LibGuides: History Unbound: Otsego County

Otsego County Digital Collections on NYHeritage

These are collections about Otsego County. To see a full list of contributing organizations from Otsego County, which have posted material about other areas, click here.

Clarke Family Business Papers
A collection of business, land and family papers of eight generations of the George Hyde Clarke family.
Clarke Family Correspondence
A collection of family correspondence between 1850 and 1920. Mary Gale Clarke labeled and categorized much of family correspondence but the author's name and date.
Diaries of Henry Wilcox
Diaries written by farmer Henry Wilcox in Oneonta, NY.
Ethelwyn Doolittle Memorabilia at Hartwick College
This collection consists of memorabilia and correspondence of Ethelwyn Doolittle, a local resident and patron of Hartwick College.
Greater Oneonta Historical Society Papers of Jessie Elvira Jenks
Letters to and from Jessie, who lived from 1873-1964. She was from Oneonta and became a teacher.
Hartwick College Records at Hartwick College
This collection documents the history of Hartwick College from the expansion of the Hartwick Seminary Collegiate Course to its present day status of 1500 students and 130 faculty members.
Hartwick Seminary Records at Hartwick College
This collection includes the papers of or relating to Rev. John Christopher Hartwick and the establishment of the Hartwick Seminary. The documents reflect the life of John Christopher Hartwick, and his work with the Lutheran Synod.
Henry Wilcox Memorabilia
Ephemera and materials relating to the Henry Wilcox and his diaries.
James Milne SUNY Oneonta
Articles, photographs and correspondence from James Milne, the first principal of the Oneonta Normal School. He was born in Scotland in 1850 and buried in Cortland.
John J. Burger Railroad Collection
The John J. Burger Railroad Collection consists of extensive research material related to the Southern New York Electric Railway and other New York State railroads.
Old Main SUNY Oneonta
Old Main was the first major building on the SUNY Oneonta campus.
Oneonta City Directories
Directory of Oneonta for 1901-1902: a classified business directory and householder's street directory together with a compendium of the village government, institutions, incorporated companies, societies, miscellaneous organizations, etc.
Oneonta NY Railroad Memorabilia at Hartwick College
These materials were used by Dr. Eugene Milener during the compilation of his book, Oneonta: The Development of a Railroad Town, which he subsequently donated to the college archives.
Otsego County Woman's Christian Temperance Union Collection
A collection of reports, minutes, and scrapbooks relating to New York State chapters of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, the bulk of which relate to the Unadilla, New York local union.
Otsego Lake Historical Collection
Primary sources relating to the historical significance of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, NY.
Smith and Telfer Photographic Collection
The photographic work of Washington G. Smith (1828-1893) and Arthur J. Telfer (1859-1954) documents life in Otsego County, New York, for almost a century.

Images of Otsego County from other digital collections

Oneonta, N.Y. (1929)
View of a pine plantation growing on fallow land at a farm in Oneonta, NY. In 1929, a law was passed authorizing the Conservation Department to purchase idle farm land for the purposes of reforestation. This image was created to record the reforestation efforts of the New York State Conservation Department.
Photograph & Document: 6798 [John J. Burke, Oneonta, NY.] - Federal Prohibition Inspector
Photograph: Group portrait of Henry E. Huntington and family in Oneonta, New York, circa 1900.
Photograph: Oneonta, New York; Freckleton/Beal Garden
1987, printed 1991, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Photograph: reproduction of an earlier photograph of Laskaris' Confectionary, I/6 Main Street, Oneonta, New York
Postcard: Fre Baptist Church and Parsonage
Postcard: Main Street Baptist Church of Oneonta
Postcard: Maple Terrace Motel, Oneonta, New York
Postcard: Y.M.C.A. and 20 century lunch room, Oneonta, NY
Postcard: Y.M.C.A. building, Oneonta, N.Y.
Postcard: Y.M.C.A building. Greeting from Oneonta, N.Y.

Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views: Cooper views and Otsego Lake scenery.

