As the Central Library of the Mohawk Valley Library System, the librarians at the Schenectady County Public Library provide reference service to the residents of Fulton, Montgomery, Schenectady and Schoharie Counties.
SCPL has an extensive collection of local newspapers on microfilm, from the early 1800s until the Daily Gazette ceased microfilming in Feb. 2004. (The Schenectady County Historical Society also has pre-1900 papers on film.) We do not lend newspapers through interlibrary loan. Some newspapers on microfilm may be borrowed from the New York State Library at no charge for New York State residents and $20.00 per request outside New York.
Inquiries by mail are answered as time permits, for a cost of $10 per lookup. Send a check made out to Schenectady County Public Library to Robert Sullivan, SCPL, 99 Clinton St., Schenectady, NY 12305-2083.
Please Note: Some citations in the obituary index are for papers not owned by the Schenectady County Public Library. The newspaper list will give you sources to obtain copies of these records.
While we are not genealogists and do not have the staff to do lengthy research, we will do city directory searches and newspaper searches if you have a reasonably close date. Tools for locating death dates include the Social Security Death Index and the People Search at faqs.org. See our Vital Records section for an index to obituaries for certain periods (roughly 1795 - 1858, 1868, 1881 - May 1885, July 1899 - June 1900, July - Sept. 1901, 1902, 1993 - June 1995, Dec. 2005 - June 2006, January - May 7, 2008, March 2010 - August 2011, 2013 - late May 2014 and January 2015); we also have paper indexes for 1903 - 1905, 1907, 1909, 1913 - 1918 and 1979 through Aug. 1997. SCPL cardholders also have access to our America's News subscription, which includes much of the text of some local newspapers:
- Schenectady Daily Gazette (Aug. 15, 1997 - date)
- Albany Times Union (March 1986 - date)
- Albany Knickerbocker News (March 1986 - April 15, 1988)
- Saratogian (June 20, 2005 - date)
- Troy Record (May 24, 2005 - date)
Some local papers make the full text of obituaries available for limited periods: the Daily Gazette (Nov 15, 2008 - date), the Albany Times Union (Dec 18, 2002 - date), the Gloversville Leader-Herald (back to about mid-Feb 2008), the Saratogian (Oct 5, 2010 - date), the Glens Falls Post-Star (back to about mid-2008) and the Troy Record (Oct 11, 2010 - date). See also the index to the Saratogian produced by the Saratoga Springs Public Library since January 1, 1999.
For more extensive research questions, e-mail scplresearch@mvls.info before you send money. You may wish to consult the Schenectady County Historical Society (e-mail: librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org) or our list of local researchers. If you need copies of birth, marriage or death records, please contact the city, town or village clerk where the event occurred, which may be different from where the person lived.