Theater programs -- New York (State) -- Buffalo.
Stuart Robson was a popular comedic actor who played Buffalo stages many times. The Academy of Music, Buffalo's "Thespian Temple" from 1868 to 1895 was a successful venue that hosted some of the biggest stars of the late 19th century theatre.
Buffalo Academy of Music
Buffalo Theater and Music Program Collection
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (Publisher of digital)
Howard, Bronson, 1842-1908
Robson, Stuart, 1836-1903
Woodward, George S.
Elwood, W. H.
McKean, Gabriella
May, Olive
Hayden, W. R.
Digital image copyright 2019 by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
eng
Late Nineteenth Century (1850-1900)
Edwin Booth was one of the biggest stars of 19th-century American stage. During his career, he was known for his Shakespearian roles, especially his portrayal of Hamlet. Born into a famous acting family, the Booth name today is more likely associated with his brother, John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893
Rainford, Milton
Cummins, Ellen
Carroll, Jennie
Pierce, F. R.
Rogers, Benjamin G., 1819 or 1820-1895
This is the earliest dated program in our collection. The location of the performance is unknown, but was likely an early Buffalo playhouse. Amelia Holman Gilfert (Mrs. Gilfert) was considered the first star of the American theater.
[Buffalo Theatre]
Gilfert, Amelia Holman
Early Nineteenth Century (1800-1850)
Rigas, John J., 1924-
Adelphia Communications Corporation
On July 24, 2002, 77 year old John Rigas, the founder and CEO of Adelphia Communications Corporation, was indicted on charges of securities, wire, and bank fraud. Two of his sons, Timothy and Michael were also charged, along with two company executives. Timothy had been Adelphia’s financial officer. Michael served as chief operating officer. John Rigas, the son of Greek immigrants, had started Adelphia in 1952 with a $300 dollar investment. He grew the company to the nation’s fifth largest cable company. Following the indictments, John Rigas talked exclusively with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, refuting federal charges of conspiring to defraud investors, looting corporate accounts, and failing to disclose $2.3 billion dollars in company debts.
Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)
Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, editor)
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)
Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Lillie Langtry, nicknamed "The Jersey Lily," was a British-American socialite, actress and producer. The author of this play, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, was a British politician and writer. He coined the phrases "the great unwashed," "pursuit of the almighty dollar," and "the pen is mightier than the sword." The opening line of his novel Paul Clifford (1830) is that now classic phrase, "It was a dark and stormy night".
Burns, T. H.
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873
Langtry, Lillie, 1853-1929
Coghlan, Charles F. (Charles Francis), 1848-1899
Everill, Frederick, A.
Calvert, C.
Carne, Joseph
Concert programs -- New York (State) -- Buffalo.
The Music Hall on Main Street opened on October 18, 1887, and was the and later was completely remodeled into the Teck Theater in 1900.
Music Hall (Buffalo, N.Y.)
German Young Men’s Association (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo Orchestra (est. 1887)
Lund, John, 1859-1925
Buffalo Orpheus
Cornwell, William C.
Deutscher Saengerbund
Centura, Joseph
Buffalo Liedertafel
deu
Adelphia Communications Corporation.
