Research

Finding Aid Search Tips

Finding Aids include descriptions of records, and contents lists for selected records of New York State agencies and governors that are held by the New York State Archives. Search Finding Aids by:

Full Text

The full text search looks for words anywhere in the in the finding aid. You can also use the following wildcards

*
The * wildcard is a substitute for 0 or more characers. Search results for Bell*will include any word beginning with the string 'Bell' for example Bell, Bellarosa and Bellinger.
?
The ? wildcard is a subsitute for a single character. Search results will include Capital and Capitol. You can enter multiple ? symbols but must know the number of missing characters. For example, Capit? will return no results but Capit?? will return Capital and Capitol..

 

Individual Fields

You can search by one the following fields:

Title:
The series title for any available finding aid

 

Creator:
The individual or organization responsible for the creation, accumulation, or assembly of the described materials.
Access Terms:
The key access terms used in the finding aid, including Name, Geographic Location, Subject, Function, Occupation and Genre.

Browsing

You can browse the available finding aid by selecting "Browse" at the top of each page and choosing title, creator or facet.

Search Results

Search results are lists of finding aids that include your search term. Each finding aid can be viewed by clicking its title.

The Series Number is your key to accessing the records. The series number is included in the search results, directly below the finding aid title. It is also available in the Series Overview section of each finding aid. Please make sure to note the series number when requesting access to records.