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| The recent History Room renovation for the first
time allows the collection to be preserved in an archivally-sound environment. A
climate control system dedicated to the room maintains constant levels of relative
temperature and humidity. Over 700 linear feet of metal shelving, a map case, cabinetry,
a locked "treasure" storage unit, work tables for the public, a photocopier, computer and
historian's desk have been installed.
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The Local History Room is primarily a documentary archive
of early Bronxville and its people, although it contains a limited number of artifacts.
Thousands of black and white photographs and negatives (including some rare glass negatives),
supplemented by several hundred early black and white and colored postcards, record the images
of more than a century of Village life. Research files cover topics ranging from Artists and
Architecture to Zoning and include Bronxville people, organizations and events. An almost
complete set of Bronxville's weekly newspapers, from 1902 to date, is available either on
microfilm or in bound volumes. Researchers can access issues of "The Villager," a local
magazine published several times a year by the Bronxville Women's Club, dating from the
1930's to date.
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| The History Room holds more than a dozen different books
written about Bronxville's past, as well as volumes penned by and about notable residents.
Its partial collection of Bronxville High School yearbooks dates from 1925. The History Room
also houses an extensive collection of pamphlets and magazine articles, including a wealth of
material on the Lawrence Park turn-of-the century art colony. |
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The archive is constantly expanding. Recent acquisitions
include a heavily-illustrated brochure on the early suburban growth of Bronxville published in
1911 and an original 1897 magazine article on Lawrence Park written by Theodore Dreiser, which
includes over a dozen vintage photographs.
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| If you're cleaning out your attic and find old material
about Bronxville don't throw it out! Contact the Village Historian. Tax deductible donations
are always welcome. Recent contributions have included a small oil painting by William Smedley,
a well-known artist who moved to Lawrence Park in 1897 and several colorful menus used at
Bronxville's Hotel Gramatan in the early 1900's.
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The Local History Room is an outgrowth of collections privately
maintained by early Village Historians, including Bertrand Burtnett, a fourth generation member of
the Masterton family who settled in Bronxville in the 1830's. His records include photographs of
the Village dating from the 1880's and earlier. The History Room files have been housed at the
Bronxville Public Library since the early 1980's, when then-Village Historian Jean Bartlett presided
over its introduction to the public. Extensive cataloging, organizing and filing remains to be
completed; volunteer help is always welcome. |
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