Local History
Special Collections
Overview
Special Collections' local history collection includes material that focuses on the historical, political and cultural heritage of Oswego County or the surrounding Central New York region. This collection also includes items of genealogical significance, such as city directories and histories of local villages, towns and cities in Oswego County.
General Resources
Historical Local Newspapers
Note: Newspaper resources marked with a * are indexes only, and do not contain electronic full text. Full text can be obtained by visiting Special Collections or in some cases by contacting Special Collections with your request.
- Oswego (NY) Newspaper Index, 1820-1855+ *
The index includes articles from selected newspapers, pertaining to all of Oswego County. - Index to Oswego Palladium-Times Centennial Edition - August 31, 1948 *
For its 100th anniversary, the Palladium-Times reprinted articles from throughout its history. This index covers those reprints. - Oswego County (NY) Historical Society Publication Index *
A list of citations of all articles in the annual Publication or Journal of the Oswego County Historical Society from 1899 - 1904 and 1937 - 1977. - Fulton Patriot, 1916-1954
Indexed full text provided by Northern New York Library Network. - Old New York State Newspapers
Indexed full text of 19th and 20th century papers, including Oswego's Palladium Times and the Fulton Patriot. Material prepared by Tom Tryniski of Fulton, NY. - New York State Historic Newspapers
Indexed full text of newspapers from New York State, with dates ranging 1803 - 2011, depending on title.
- For more regional news sources, check Penfield Library's News Resources research guide.
- For more SUNY Oswego news sources, check the College Archives.
Local History Research Guide
This research guide lists books and a few other resources that are related to local history.
Specific Topics
College Archives
Special Collections has many resources relating to the history of SUNY Oswego, including yearbooks, information about buildings' names, and much more.
B. Burt Papers, 1745 - 1899
This student project digitized several of Bradley Benedict Burt's papers, including letters and hand-drawn maps of Lake Ontario.
Erastus Granger Papers, 1805 - 1827
These student projects digitized some of Erastus Granger's papers. Granger was an early Federal Indian agent and Democratic political figure in western New York.
Note: Some letters are duplicated between the two projects.
- 18 letters from the collection
- 34 letters from the collection
- More about the collection (these letters appear in The Marshall Family Papers)
Orrin Stone Diary, 1814 - 1815
Orrin Stone was an Oswego County Pioneer. In 1814 he was establishing his own home and getting ready to be married.
Millard Fillmore Papers, 1817 - 1889
These student projects digitized some of Millard Fillmore's papers. Fillmore was the 13th president of the United States.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, 1832 - 1919
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the first woman ever to be awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service. She lived much of her life in Oswego.
Safe Haven
In August of 1944, 982 refugees from war-torn Europe were placed in an internment camp at Fort Ontario to await the outcome of the Second World War. The majority of these refugees were Jewish and had recently been liberated from the persecutions of Nazism in central Europe. The Emergency Refugee Shelter at Fort Ontario was established by a directive from President Franklin Roosevelt.
Lake Ontario @ Oswego Slideshow
View slideshowSnow Scenes Slideshow
View slideshowGenealogy
The Special Collections Department of Penfield Library is not a geneological library, however we do offer some genealogical resources.
Rare Books & Manuscripts
Special Collections' manuscript collection contains records, documents, correspondences, business papers, etc. of individuals, organizations, or of a specialized topic.