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Public Library Branches on Staten Island | Other Libraries on Staten Island | Libraries nationwide with Staten Island Collections

Public Library Branches on Staten Island

New York Public Library branches on Staten Island
A clickable map of all 12 branches of The New York Public Library located on Staten Island. Click on branch locations for hours, directions, descriptions, programs, etc.

Other Libraries on Staten Island

Center for Migration Studies Library
Search the online catalog for materials relating to worldwide migration, refugees, and ethnic groups. The library is located at 209 Flagg Place. It is open to the public free of charge. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday - Friday.

College of Staten Island Library
A complete academic library located on the CSI campus at 2800 Victory Boulevard. The web page includes many electronic databases, which are available for use by CSI students only.

Conference House Association Historical Research Library
Operating since 1999, the library collects material about the colonial and Revolutionary War periods.

Horrmann Library at Wagner College
Search the online catalog. Students can also utilize many online databases. The library is located on Grimes Hill on the Wagner College Campus.

Loretto Memorial Library at St. John's University
A collection of over 134,000 items serving the students of the Staten Island campus of St. John's University at 300 Howard Avenue.

Staten Island Historical Society Library
The Staten Island Historical Society (SIHS) collects and preserves materials of everyday life including artifacts, archives and buildings. It conducts and promotes research based on these collections. SIHS operates Historic Richmond Town, New York City's historic village and museum complex, where it shares its collection and knowledge with the public through creative and engaging interpretative activities. Please contact SIHS for museum hours or to make an appointment to visit the research library.

Staten Island Museum (Institute of Arts & Sciences) History Archives & Library
The History Archives and Library of the Staten Island Museum is closed at the current time. It will be reopened during late Spring 2009 after it has been relocated to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Founded in 1881, the 175+ Collections of the Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences are a hidden resource for all. Collections include:

Newspapers on microfilm - Richmond Argus, 1902-04; Richmond County Free Press, 1834-35; Richmond County Gazette, 1860-91; Richmond County Mirror, 1837-39; Richmond County Sentinel, 1876-79, 1886-1889; Richmond County Standard, 1882-95, 1901; Richmond Republican, 1827-34; Staten Island Advance, 1947-1994; Staten Island Gazette, 1903-04; Staten Island Independent, 1894-96, 1898-1900; The Sepoy, 1859-60; The Staaten Islander, 1856-57; The Staten Islander, 1886-1927, 1934; Times-Transcript, 1927-41. News clippings arranged by name & subject from 1910-2003

Architectural Survey Collection - Conducted from 1975-1980, photographs and maps that document Staten Island architecture, building by building, are included in this vast collection

Biographies Collection - includes letters, clippings, photographs and biographical data on Staten Islanders. Compiled by William T. Davis and Charles W. Leng, information was included for their informative five volume series - Staten Island and its People (1929-30)

Staten Island Families Collection - includes Wills of Staten Island 1787-1863, Letters of Administration and Guardianship Papers of Richmond County (Staten Island) and Indexes to Wills and Letters of Administration from the County Clerk's Office. Court papers, indentures, mortgage papers, receipts, family letters, birth, death & marriage records, Family Bibles and family genealogies are included.

Military Records Collections - houses muster rolls of the Revolutionary War, 1776-1779; muster rolls of the Staten Island Militia, 1800-1814 and 1848; and Civil War enlistment records

Photograph Collections - features photographs of individuals, families, mansions & homes, Staten Island scenes and landscapes, businesses, and churches & cemeteries, from the mid-1800s to the present

Richmond County Records Collection - houses copies of the Supervisors Book (until 1898, the county was governed by a Board of Supervisors), 1766-1823; Justice of the Peace Dockets, 1706-1896; Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors, 1877-1897; and County Coroner papers, 1787 and 1879. Also includes an inventory of County and Borough Archives, 1940, 1942

Vosburgh Cemetery Records - inscriptions of Many Staten Island gravestones from the late 1600s to the early 1900s

Maps & Atlas Collection - insurance atlases for Staten Island from 1853, 1874, 1898 and 1917-1935. printed, bound and photocopied maps from other years are also available

City Directories - business & residential directories: Richmond County Directory, 1862; Handbook of the Staten Island Railroad, 1870; Webb's Consolidated Directory of Staten Island, 1882-83, 1884; Standard Directory of Richmond County, 1893/94 and 1897/98; Industries of Staten Island Before Consolidation, 1898; Trow's Directory, 1899, 1900; Richmond Borough Directory, 1912; Staten Island Advance Business & Telephone Directory, 1921-22, 1922-23; Polk's Directory of Staten Island, 1933-34, plus more...

Census - US Census for Richmond County, 1800-1880; 1900-1920; and the NYS Census for Richmond County, 1835, 1855, 1865, 1875 and 1915. Ward Maps for 1898, 1907 and 1917-vol 1&2

A sampling of the families Represented in the History Archives & Library include, but are not limited to: Androvette, Bedell, Bodine, Bogart, Braisted, Britton, Burgher, Butler, Cannon, Christopher, Clawsen, Cole, Conner, Corsen, Cortelyou, Crocheron, Cruser, Cubberly, Cutting, Decker, De Groot, De Hart, Depuy, Disoway, Dubois, Egbert, Fountain, Frost, Garretson, Guyon, Hatfield, Haughwout, Hillyer, Holmes, Housman, Jacobson, Jensen, Johnson, Journeay, Kreischer, LaForge, Lake, Larzelere, Latourette, Le Conte, Lockman, Martling, Merrell, Mersereau, Metcalf, Perine, Poillon, Post, Prall, Ryerss, Schleurer, Sharrott, Simonson, Seguine, Stillwell, Sprague, Totten, Townsend, Tysen, Van Buskirk, Vanderbilt, Van Name, Walling, Wandel, Woglom, Wright, Zorn

Hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am-4pm. The Archivist is also available to conduct research. A modest fee applies for all services including microfilm copies and photocopies. Reproduction of Archives & Library photographs is also available. All fees go towards the upkeep and improvement of the History Archives & Library. To make an appointment or to obtain further information, please call 718/727-1135 x20. Faxed requests can be sent to 718/273-5683 or mailed to: Dorothy D'Eletto, Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences, 75 Stuyvesant Place, Staten Island, NY, 10301. Or email Pat Salmon at SalmonF@aol.com

Staten Island University Hospital Medical Research Library
Collections are open to the public during specified hours. The library is located at 475 Seaview Avenue on the North Campus of the Hospital.

Supreme Court Law Library
Contact information for a public access law library open week-days 9:00 - 4:30. Select "R" for Richmond County. The Library is now located at 130 Stuyvesant Place, Room 300. The "Libraries" link leads to the LION catalog, which has a "location" limit in the "keyword searching" option.

Libraries nationwide with Staten Island Collections

Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has a large collection of items concerning Staten Island. Their "American Memory" section provides downloadable images of many of these items.

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
The online catalog of the NUCMC lists manuscripts, letters, business, government and historical records in Research Libraries, Museums and Historical Societies across the nation. Many of the materials contained in the Staten Island Historical Society Library and Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences are listed here as well as items about Staten Island held in other cities and states.

NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS)
DORIS, which includes the municipal archives, collects reports of city agencies, files on neighborhoods, and records of Staten Island towns before their consolidation into New York City in 1898. The website allows you to order WPA "tax photos" of almost every house on Staten Island that existed in 1939/1940. Order photos of your Staten Island home here (or print them from microfilm at the St. George Branch Library).