On July 8, 2004, John and Timothy were found guilty of conspiracy, securities and bank fraud. They were convicted of hiding $2.3 billion in debt, while looting Adelphia of $100 million. Michael avoided prison by pleading guilty to making a false entry in a financial record. Michael Mulcahey, the former director of internal reporting for Adelphia, was acquitted. The government’s main witness, James Brown, Adelphia’s former vice president for finance, had pleaded guilty to fraud in 2002. Less than a year later, on June 20, 2005, John Rigas, who at age 80 suffered from heart problems and bladder cancer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His son Timothy received a 20-year prison sentence. John’s sentence was later reduced to 12 years, and Timothy’s to 17 years, after a federal appeals court threw out part of the government’s case. John and Timothy began serving their prison terms on August 13, 2007, when their initial appeals were denied. Two weeks earlier, John sat down with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, proclaiming his innocence and desire to clear the family name. U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand had also ruled that after serving two years, John could regain his freedom if he were diagnosed with less than three months to live. On February 19, 2016, after serving 8 years in federal prison,Rigas, at age 91, was granted a compassionate release. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, Editor)
My diary of 1907 : with events and happenings fully chronicled
Eichberg, Benjamin--Personal narratives
Eichberg, Benjamin--Diaries
Diaries
Benjamin Eichberg (1887-1980) was twenty-years-old in 1907, the year he filled a composition notebook with his diary entries from January to June. He lived with his mother in the Fruit Belt at 350 Carlton in Buffalo and he worked as a typesetter for Matthews-Northrup Co. He journals about his life away from work mostly--a snapshot of life in his day. Sprinkled throughout are sentimental writings about his mother and his hope to find "the girl who aroused more than a passing interest in me." Click here to view the typed transcript of this diary.
Eichberg, Benjamin.
Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)
Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)
Barnes, Ada L. F.--Diaries
Barnes, Francis G.
Hamburg (N.Y. : Town)--Description and travel
New York (State), Western--Description and travel
Great Lakes Region (North America)
Description and travel
Handwritten diary kept in 1931 by Ada L. F. Barnes of 224 Main Street, Hamburg, NY. Ada was married to Dr. Francis G. Barnes, and possibly assisted him with his medical practice. Single diary entries per page detail: professional, civic, and personal meetings, shopping trips and household management, weather, local and regional travel experiences.
Barnes, Ada L. F.
Free guide to the Exposition, Buffalo and vicinity : with maps.
Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.)
Patent medicines.
Promotional booklet for both the 1901 Pan-American Exposition as well as for Dr. Pierce's Medical Dispensary (located in downtown Buffalo) his Common Sense Medical Adviser... with text on the city interspersed with text on Pierce's medical wonders... and even-numbered pages with space for "Pan-American Notes," and this copy used by the original owner to record, in pencil, Expo activities [e.g., "saw spot when McKinley killed"]. Notably inscribed by anonymous Exposition visitor. 48 pages + folding color-outlined map (10.5 x 14 in.) + small Expo grounds map + pictorial wrappers. Specially Printed by Dr. R.V. Pierce For Free Distribution to Pan-American Visitors.
Pierce, R. V. (Ray Vaughn), 1840-1914.
[Specially printed by Dr. R.V. Pierce] (Publisher of original)
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy
World War, 1939-1945--Regimental histories--United States.
Fifty years after the Allied amphibious invasion of Normandy during World War II, Western New York veterans of D-Day reflect on their roles and experiences as they descended on the northern coast of France. The seven-part series was presented on WIVB-TV as a tribute to all who took part in the invasion, which claimed 16,293 American lives. D-Day, led by U.S., British and Canadian forces on five beachheads, helped liberate Northern France from the Nazis and enabled the allies to launch their drive into Germany.
Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)
Smith, Doug (Producer, Writer, Host)
DeJac, Lynn
Criminal investigation--United States--Case studies
Lynn DeJac of Buffalo, New York served thirteen years in prison for a crime she did not commit. In 1994 she was wrongly convicted of murdering her fourteen-year-old daughter, Crystallynn Girard. In 2007, DeJac’s conviction was vacated after Buffalo Police cold case detective Dennis Delano brought forth DNA evidence he claimed linked DeJac’s ex-boyfriend, Dennis Donohue, to Crystallynn’s death. Donohue could not be charged because he had testified before a grand jury and was granted immunity from prosecution. However, he was later convicted of murdering a woman he had once dated. DeJac, according to the Innocence Project, became the first woman to be exonerated of murdering someone based on DNA evidence. She had given birth to twin boys while behind bars and later married their father, Chuck Peters, while serving her sentence. She also had an older, estranged son, Edward. WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg and News 4 Chief Photographer Mike Mombrea Jr. were with DeJac the day of her release and also documented the reunion with her family. During a live interview that evening, DeJac told Newberg, "The truth will set me free." Shortly after the state of New York paid DeJac a settlement of $2.7 million dollars, she was diagnosed with cancer. She died at age fifty on June 18, 2014. Her husband and twin sons, Keith and Douglas were with their mother when she passed away.
