Special Collections
Research Center

Bookmark us @
<http://scrc.syr.edu>

Contacting the Department

General Information:

The potential researcher may wish to consult SUMMIT, the Syracuse University Library online catalog. It should be noted, however, that although the catalog is up-to-date for cataloging of the manuscript collections, information on rare books is limited to 35,000 of the 100,000 volumes at present. Similar information may be obtained from the RLIN database for manuscripts and OCLC for rare books.

Those planning a research trip are encouraged to contact the Department in advance. Questions of retrieval, restrictions, fees, schedules, directions, and rules may be easily resolved at least two weeks prior to arrival. For best service, please use the forms below.

Contact Information:

Mail:

Syracuse University Library
Special Collections Research Center
E.S. Bird Library, Room 600
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010

Telephone:

(315) 443-2697

Fax:

(315) 443-2671

Forms:

We have several convenient forms for you to use which will help format your questions so that we may best help you. In case of problems with the form please email to <scrc@syr.edu>.

Request a visit: Use of manuscript (personal or corporate records) requires an appointment two weeks in advance. Please select this link if you require such access.

Ask a question: For general questions regarding books or printed material, historical or manuscript collections, or other items held by the Special Collections Research Center, select this link.

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs

Your Old Books

We regret that we cannot answer questions about the value of your old books. Any questions of this type will be ignored. For a guide in answering such questions, please refer to "Your Old Books," a publication of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association, the Antiquarian Booksellers' of Association of America, or your Yellow Pages for a local antiquarian/rare/used bookdealer. Another source of information would be searching online sites such as Bookfinder.com.

A note to family historians and genealogists

We regret that we hold no personnel or employee files in the following collections: American Book Company, American Locomotive Company, D. H. Baldwin Company, Baltimore and Ohio RR, Chesapeake and Ohio RR, Clark Music Company, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RR, E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc., Erie Lackawanna RR, Hocking Valley RR, George F. Johnson, Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley RR, Lake Ontario Shore RR, A. E. Nettleton Company, New York Central RR, Pere Marquette RR, Spiral Press, Street and Smith Publishers, Unadilla Valley RR.

Land for sale in the Adirondacks

To those seeking land in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State:

The Special Collections Research Center holds the papers of Gerrit Smith (born 1797, died 1874), a businessman and reformer of the 19th Century. Smith gave land sited in the Adirondack Mountains of NYS to free Black Men, permitting them, as land owners, to vote. Only free, male, landowners could vote during Smith's lifetime.

SCRC has no information on the further disposition of those lands, and no institutional interes in tracking them through more than 100 years to the 21st Century.

If you seek to purchase land in New York State you must contact real estate dealers licensed to practice in this State. SCRC does not maintain lists of real estate agents.

Directions:

The Special Collections Research Center is located on the sixth floor of E.S. Bird Library,at the north end of Walnut Park on Waverly Avenue. The Department is open Monday to Friday, 9AM to 5PM, closed major holidays only. Please call for a precise schedule. The University is east of Exit 18 from Interstate Route 81 (north-south), which links with the NYS Thruway (Route 90, east-west). Click on map to go to zoomable version courtesy of maps.yahoo.com. Parking is available on nearby streets, in the Marion lot across the street, or in the Sheraton Hotel parking garage at the corner of University and Waverly Avenues.

• Campus map [PDF]
• List of lodgings in the Syracuse area [PDF]

View Larger Map – The library is at the end of Walnut Ave, to the right of the arrow.