Parks 1898-1908

This series is comprised of Rochester City Historian, Blake McKelvey's research notes, used to write his four volume history of Rochester, New York. The materials were assembled between 1937 and 1970. The series includes handwritten transcriptions of newspaper articles and journals; newspaper clippings, source and illustration citations, pamphlets, and notes. McKelvey’s four volume history of Rochester is possibly, the most comprehensive historical study of any mid-sized American city.

The intellectual content dates of the sub-series; data, articles, and anecdotes, are between 1784 to 1970. The assembly and transcription of the sub-series was created by McKelvey between 1937 and 1970. A bulk of the material consists of information regarding Rochester between 1834 and 1945.

The research notes cover a variety of topics such as, World War I and World War II, the Civil War, transportation, industries, the pioneer and early days of the village of Rochester, labor unions, and important Rochester personalities. It also covers Rochester’s social, civic, cultural, and economic environment from 1834 to 1970.