This collection contains the records of the Albany Hardware and Iron Co., a wholesale hardware distributor in Albany, New York. The collection contains administrative records, photographs, catalogs, and scrapbooks, along with newspapers ads and articles on the company and the men who ran it.

The Banks Family Papers collection consists of personal and legal papers of Robert Lenox Banks and his family, primarily his daughter, Mary Decamp Banks Moore. These include correspondence to and from the Banks Family by local businessmen, politicians, such as New York Governor, John T. Hoffman, and William Vanderbilt, President of the Hudson River Railroad. The documents are mostly personal in nature, describing the private life of a prominent local family of the 19th Century. Also in this collection are photographs, genealogical information, and other items relating to the Banks, Lenox, and Corning families.

This collection includes family papers for the Bedlow, Corpron, and McRae families, who were related through marriage and adoption. The Bedlow family was originally from Massachusetts before settling in Plattsburgh, then Champlain, New York. The collection contains correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, personal papers, ephemera, and photographs.

The Blasie Family Papers are a collection of materials owned by Henry M. Blasie and relating to the Blasie family. William Blasie, Henry’s father and a Captain in the Civil War, was the original owner of most of the collection. The collection consists of news clippings, photo albums, photographs, and scrapbooks.

James A. Gray founded the Boardman & Gray Piano Manufacturing company of Albany, New York in 1837, with the business expertise and financial support of his business partner, William G. Boardman. The company patented their own design for the Dolce Campana attachment for the Piano Forte, and enjoyed great renown, including designing a model for singer Jenny Lind. This collection includes books, community newsletters, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, sheet music, and song books.

James Boyd (1742-1832) and Jane MacMaster Boyd (1751-1831) arrived in Albany, New York, from Scotland in 1774. In 1796, James founded the Arch Street Brewery, which would later become the Albany Brewing Company. This collection contains correspondence, personal papers, and photographs.