A heavy concentration of clippings focus on Troy's heyday as an industrial and manufacturing power. The Scrapbook Collection is a valuable and well-used source of information on Troy's history, especially for unusual subjects such as strikes, women's history, sports and natural disasters. The newspaper clippings selected for The Scrapbook Collection are the result of much effort and research and demonstrate the value of old newspapers for locating forgotten facts and reconstruction the past. The collection was used to locate many facts which appear in the Library's two successful Historic Troy Calendars published for 1997 and 1998. Government, businesss and civic organizations use the collection in planning historic celebrations, events, festivals and exhibits.
Genealogists find articles and obituaries on members of their family.
Authors find specific details and general background information on past events, individuals and numerous facts and figures important for their research. Ten years ago, with the assistance of library volunteers and funds from a state grant, the Scrapbook Collection, consisting of approximately 25,000 pages, was prepared for microfilm. Once reproduced, the collection became available on 45 reels of 35mm microfilm. The filming was done by the Northeast Document Conservation Center at Andover, Massachusetts through a NYS Conservation and Preservation Discretionary grant received by the Library. The collection is indexed in two ways.