on organized crime in Buffalo we also have on our shelves, coauthored the book with Fino.
Matt Gryta, former Buffalo News crime reporter, shares some wild tales of the Buffalo underworld. Rather than share any more details than that, it is worth highlighting the story he tells of Taylor Caldwell, the famous British novelist who lived in Buffalo for a spell. If you first visit her Wikipedia page you will read a small note that indicates she was deaf since 1965. Gryta’s story reveals the cause of her deafness.
Jolene Hawkins, the Village of Springville historian, has given us a copy of her newly released book that digs into the mysterious 1930s death of Christina Jureller. Captivating true crime thrillers are always welcome, perfect for summer, and Hawkins employs a unique and entertaining technique to move the readers through the case. A fascinating page turner that reveals another layer of unknown Western New York history, we look forward to Hawkins’ next (we’ve been told another is in the works) contribution!
The Grosvenor Room: Genealogy, Local History, Maps, Music & Rare Books 