This collection contains material regarding the Fort Orange Garden Club such as minutes and reports from meetings, genealogies, general histories, personal histories, membership lists, projects, flower shows, public works, newspaper articles, awards, magazines, scrapbooks, maps, memorabilia, photographs, and slides.

Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) was born in Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. An American landscape painter and one of the Hudson River School artists, Gifford traveled extensively across New England and Europe for his subjects. This collection includes a scrapbook, correspondence, and a family genealogy. Seven sketchbooks and a paint box of Gifford’s were transferred to the Curatorial department.

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 Palmer-Gavit Family Papers include the correspondence, writings, genealogy, scrapbooks, photographs, and articles pertaining to the entire Gavit family. The collection also contains correspondence, reference materials, scrapbooks, record books and writings related to Erastus Dow Palmer and Walter Launt Palmer.

The Meadows collection is comprised of documents, papers, and photographs collected by the families that owned The Meadows mansion in Cazenovia, NY. These families include The Ledyards, The Hubbards, and The Oakmans, providing a snapshot of the personal life of an upper class family during the mid 1800s to the 1950s. Please see the scope and content note for a more in depth description of the collection.

Thomas Worth Olcott (1795-1880) was born in Hudson, Columbia County, New York, to Josiah and Carolina Worth Olcott. Olcott eventually became president of the Mechanics and Farmer Bank in Albany, New York, and served on the boards of the Albany Law School and the Dudley Observatory, among others. This collection contains estate records, correspondence, newspaper clippings, bills, account books, photographs, scrapbooks, and genealogical information.