1911 New York State Capital and Library Fire

In 1911 the New York state capital in Albany burned, along with the New York state library that was housed inside. Most of the state library’s collection, which had been collected since 1818, was destroyed.

The history of this devastating fire and of the New York state library has been captured in photos and has been published in a recently released book. Co-author Paul Mercer, senior librarian at the New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections division, joined me on The Forget-Me-Not Hour radio show this week to talk about the library–past and current, the fire and this book.

Hear the fascinating story of the library, find out what New York genealogy records were lost to genealogists forever, and enjoy the interesting stories of documents and the people who created them that are currently in the manuscript collection. Click here.