Stereographs were a pair of photographs taken at the same moment but from inches apart, so that when viewed through a stereoscopic viewer, there was an illusion of 3D depth to them (like a modern Viewmaster toy). The New York Public Library Digital Collections includes 47 stereographs specific to Cooperstown and Lake Otsego.

Cooperstown from near Lakewood.

Otsego County Newspapers

NYS Historic Newspapers: Otsego County
Titles range from 1795 to present
Sidney Memorial Library's Digital Archives
Titles range from 1882 to 2010
Village Library of Morris's Digital Archives
Titles range from 1850 to 1963
Fulton History Newspapers
Search for Otsego in the top right to generate a table of Otsego County newspapers, including coverage of Cooperstown, Milford, Richfield Springs, and Richmond Hill.

Otsego County Directories & Yearbooks

Oneonta City Directories
From the Greater Oneonta Historical Society on NYHeritage. Only includes 1901-02.
Oneonta Business Directory (1868)
From the New York Public Library Digital Collections
1940 Census Population Schedules - New York - Otsego County - ED 39-48

Otsego History Books

Sketch of the History of Oneonta By Dudley M. Campbell · 1883
A "recollection of the older inhabitants" -- seemingly meant to counter the "gross inaccuracies" of another book about Otsego County published around the same time. It has citations, but also predictably problematic description of colonization and native people. It covers notable people of Oneonta through 1870.
A History of Oneonta from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time By Dudley M. Campbell · 1906
An updated version of the 1883 sketch.
Oneonta Memories and Sundry Personal Recollections of the Author By Willard Vincent Huntington · 1891
Willard Vincent Huntington is brother to Henry Edward Huntington, who was a railroad magnate, millionaire California real estate developer and namesake of the public library in Oneonta. This book was written when Willard was 35. He relied on Campbell's Sketch of Oneonta History from a decade before. The book covers 1800-1870.
Flood Insurance Study City of Oneonta, New York, Otsego County By United States. Federal Insurance Administration · 1978
Maps and graphs about the flood risks in Oneonta. Available to the public because it was produced by the federal government.
Historical souvenir of Oneonta, N.Y. - 1896
An historical sketch of the First Baptist Church in Morris, N.Y. - 1893
Otsego County, New York; geographical and historical, from the earliest settlement to the present time, with county and township maps from original drawings by Edwin F Bacon - 1902
Past and present of Zion Church, Morris, Otsego Co., New York.

Maps of Otsego County

Oneonta, N.Y. (1884)
Oneonta Quadrangle (1918)
From the Topographic quadrangles of New York State
West Oneonta [Village]; West Oneonta Business Directory. ; Town of Oneonta, Otsego Co. N.Y. (1868)
From ATLAS OF OTSEGO CO., NEW YORK. FROM ACTUAL SURVEYS BY AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF F.W. BEERS, ASSISTED BY F.S. FULMER & OTHERS.
2010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for Oneonta, New York
1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New York (NY) - Otsego County - Oneonta - ED 39-35 to 53
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - New York - Otsego County - Oneonta - ED 39-32 - ED 39-48
Map of Otsego Co., New York: from actual surveys - 1856

Otsego References from Other Digital Collections

1969 DARE Interview : Oneonta, New York; Primary Informant NY186
A fieldwork recording for the Dictionary of American Regional English.
Land Grant Application- Soule, Charles (Oneonta, NY)
Land grant application submitted to the Maine Land Office for Charles Soule for service in the Revolutionary War.
1972 Environmental Survey: I-88, Susquehanna Expressway construction, Broome County line to Oneonta, Chenango/Delaware/Otsego counties
Cook book : a collection of choice tested receipts / contributed and compiled by the Ladies of the First Presbyterian Church of Oneonta, N.Y. - 1906
Printed stationery featuring several men, horse-drawn carts, and automobiles in front of two Rowe family owned store fronts, a wholesale grocery store and a fresh roasted coffee shop - 1917
Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas
"Negro students at Oneonta State University in New York have demanded that the college given them 35 dollars a week spending money. "...
Preservation Application: New York MPS Oneonta Armory
Preservation Application: New York SP Oneonta Theatre