The Albany Institute of History & Art Library is a non-circulating research library with collections related to the art, history, and culture of the upper Hudson Valley of New York. Collections include manuscript materials, photographs, maps, rare books, and other collections dating from the seventeenth century to the present.
This collection consists mainly of business papers of Francis Patrick Garvan (1875-1937), Assistant D.A. in New York for 1901-1909, later lawyer and chairman of the Chemical Trust Fund Co.
Scott Dumont Goodwin (1845-1935) was the legal representative and attorney for a number of influential Albanians and others whose affairs and estates are represented in this collection. Also included is the correspondence and diaries of Lieutenant George Wait Goodwin U.S. Air Force, who was killed in France in 1918, and Edward S. Goodwin, Albany physician, Helen Goodwin Yale, and Louise Goodwin, who were all children of Scott Dumont Goodwin. This collection includes correspondence, diaries, accounts, and legal papers.
The Hun family were descendants of 17th century Dutch settlers who became prominent and acquired property in and around the Albany area. This collection includes family papers.
The Pruyn Family Papers contains documents relating to three consecutive generations of the John Pruyn Family, along with genealogies and personal papers of more distant family relations. An autograph collection of presidents, statesmen, and local historic figures is included. The ownership of 43-45 North Pearl Street is documented from the first sale in 1679 to the last in 1968. The estates of Eleanor Erving, Justine Bayard Erving and Van Rensselaer Pruyn are also documented.