Research Services
Grosvenor Room staff is available to conduct basic remote reference for your convenience. Please see the links below to request a service. Remote reference is completed as staff availability allows; the estimated time to complete a research request is generally 3-5 days. Staff will contact you in the case of a delayed response time. Documents will be transmitted via email. Copy and postage fees will apply if you prefer a hardcopy sent through the USPS. Please do not submit a new request until your previous requests are fulfilled. For general questions about the Library’s Special Collections Department, please email grosvenorref@buffalolib.org
Request Articles
Up to 3 articles with exact citation information. Please include publication name, date (mm/dd/yyyy, if applicable) and page number.
Request City/Telephone Directory Lookups
Up to 5 lookups per transaction.
Request Obituaries/Death Notices
Up to 3 obituaries with full name and date of death (mm/dd/yyyy).
Research services not provided:
- In-depth Research - Examples: "Please send me a copy of everything you have on the Jones family from Buffalo" or "My family came to Buffalo from Poland in the 1800s. Could you tell me what ship they arrived on?"
- New York State Vital Records Index - The library owns a copy of the NYS Vital Records Index. However, New York State regulations do not allow Library staff to search the records for others (remotely or locally).
- Newspaper Lookups - for a large quantity of material or when a specific date is not known. Example: high school sports records for a specific month or year; obituaries when the month and year are known, but not the specific death date.
- Lookups in microfilmed records - except for the record types listed under the Research services provided heading above.
Local Researchers
For patrons needing extensive research assistance, please refer to our Referrals list. Please note that the researchers listed are not affiliated with the library, and most do charge for their services.