1324 Jefferson Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14208 Map
716-883-4418

Completed in 2006, this impressive, 20,000 square foot facility is located at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Utica Street . The Library is Wheelchair accessible and has 35 parking spaces. Black and white copies are available at 15 cents each. There is a Radio Receiver for the visually impaired.

Public Access Computers: 47 computers, networked (printing 10 cents B&W per page) Microsoft Office Applications, Internet Access, Misc. "What can I do at a Public Access Computer?" The location features a state-of-the-art, technology training lab with 12 computers.

The building features a 150-seat auditorium. Use of the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Branch Library Auditorium is intended for activities conducted or sponsored by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and secondarily, for organizations engaged in educational, cultural, intellectual or charitable activities of interest and/or benefit to the community.

PLEASE NOTE: Formal application for the use of the auditorium is made with library management. An individual repsonsible for the meeting must complete and sign an application form and return it to the library for review and approval. Applications should be filed with the Frank E. Merriweather Branch not less than 4 weeks in advance of the event. Action on any application will require two (2) weeks for evaluation. Applicants will be notified of confirmation or rejection by mail.
Auditorium Application (PDF)
Auditorium Rules (PDF)

What's Special About the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library

Uncrowned Queens Affiliate

The Merriweather Library became the First-in-the-Nation Uncrowned Queens Institute Affiliate on Saturday, October 4, 2008. The library will soon be home to an Uncrowned Community Builders Technology site which will allow individuals to send biographies, photos and audio messages directly to the Uncrowned Queens webpage. To learn more, visit http://wings.buffalo.edu/uncrownedqueens/C/index.html

DESIGN
Architect Robert Traynham Coles' striking circular design, with its interconnected interior spaces, is intended to suggest an African Village . The library features an African American Resource Room, adult and youth reading rooms, a technology training lab, auditorium, parking lot and an African motif in the block facade. The building replaces the nearly 80-year-old North Jefferson Branch Library and has been renamed after Frank E. Merriweather, Jr., editor and publisher of The Criterion newspaper, the oldest minority newspaper in upstate New York.

William A. Miles Center for African and African-American Studies
William A. Miles Center for African and African-American Studies, the largest resource center in Western New York for information on African American history. This unique and outstanding collection was established in 1965 by now-retired B&ECPL Assistant Deputy Director William A. Miles, and in 1975, the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier began to incorporate microfilms of primary source material on the history of African Americans in the Western New York area.

In addition to the numerous books, microfilm and flat pictures, the collection has several specialized databases and has now acquired a new resource that makes Black Studies research more convenient and robust.  The microfiche Schomburg Clipping File contains more than 9,000 records that preserve and document important accomplishments in the African American experience.

The Schomburg Clipping File mirrors the black experience, not only in North America, but worldwide. Essentially a periodical and newspaper clipping file, this unique collection also includes typescripts, broadsides, pamphlets, programs, book reviews, menus and various other short publications dealing with black history and culture. An important source for research into all aspects of black activities and accomplishments, the file brings together a huge diversity of material organized by subject and totaling almost a million pages not duplicated elsewhere.

The collection is international in scope including countries in Africa and others not normally associated with black culture such as Italy, Russia and Japan. Easy to use and suitable both for ready reference queries or in-depth research, the Schomburg Clipping File is a valuable and unusual research tool for the study of the African American experience.

Additional Resource
The Afro American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier works to preserve historical sources that pertain to Afro-Americans in Western New York and to promote research and scholarship that has to do with the life and history of Afro-Americans in New York State. Visit their website at http://www.aahanf.org/

Opening Doors
Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons Opening Doors celebrates the contributions of African American academic surgeons to medicine and medical education. It tells the stories of four pioneering African American surgeons and educators who exemplify excellence in their fields and believe in continuing the journey of excellence through the education and mentoring of younger physicians and surgeons. Read More.

Learn more about the dedication and renaming of this center...

THANK YOU
The Library extends a special thank-you to The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation for its generous support of this project. A $250,000 grant awarded by The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation in 2002 has provided furnishings and equipment for the African American Resource Room and technology training lab, as well as the original artwork from Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folk Tales, which is on display in the new library.

The Library also acknowledges donations from the Afro-American Police Association (A.A.P.A), the Black Firefighters' Association, Members of Color Helping All (M.O.C.H.A), and, of course, the continuing contributions of the Friends of the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library

Young Scientists (Ages 6-10) Thursdays at 3:00 PM Registration is required ... Please call the library! History's Mysteries: Exploring Scientific Discoveries of the Past July 9 • Mapping a Strange and Dangerous Land Lewis and Clark mapped out a journey through the Louisiana Purchase. Join us as we map out the library and discover all its' secret treasures! July 30 • Music to My Ears Scientists have found musical instruments that date back more than 30,000 years! Don't miss out as we make our own musical instruments and start a Branched Out band! July 16 • Digging into the Past Archaeologists find old human settlements and try to solve the puzzle of how they lived. Help us as we dig for artifacts and solve the mystery. August 6 • Race to Discover DNA In 1952, scientists raced to discover what DNA looked like. Use their discovery to make a model of a DNA molecule to take home. July 23 • Let's Fly Away! The Wright Brothers tried many different kinds of airplanes before they were successful. How many tries will you need to make a high-flying plane? Join us as we make planes to race outside. August 13 • The Case of the Disappearing Dinosaurs Scientists are still trying to find out how dinosaurs became extinct. Join us as we try to solve the mystery.   Young Explorers (ages 3-5) Tuesdays at 2:00 PM Registration is required ... Please call the library! Be Creative! July 7 • I Scream for Ice Cream Let's celebrate national ice cream month in style. Join us for some bone chilling fun as we learn the science behind ice cream. Each child will have the opportunity to make their very own ice cream. July 28 • You've Been Slimed Is slime a solid or a liquid? Come make some slime with us and figure out just what it is! July 14 • Sounds All Around Hum, bang, plink, boom! Sounds are all around us! Come see how sounds are made. Make an instrument and express yourself! August 4 • Recycling Rules Earth is our home. Let's go outside and see what's out there. Help us uncover ways to turn trash into something new. July 21 • Sidewalk Silly How do liquids become solid and vice versa? Make your own chalk and learn how powders turn to liquids and how liquids change into solids. August 11 • Bubble Bonanza Can bubbles be square? What happens when you touch a bubble? Can you eat bubbles? Join us to explore the science of bubbles and make your own super bubble solution to take home.   August 18 • Marvelous Mirrors Learn how a mirror can distort what we see and how mirrors can affect the direction of light. Children will create a periscope to take home.

The next scheduled holiday for this location is Saturday, July 04, 2009 (Independence Day).

*Summer hours run from Memorial Day Weekend UNTIL Labor Day.