Our Local & Regional History Collections cover a variety of time periods and topics within the rich history of New York State, especially the Western New York region, towns within Chautauqua County, and persons and places in and around the Village of Fredonia. Time periods range from 1800 through the present day, with over 500 linear feet of materials. These collections illustrate various historical movements from a multitude of perspectives and showcase some of the incredible stories of our local, regional, and state history. Materials include papers, photographs, maps, books, objects, and ephemera.
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This collection provides information on the New York State school system libraries as a whole as well as regional information and includes business papers, ephemera, and book volumes.
This collection includes correspondence, genealogical materials, biographical materials, photographs, and business materials with regards to World War II and the Erie Canal.
The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes (CWVNW) was formed in 1974 to study the reprocessing operation of the nuclear fuel and buried waste practices at the West Valley nuclear site. The Coalition's monitoring, advocating, lobbying, litigating, and acquiring of scientific, federal and state government information on West Valley has been met with modest success over the years, including helping to implement the West Valley Demonstration Project of 1980. The Coalition exists to this present day, continuing to advocate for the proper maintenance, containment and disposition of nuclear wastes and promote environmental awareness of citizens and elected officials. This collection is the record of its organization and activism efforts.
In 2015 and 2016, new additions to this collection were donated to the archives by several Coalition members. In 2018, with the help of a Documentary Heritage Preservation grant from the New York State Archives, the new materials were added to the existing Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes Collection, with the process being finalized in March 2019.
This is a collection of locally-published, small-print zines focused on political and social issues in Western New York, the New York Southern Tier, and northern Pennsylvania during the later 20th Century. Filled with interesting prose and creative illustrations from local underground artists, these countercultural publications show a different side of local and regional history.
Finding Aid forthcoming.
This is a collection of publications from organizations all across Western New York, including non-profits, hobbyist organizations, and government groups.
This is a collection of booklets created for town, village, county, and municipal anniversary celebrations, such as bicentennials and sesquicentennials, across Western New York.
A collection of pamphlets written and/or published by Western New York authors, organizations, and publishers, primarily concerning topics related to Western New York history and culture. These pamphlets were formerly part of the Western New York Books collection and have been deselected from the catalog and rehoused as archival materials for preservation purposes.
This collection of letters includes information from Alvah Lawrence Jr. and George Lawrence during the American Civil War.
The Peacock Family Papers comprises business and financial records, legal papers, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks and maps pertaining to the estates of William Peacock, his grandson, Charles E. Peacock, and his grandson, Donald Evans Peacock. The bulk of materials relate to Charles E. Peacock, including both personal and financial records, particularly related to the Peacock and Rood Vineyards.
This collection consists of correspondence between Charles Harrington and Sophia Gibbs during their courtship in the mid-nineteenth century.
This collection includes letters, photographs, and postcards, personal papers, and documents from the Frushone family of Jamestown, NY.
This collection consists of correspondence between Glen Burt and Maude Dean during their courtship in the early twentieth century.
The papers primarily concern correspondence and writings of Frances A. Durfee prior to her 1860 marriage to Calvin A. Mark.
This collection comprises family and business correspondence spanning four generations of the Rider family.
This collection consists of the family and business correspondence, personal papers, and business papers of the Day family.
This collection number is currently available.
This collection is made up of 29 diaries kept by Morgan Lewis Granger.
The collection consists of family, legal, and business correspondence, subject files, and physical objects.
The collection consists of eight diaries and two diary fragments written by Esther F. Hopper of Forestville, NY during the early twentieth century.
This collection is undergoing processing. Partial finding aid available.
The Robert F. Young Collection comprises the author’s short story, non-fiction, and novel-length manuscripts and typescripts; correspondence; the author’s drafts, revision, plot outlines, and other notes relating to each story; copies of published stories; clipping files from newspapers and magazines; some foreign translations of his stories; novel and anthology publications; and photographs.
This collection is composed of diaries kept from 1896 through 1958 written by John D. Griswold and his sister Evangeline Griswold.
This collection includes meeting minutes and ledgers of the Women Voters organization throughout the later twentieth century.
