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Local History Resources
Guide Contents
Special Collections Librarian

jdibbell@binghamton.edu
607-777-4823
This page is to guide the researcher in understanding the contents of the local history materials in the Binghamton University Libraries' Special Collections.
Local History Resources focus on the history of Broome County and surrounding areas and offers a variety of materials. Contained within this resource are materials such as postcards, oral histories, ephemera, artifacts, records of organizations, Civil War letters and diaries, and printed material.
For more information see the Special Collections page
Types of Resources
Archival collections are created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator. Archival collections contain many different types of materials such as documents, photographs, memorabilia and artifacts, audiovisual materials, such as sound recordings, films, and videos.
- Binghamton Local History Postcard Collection
Available through Find it! In the Search anything box type Binghamton Local History Postcard collection
- Broome County Church Architecture CollectionThe Broome County Church Architecture Collection consists of surveys done on Broome County churches, missions, synagogues, and temples, along with several letters, essays, church bulletins, journals, and other items.
- Broome County Oral History ProjectThe Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the Office for the Aging. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government.
- Civil War CollectionsThe Binghamton University Libraries Civil War Collections consist of seventeen individual collections of materials. Together the collections contain over 1700 letters, diaries, photographs, account books, postcards, and other ephemera which date from the early 1800s to the early 1900s, but are centered on the Civil War years 1861-1865.
- Mark Kulikowski CollectionThe Mark Kulikowski Collection is a diverse collection of historical material from and about the Broome County region. The collection consists of area newsletters, programs, bulletins, newspapers, booklets, magazines, music and music scores, posters and flyers, photographs, postcards, memorabilia and artifacts. Over 250 books about local businesses, industries, municipalities, churches and life in the Broome County area are also part of the collection.
- Digital CollectionsThis is a link to Digital Collections in Special Collections and includes Local History resources.
For more local history resources visit, https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/special-collections/research-and-collections/
The Local History Resources include books, VHS and DVDs that cover the following topics:
- Architecture
- Board of Supervisors Proceedings
- Broome County Medical Society reference material
- Church Histories
- City Directories of Broome County and other counties 1869-1972
- Civil War related
- Genealogy material
- Histories of Binghamton, Johnson City, Endicott and other municipalities within Broome county
- Histories of Broome County
- Histories of businesses and industries
- Histories of counties and municipalities outside of Broome County
- Proceeding of the Common Council (City of Binghamton) 1875-1977
- Yearbooks from local high schools
Searching for these resources in the Library catalog website
Follow these steps:
Step 1: On the Libraries’ website, click Our Catalog and the click on Advanced Search below Search box
Step 2: For material type, select Books or Videos
Step 3: Enter your search terms, for example, Binghamton, New York and churches
Step 4: Click Search
Step 5: Click on the Library/Collection drop down and select Special Collections
Plat Maps
A plat map is a document drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. It gives the legal descriptions of pieces of real property by lot, street, and block number. It shows the land as subdivided into lots showing the location and boundaries of individual parcels with the streets, alleys, easements, and rights of use over the land of another. Usually a plat map is drawn after the property has been described by some other means, such as a government survey. Once a plat map is prepared, property descriptions are defined by referring to the appropriate map.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps were created to help insurance companies determine the potential risks when underwriting fire insurance policies for buildings. These maps contain detailed information about buildings. Today they are utilized for historical research, social and cultural history, researching the built environment, historic preservation, urban planning and genealogical research.
They are organized as follows:
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a decorative title page
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an index of streets and addresses
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a ‘specials’ index with the names of churches, schools, businesses etc.
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and a master index indicating the entirety of the mapped area and the sheet numbers for each large-scale map (usually depicting four to six blocks)
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general information such as population, economy and prevailing wind direction
The maps include:
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composition of building including:
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building use (sometimes even particular room uses)
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names of most public buildings, churches and businesses
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house and block number
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property boundaries
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outlines of each building and outbuilding
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the framing, flooring, and roofing materials
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the location of windows and doors
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indications of sprinkler systems
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fire walls
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street names
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street and sidewalk widths
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natural features (rivers, etc.)
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railroad corridors
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locations of fire hydrants
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location of water and gas mains
Who/Why Uses:
Historical research
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facilitate the study of urban growth and decline patterns
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to study historic urban planning designs
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to study historical evolution of buildings, including their historic uses and building materials in conservation and rehabilitation efforts
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to study the evolution of historic sites and districts
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to study patterns of growth and migration of populations
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to locate the residences and workplaces of ancestors
Digital Sanborn Maps available from the Library of Congress
Atlas Maps
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Include a collection of maps
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Provides names of property owners
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Includes street names
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Includes wards
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Tracts of land and name of tract
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Has a business directory
The local newspapers are in three formats - original documents, microfilm, and online. The original documents are housed in Special Collections and the microfilm is located in the Newcomb Reading Room.
- Binghamton pressIssues for Sunday are called "Sunday Press." It ran under this title until 1960 when its name changed to the Evening Press. This newspaper has been microfilmed and is available in the Fine Arts Collection.
- Evening press (Binghamton, N.Y.)This title follows the Binghamton Press and ran under this title from 1960-1985. Later titles are Sun-Bulletin and mostly recently the Press & Sun Bulletin. This newspaper has been microfilmed and is available in the Fine Arts collection.
- Press & sun-bulletin (Online)Earlier titles for this newspaper are: Binghamton Press, Evening Press and the Sun-Bulletin.
Electronic access may be limited to Binghamton University faculty, staff, and students for instruction and research purposes only. - George F. Johnson Library Digital ArchivesThis digital archives contains local newspapers such as the Daily Bulletin, Endicott Bulletin and the Lestershire-Endicott Record.
- Mark Kulikowski CollectionThis collection contains several local newspapers not included in the Newspaper Collection.
- Local History Newspaper CollectionThis collection contains newspapers from various organizations, newspaper businesses, service oriented agencies, historical societies, school districts, libraries, and businesses in Broome County and surrounding localities. The date from 1862 to the present, with the majority of the collection dating from the 1990s to the present time.
- NYS Historic NewspapersThe NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history. Binghamton University's Colonial News 1946-May 1970 and Pipe Dream, September 1970-1974 are available on this site. This site also includes several newspapers from the Broome County region.
- Local History Newsletter CollectionThis collection contains newsletters from various organizations, service oriented agencies, historical societies, school districts, libraries, and businesses in Broome County and surrounding localities. The newsletters date from 1982 to the present.
- Mark Kulikowski CollectionThis collection contains local newsletters not included in the Newsletter Collection.
A selection of periodicals from local businesses, industry and organizations.