Primary Sources:
Newspapers:
The best extant collection of Buffalo newspapers is that of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, the Butler Library of the State University of New York College at Buffalo and the Lockwood Library of State University of New York at Buffalo also have sizable microfilm collections of Buffalo newspapers, though dwarfed by the BECPL collections. However, their collections are have seen use and thus less wear and tear, and the film copies are often in better condition than those of BECPL.
Unfortunately, when the Buffalo newspaper holdings were filmed and the original bound volumes were deaccessioned, no steps were taken to separate and preserve the illustrated rotograveur sections published weekly in the late 19th and early 20th century by several of the newspapers, even though those sections were printed on higher quality paper than the high acid newsprint of the general newspapers. The often rich detail of the photographs printed in the supplements was largely lost during the filming process, which was optimized for black and white text.
A joint project of the Library of Congress, Preservation Reformatting Division, the University of Michigan Making of America project and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard university have also recently made the complete run of Garden and Forest available for internet viewing and search: http://www.loc.gov/preserv/prd/gardfor/ . Buffalo Board of Park Commisioners: The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society has in its collection a series of printed Minutes of the Buffalo Board of Parks Commissioners. Buffalo newspapers, notably the Buffalo Courier and the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, frequently published either full minutes of the Buffalo Board of Parks Commissioners meetings, or provided synopses of them. The author has copied and transcribed many of these accounts for his personal collection. Olmsted Plans: The Frederick Law Olmsted Historic Site at Brookline, Massachusetts, operated by the National Park Service, has a large collection of original prints of Olmsted designs for the Buffalo Parks. Photographs: The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library possesses a collection of illustrated annual photographic retrospectives for the period around 1900. The Library of Congress has photographic collections online which provide illustration of the Buffalo parks, notably the Detroit Publishing Company Collection (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/202_detr.html). Picture postcards, which were a craze in the 1906-1917 period and after, offer a rich amount of photographic documentation of their era, including the parks of Buffalo. Public collections of antique postcards are very limited; both the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society possess some, but in very limited quantities and with little docuementation. The postcards which illustrate this site are primarily from the personal collection of the author. Stereo photographs, a drawing room staple of refined Victorian homes, provide even more photographic documentation of the time, and the Olmsted parks of Buffalo are very well represented. Again, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society possess quantities of stereoviews, although they are not particularly well indexed nor documented. The stereoview illustrations on this site are primarily from the author's personal collection. Miscellaneous: Secondary Sources: See: Suggestions for Additional Reading Image Preparation: Most of the historic images and plans appearing on this site were scanned and processed using one or more software applications and are believed to be in the public domain. Unless otherwise cited, all contemporary photographs are the copyrighted works of this author. Copyright 1999-2010, Stanton M. Broderick
The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a complete run of Garden and Forest.
The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a complete set of the published Annual Reports of the Buffalo Board of Parks Commissioners, as does the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society has on permanent loan from the City of Buffalo a number of original Olmsted plans for the city parks, some of which include marginalia and annotations documenting alterations to the plans, both contemporary to their construction and subsequent to later modifications. Included are plans for a number of park structures, as well.
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society possesses the largest collection of photographs relating to the Buffalo parks and the individuals who played key roles in their design and construction. The Nagle collection is one significant body of material in their collections, and the parks are well represented.
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society has in its collection broadsides of three of William McMillan's lectures. It also possesses surveyor's field notebooks for The Park (Delaware Park).