George William Featherstonhaugh (1780-1866) was a British-American geologist and geographer. Featherstonhaugh served as the first geologist to the U.S. government and was one of the proposers of the Albany and Schenectady Railroad. This collection includes correspondence and other family-related documents.

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.

Arthur Julius Hacker (1916–1999) and Marilynn Agnes Pyne (1918-2002) married in 1947. They had two children, both born in Albany: Craig Arthur Hacker (1951- ) and Arlynn Jean Hacker (1948- ).

Harry Douglas Yates (1903-1996) was a banker, politician, and developed the Dutch Village apartment complex in Menands, New York. This collection contains diaries, correspondence, deeds, scrapbooks, and other related papers.

Hybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin (1873-1964) was born in Albany, New York, to John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn (1811-1877) and Anna Fenn Parker Pruyn (1840-1909). Her father was a U.S. Congressman, representing New York’s 14th District. One of her sisters was Harriet Langdon Pruyn Rice (1868-1939). Hybertie married Charles Sumner Hamlin (1861-1938) in 1898. Charles was a lawyer, delegate to three international peace conferences, and later, the first Governor appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 1914.

John Mason Clarke was the Director of the New York State Museum from 1904 until his death in 1925. This collection includes correspondence, clippings, and diaries.

This collection contains materials relating to the personal and professional life of Albany Court of Appeals Judge Francis Bergan. Items range from personal diaries, which Bergan started compiling as an adolescent, to a large collection of scholarly journals in which Bergan had numerous articles published. Also included is material related to the commemoration of Bergan’s death at age 95 in 1998. Other items include speeches, correspondence such as thank you letters and letters of recognition, certificates, biographical sketches created by Bergan’s son, an Albany Law yearbook, and various press items mentioning the work of Judge Bergan. Also included are materials relating to two Constitutional conventions, both of which Bergan participated in during his career.

The Lansing/Townsend/Spenser Family Papers contain the records of twenty individuals from more than three families connected by marriage. The Lansing/Townsend/Spencer Family Papers span the period from 1717-1889 and contain correspondence, diaries, financial documents, and photographs relating to family life.

Papers of the family of Augustine Prevost III (1744-1821), a British soldier in the French and Indian War and the Revolution, who remained in New York after the war and settled on land in Greene County. He was married twice, to Susannah Croghan and to Ann Bogardus; the first family was brought up in Britain and the second in America. Papers include letters between the British and American sides of the family, between the American Prevosts and their neighbors, the Thomas Cole family, and with Sir William Johnson, George Croghan, Sir Frederick Haldimand, Colonel Henry Bouquet, General Morgan Lewis, and the Duke of Kent. Other items include memorandum book of the 3rd Battalion, 60th Foot, Royal American Regiment, from St. Augustine, Florida, 1777-78, which contains an inventory of the estate of George Croghan, 1783; map of Prevost lands in Greene County; and miscellaneous receipts, bills, deeds, wills, and genealogical records.

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.