This collection is composed of personal papers, correspondence, and some physical objects associated with or belonging to Daniel A. Reed.
This collection consists of letters written to Clarence T. Legters from his family, following his time serving during World War I.
This collection consists of correspondence, subject files, and photographs in regards to Abiram Orton during his service in the Civil War.
This is a collection of the personal papers and sermons of Methodist minister Steven Littlefield Mead from the later nineteenth century.
This collection consists of personal correspondence between the Thayer and Neate families during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
This collection is composed of personal papers and correspondence to and from Eric Mighells.
This collection consists of diaries, correspondence, personal and business correspondence relating to dairy farmer Thomas D. Phillips.
This collection is composed of personal papers and correspondence taking place during Anderson's service in World War II.
This is a collection of business papers from Chautauqua County Legislator Linda Malcolm during the course of her term.
This collection comprises the correspondence of the Cooley family, various business and legal papers from Chautauqua County families, and photographs of Lily Dale, NY.
This collection is primarily composed of family correspondence during military service, largely from World War II with a smaller portion from peace-time in the mid-1950s.
This collection is composed of various ephemera from the Huntley Manufacturing Company.
This collection highlights the late nineteenth/early twentieth-century musical career of Frank Drago and is mostly comprised of sheet music and photographs.
This collection comprises the business and personal papers, patents, and drawings of early twentieth-century industrial pioneer William W. Cease.
This collection is composed of a variety of cookbooks either compiled or authored by individuals or groups from Chautauqua County.
This collection comprises several ledgers for various businesses across Chautauqua County.
This collection is currently being processed and digitized, Finding Aid and Digital Collection forthcoming.
This is a collection of six 19th-Century ambrotype and daguerreotype photograph portraits of various members of the Ely family of Stockton, NY.
This is a collection of various pieces of ephemera representing the industries, personal lives, and businesses of Chautauqua County throughout its history. It was collected and donated by historian C. Malcolm Nichols throughout his lifetime and contains artefacts used for his research, including early postage and currency for Chautauqua County towns and villages.
This collection is currently being processed, Finding Aid forthcoming.
This collection consists of letters written by Charles W. Stanton to his wife, Maria, during his time serving as a soldier in the American Civil War.
This collection comprises several early cased photographs and documents relating to land ownership by the Barton family, related to Clara Barton, and the Willoughby family of Sheridan, NY.
This collection consists of letters written to Alta Eggleston, Harmony School Trustee, and documents relating to the Harmony School.
This collection is currently being processed, Finding Aid forthcoming.
The collection comprises booklets, brochures and magazines published by various businesses and industries in Chautauqua County, New York.
The Grace S. Richmond Collection contains extensive personal and professional correspondence; manuscript and print versions of Richmond’s writings; family photographs and memorabilia; appointment books of Richmond’s husband, Dr. Nelson C. Richmond; original artwork by Herman Pfeifer for Richmond’s novel The Brown Study; and audio recordings.
This collection is primarily composed of personal papers and legal research for Judge John S. Lambert, and also includes the mysterious Van Buren Life, a manuscript written by local artist Anna Clift Smith, which can be seen in our digital collections page.
This collection primarily consists of the business records of the Rebekah Lodge 184, The Golden Sceptre, along with various Odd Fellows and Masonic materials from local organizations.
This collection comprises business correspondence, meeting minutes, and newspaper clippings regarding this local organization.
This collection is currently undergoing processing and is unavailable to researchers. Finding Aid forthcoming.
This collection covers over 100 years of meeting minutes, bulletins, membership lists, sermons, and other business and congregation papers related to the operation of the Fredonia Baptist Church. Includes some items that describe the church's history with the Underground Railroad.
This collection of oral history interviews with Italian American immigrants from the Fredonia area are currently on cassette tape with plans to be eventually released as a digital collection. Transcripts and tapes are available for research.
This collection consists of individual manuscripts that are unrelated to other Local & Regional History collections but are topically related to Local & Regional History.
Daniel A. Reed Library • The State University of New York at Fredonia • 280 Central Ave., Fredonia, NY 14063 • 716-673-3184 • Fax: 716-673-3185 • reedref@fredonia.edu