Celebrating the Nineteenth Amendment

Summer is festival time and a unique one is coming up August 18th: the Susan B. Anthony Festival, celebrating the 93rd anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Of course there'll be food & music & artisans, but there'll also be appearances by "Susan B. Anthony" & famous suffragists throughout the day, as well as walking tours of the Historic Preservation District around Susan B. Anthony Square Park.

Please see the Susan B. Anthony House website for all the details.

For information on the Nineteenth Amendment, check out the new edition of From suffrage to the Senate and the many other wonderful resources in our Women in the Law collection.

Library catalog down for scheduled maintenance Wednesday, July 17

The library's online catalog will be unavailable for a portion of the day on Wednesday, July 17. As a part of ongoing improvements to the library's online services, we are upgrading the software which powers the catalog.

The catalog should be back online before the end of the day. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we thank you for your patience during this process.

New on the book shelf this month

The library prepares a monthly list of new books purchased the previous month. These new books are either requests from patrons or books that have recently come out. Sometimes, due to budgetary constraints, the new book selection committee cannot buy the books it has decided to purchase all at once. It has to make a decision on a hierarchy of books that should be purchased sooner than others. Some materials are put in the back burner for a while until funding is available - hence, the reason for older books on the list.

Check out our New Book List!

Judicial Portrait Collection

M. Dolores Denman

Have you ever noticed the large collection of portraits on display throughout the library? They are only part of the library’s ever expanding Judicial Portrait Collection. The collection is one of the best of its kind in the nation, and includes nearly every judge from the Appellate Division Fourth Department and dozens from the Seventh Judicial District and the Court of Appeals. The collection spans more than 150 years and includes individual as well as group photographic portraits. There are even a few oil paintings and engravings.

In order to make this unique collection available to all in its entirety, the portraits are being scanned or photographed, cataloged, and then added to the New York Heritage website. According to its website,

New York Heritage is a research portal for students, educators, historians, genealogists, and anyone else who is interested in learning more about the people, places and institutions of New York State. The site provides free access to more than 170 distinct digital collections, totaling hundreds of thousands of items.

At present a small percentage of the collection has been added, mainly consisting of portraits that have never been on display in the library. In the months to come the remainder of the collection will be added for all to enjoy.

Watch for an upcoming blog post on how the original photographic portraits are being preserved.

View the collection here.