The Bleecker Family Papers found in this collection primarily concern John Bleecker and his immediate family from 1751-1838. The collection contains bills, correspondence, deeds, and indentures.

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.

This collection contains correspondence and legal papers.

Joel W. Burdick accepted a position as a clerk with the D & H (Delaware and Hudson) Railroad Company in 1879, and moved with his wife to Albany, New York. He eventually rose to the position of passenger agent, and he and his wife traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada. This collection contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs.

The initial inventory of this collection indicates that the collection contains deeds, diaries, property records, receipts, and wills. The family name is also spelled Bogert, Burgert, Borghart, and Burghardt in some records.

All the photographs were made circa 1920 when Mr. Burlingame moved into the house. The photograph of an ironwork gate is by Lena photographers; all others are by Fellowcrafts Photo Shop.

The collection contains audition posters for the years 1961-1984, performance posters for the years 1960-1987, the 1986 Albany High School 45th Anniversary Reunion program, 1969 reprints of Metropolitan Opera House Performance posters from 1907 and 1931, and four bound scrapbooks which contain letters, newspaper clippings, thank you letters, organization constitution, outline of plans for organization, photographs of performances and rehearsals.

The Capitol Hill Choral Society was a mixed choral group created by Judson Rand (conductor) in spring 1953, with its premiere performance on December 18, 1953. The Society’s constitution from 1953, states that it was created to educate both the members of the organization and the outside community through the study and artistic presentation of choral music of the highest quality. This collection contains songbooks, a photograph, and performance programs.

The collection consists of a random grouping of ambrotypes, daguerreotypes and tintypes; all photographic techniques popular in the United States from the late 1830’s to the turn of the century (19th into 20th). Most of the collection, like the predominant subject matter of these photographic processes, are portraits. Some landscape photography was done using each of the three photographic techniques; few survive. Landscape photography would blossom with the advent of the “paper process” which, though still cumbersome by today’s standards, was much less cumbersome than the equipment and process required, even for the tintype.