John Quincy Adams Ward was born on June 29, 1830, in Urbana, Ohio. The fourth of eight children born to John Anderson (1783-1855) and Eleanor Macbeth Ward (1795-1856), one of his younger brothers was the artist, Edgar Melville Ward (1839-1915). Encouraged in his early art by local potter, Miles Chatfield, Ward became discouraged after attending a sculpture exhibition in Cincinnati in 1847. While living with his older sister Eliza (1824-1904) and her husband in Brooklyn, New York, Ward began training under sculptor Henry Kirke Brown (1814-1886), under whose tutelage he would remain from 1849-1856. In 1857 he set out on his own, making busts of men in public life. In 1861, Ward set up his own studio in New York City, where he dedicated himself to developing an American school of sculpture. Left a widower twice, Ward eventually married Rachel Smith (1849-1933) in 1906. She was instrumental in helping to get his work and papers placed in numerous institutions. During his lifetime, Ward created numerous public sculptures, including one of General Phillip Sheridan in Albany, New York, and he participated in and served on numerous boards. Ward died in New York City in 1910, and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Urbana, Ohio. This collection contains correspondence, business records, organizational records, photographs, clippings, sculpture plans, sketches, speeches, and a scrapbook.

A collection of documents, photographs and samples of artwork relating to the life and work of Tom Dorsey, or Tom Two Arrows an Onondagan-adopted Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indian and artist based in the Albany area.

The Ten Broeck family was one of the most prominent and oldest families in Albany, New York, and were of Dutch descent. Wessel Ten Broeck came to the colony of New Netherland in 1626. His children were Wesselse, Dirck, Hendrick and Cornelia. Dirck would be one of the first aldermen of Albany. This collection contains correspondence, wills, inventories, certificates, promissory notes, land estate records, and genealogical records.

William Law Learned Peltz (1882-1961) was an avid collector of Albany memorabilia and a philatelist. He had a lifelong interest in postage stamps and postal history and was a founding member of the Fort Orange Stamp Club in 1926. His stamps document postal history from the pre-stamp through stamp periods. This collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks, and stamps.

Erastus Dow Palmer (1817-1904) was an American sculptor. Born in Pompey, New York, he and his family moved to Albany, New York, in 1849 when Palmer began working on large-scale sculptures. His sculpture, Angel at the Sepulchre (1865), remains in Albany. Palmer son’s Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932), also became an artist, best known for his winter scenes. Following his death in 1904, Erastus Palmer was buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery. This collection contains correspondence, personal papers, and photographs.

Artist Otto Plaug was born in Dessau, Germany, in 1898, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1906. His primary work was in landscapes and abstract works, but early in his career, he also painted a number of Laguna Pueblo tribal members during a visit. Settling in Greenfield Center, New York, following his 1941 marriage to Bernhardine Schmitz, Plaug continued painting nearly until the end of his life in 2000, at 102 years of age. He was buried in Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs, New York. This collection contains biographical materials, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, writings, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and audio/visual materials.

Michael Nicholas Nolan was born in County Carlow, Ireland in 1833. He immigrated to the United States at age ten. Nolan served as mayor of Albany, New York from 1878-1883, and as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1881-1883. Nolan died in Albany in 1905. This collection contains correspondence, memorabilia, and business records.

Organized in 1832, the New York State Agricultural Society was formed to bring farmers together to share their ideas, techniques, and experiences. At that time, New York was an agrarian state, leading the nation in agricultural production. One of the predecessors of this society formed in 1791, was The Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts, and Manufactures, which eventually became the Albany Institute of History & Art. The New York State Agricultural Society has played a vital role in New York. Among other initiatives, the society played an instrumental role in establishing the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the 1860s, established and managed the New York State Fair for nearly sixty years, and promoted and formed numerous food and agriculture-related organizations. This collection contains essays on topics including terrestrial magnetism, whitewash, French agricultural techniques, dyes and paints, machines, and hat making, 1795-1840; and letters discussing agricultural processes, machines, and animal medicine, 1792-1810, from James Wight, John Watkins, Reuben Hopkins, Samuel Mitchell, Robert Johnston, and Andrew Billings.

John McConihe (1834-1864) was born in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York. After graduating from Union College in 1853, he went on to study law at the University of Albany, earning his law degree in 1855. He began a successful law practice in Troy the same year. In 1857, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he continued practicing law. When the Civil War broke out, he helped raise the 1st Nebraska Regiment and would be involved in several battles. He was killed in action during the battle of Cold Harbor in 1864, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy. This collection includes correspondence, clippings, photographs, and memoirs. Although the collection ranges from 1857-1870, the majority of materials date from the early 1860s, when McConihe served during the War.

The Ludlows were a prominent New York family with branches in New York City and Claverack. The bulk of the collection is comprised of the papers of William H. Ludlow and his son, William B. Ludlow, but also documents four generations of the Ludlow family. This collection contains correspondence, documents, business records, legal papers, and a small amount of prints, drawings, and photographs.