Frederick Joseph Lawrence (1825-1904) was a prominent decorator and coach painter who resided in Albany, New York. This collection contains business papers, personal papers, Edward Tallmadge Papers, daguerreotypes, and newspapers.

Adam Blake, Jr. (1830-1881) had a well-established career in the hotel industry prior to having the Kenmore Hotel built in 1878. The adopted son of a man who had been enslaved, Adam worked his way up in the hotel industry, and eventually opened the Kenmore, for which he spared no expense. Although Blake died before he could long enjoy the fruits of his labor, the Kenmore continued for many years, and was eventually purchased and renovated into luxury apartments.

Harold Ross (1915-2003), was born in Harlem, New York City, and later worked on the New York Central Railroad as a brakeman.

Parker Dunn was a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The bridge over the Hudson River was named in his memory. An American Legion Post was named for Parker Dunn.

The photographs in the collection were made by Frank W. Knapp, who operated a commercial photography studio on North Pearl Street from 1892 until shortly before he died on November 26, 1947.

The McKinney Steel Company, founded by Roessle McKinney, was located at 927 Broadway in Albany, New York. This collection includes printing blocks, ledgers, and other business records.

A collection of materials from Albany resident William Gorham Rice, mostly related to his interest in and publications on the subject of the Carillon Bell.

On November 21, 1868, under the guidance of Dr. Ebell, sixty-two people, mostly teachers, alumni, and students from the Albany Female Academy (known today as the Albany Academy for Girls) met in the school to form the Albany Chapter of the Dana Natural History Society. The Society was named in honor of Dr. James Dwight Dana a famous geologist, mineralogist, and zoologist from Yale College. This collection contains materials such as newspaper clippings, member written articles, histories, documents from meetings and proceedings, scrapbooks, photographs, letters, awards, and other ephemera.

Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932) was born in Albany, New York, and became a prominent landscape painter. This collection includes diaries, correspondence, personal papers, studio books, and photographs.

Mr. Weil apparently used film packs for his 4x5 shots and made his selection for printing after developing them. He also apparently used a 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 cameras at the same time, so that he has negatives of the same scene in a couple of formats and several different exposures. Mr. Weil also made several duplicate prints; some of which may have been made for commercial purposes; some for technical reasons, as he notes in various places different exposure times and paper types.