The library has available over 125 art and history related periodicals and newsletters including many unique to the region. The Periodical Collection includes Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, Antiques, Art in America, Hudson Valley, Radical History, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record and The Journal of American History. The Albany Institute's library holds over 85,000 photographic images documenting the history of Albany from the 1840's to the present day. In addition to an extensive subject collection, the library also holds the Morris Gerber Collection and the Emmanuel Weil Collection, as well as nearly 90 photograph albums. There are also a number of photographic images residing within various manuscript collections.
Photographic reproduction is available for a fee.
The library holds many WWI, WWII and other miscellaneous twentieth century posters. The library's Scrapbook Collection encompasses over 100 scrapbooks, consisting largely of personal collections of clippings, ephemeral items, and photographs dating from approximately 1794-1971. Albany events, people and history are well represented including fires in Albany, the Farrell family, the Tulip Festival, and the War Chest Campaign of 1918. The Vertical File consists of approximately 16.0 linear feet of newspaper and magazine clippings and some research papers on a wide range of subjects focusing on city and local history.