Hutchinson, Dave (Photographer)
Micole, Mike (Live truck technician)
Meegan, Martha (WIVB-TV Assignment Editor)
Murphy, Kurt (Graphic artist)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [manuscript] : Tom Sawyer's comrade
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Manuscripts
Gift of the author to the Buffalo, N.Y., Young Men's Association Library (1885,1887). Presented in response to a request for a manuscript from a library official, James Fraser Gluck. Manuscript was received in the following installments: Title page sketch, Chapters 12 1/2-14, Chapters 22-30, Chapters 38-42 (487 leaves) in November 1885 Chapters 31-27 (209 leaves), circa 1886 Mark Twain's "Notice to Reader," Chapters 1-12 1/2, Chapters 15-21 (665 leaves) in July of 1887, unknown/lost to library when Curator James F. Gluck died unexpectedly while this installment was in his possession. This portion of the manuscript was recovered in 1992 and was found to include previously unpublished material.​ The following passages were never previously published: Images 401 – 433 ; Pages 198 – 214 Images 743 – 851 ; Pages 309 – 363 Images 1181 – 1185 ; Pages 527 – 529 Images 1283 – 1325 ; Pages 579 – 600 Additional information about the manuscript's history can be found here: Huck Finn Manuscript
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910.
Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)
Woodstock Then & Now : Remembering Woodstock Twenty Years Later
Woodstock Festival
Rock music
Woodstock (N.Y.)
The Woodstock Festival of 1969 is commemorated 20 years later. Shot on location at Bethel and Swan Lake, New York. Featured interview with comic activist Hugh Nanton Romney, better known as "Wavy Gravy," who helped keep the peace during Woodstock.
Root, Kim (Photographer, Editor)
Summerville, Dan (Photographer, Editor)
WIVB (Television Station : Buffalo, N.Y.)
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--History
African Americans--Civil rights--New York (State)--Buffalo--History
African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--Economic conditions
African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--Social conditions
Buffalo civil rights leaders reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King's dream vs. reality. Revisits the urban riots of the turbulent 1960s. The series raises the question: Are Buffalo's African American citizens better off now than they were during those times? Segments feature reflections from William Gaiter, George Arthur, Jim Pitts. There is archival footage of black leaders of the B.U.I.L.D. organization confronting Mayor Frank Sedita about the need to create jobs. Black Buffalo police Lt. John Eberhart says he joined the Buffalo Police Department in the 1960s as an act of self-defense, “to keep myself from the police.” Former Buffalo police officer Ted Kirkland reflects on his federal lawsuit against the city over the lack of black officers on the force. Former Buffalo School Board president Florence Baugh recalls the condition of the schools before desegregation. She calls desegregation “the most exciting social revolution occurring in the City of Buffalo.” School Superintendent Eugene Reville said English and math scores are up, while the drop out rate is down. The suspension rate for black students, however, was twice as high as that of white students.
Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Reporter)
Brown, Byron
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963
Talbert, Mary
Niagara Movement
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People--History--20th century
The election of Byron Brown as Buffalo's first African American mayor came one hundred years after the nation's modern civil rights movement was born on the Niagara Frontier. The Niagara Movement, which began in 1905, was the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "The Vision and the Victory" celebrates Brown's historic election and shows how Buffalo's historic role in the struggle for civil rights has received national recognition, including perspectives from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, N.A.A.C.P. Chairman Julian Bond, and New York Senator and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Hairston, Mylous (Producer, Writer, Reporter)
Mombrea, Mike, Jr. (Producer, Photographer, Editor)
Root, Kim (Producer, Photographer, Editor)
Schlaerth, Joseph (Executive Producer)
Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)
Vinciguerra, Jerry (Graphic Artist)
Williams, Lillian (Historical Consultant)
Dee, Joe (Contributing Photographer)
Ersing, Matt (Contributing Photographer)
Hutchinson, Dave (Contributing Photographer)
Ivancic, Paul (Contributing Photographer)
Newberg, Rich (Researcher)
Hairston, Mylous (Researcher)
Parrotte, Mark (Researcher)
Schlaerth, Joseph (Researcher)
The Road to Freedom : Preserving Black History In Western New York
Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913
Nash, J. Edward (Jesse Edward), 1868-1957
Michigan Street Baptist Church
Underground Railroad--New York (State)--Buffalo--History
Fugitive slaves--New York (State)--Buffalo--History
Highlights Buffalo's unique role in the abolitionist movement. Uses reenactments, old photographs and drawings, and interviews with historians and preservationists such as Dr. Monroe Fordham, Jesse Nash, Jr., George Arthur, Rev. William Henderson, and Kevin Cottrell, to tell the story of Buffalo's critical role as the last stop on the Underground Railroad. Discusses significant sites in Buffalo to be preserved, such as the Michigan Street Baptist Church and the Nash house.
Dawkins, Don (Producer, Photographer, Editor)
Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)
Musial, Chris (Producer)
Hairston, Mylous (Reporter)
Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Contributing Photographer)
Van Horn, Mike (Graphic Artist)
Mombrea, John (Post-production Editor)
Baxter, Tim (Post-production Editor)
Battilana, Tony (Director)
Foster, Joseph D. (Tape Operator)
Benzel, Gary (Audio Engineer)
Brown, Dave (Chyron Operator)
The Promise of 100 Years : the Pride of a People
The organized struggle for civil rights in America had its early roots in Buffalo, New York in 1905. Hoping to create a great "current of protest," W.E.B. Dubois and fellow activists met at the home of Mary Talbert and voiced their demands for equality by establishing the Niagara Movement. It led to the creation of the N.A.A.C.P. A century later, African Americans in Buffalo's inner city are still struggling with poverty, crime, and unemployment. Many students fall far behind in school because of poor reading skills. See how these challenges are now being addressed, and how African culture is being preserved and promoted through the arts. "Minute by minute, hour by hour," says and old African proverb, "if we lose our history, we lose our power." Features reflections by former New York Deputy Assembly speaker and Buffalo mayoral candidate, Arthur O. Eve.
Ersing, Rich (Producer, Photographer, Editor)
Mombrea, Mike, Jr. (Producer, Contributing Photographer, Editor)
Schlaerth, Joseph (Producer)
Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)
Swenson, Scott (Contributing Photographer)
Schrodt, Roy (Post-production Editor)
Ersing, Rich (Researcher)
Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Researcher)
Musial, Chris (Researcher)
The People's Pope : Life and Times of Pope John Paul II
John Paul II, Pope, 1920-2005
Popes--Biography
Catholic Church--History
Polish Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo
Documentary on Pope John Paul II's historic 1999 visit to his homeland, Poland. It includes biographical video about the pope's life, his influence on the Catholic Church, and the impact of his papacy on the people of Poland and the many Polish-Americans in Western New York. A special segment focuses on the Pope's relationship with Ann Odre, the Buffalo woman who took a bullet along with John Paul II during a 1981 assassination attempt. Host Rich Newberg also interviews the former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, who he had met fourteen years earlier, during Solidarity's struggle to be free of communism in Poland. Two Buffalo physicians, Dr. Jeffrey Meilman and Dr. Amar Atwal, are also featured, donating their services on their mission of mercy in Poland.
Mombrea Jr., Mike (Producer, Photographer, Editor)
Mombrea, John (Digital Editor)
Baxter, Tim (Digital Editor, Post-production Editor)
Giovenco, Joe (Director)
Clemens, Michael (Technical Director)
Foster, Joseph D. (Videotape Operator)
Masse, Dave (Master Control Operator)
Goldschlag, Dave (Contributing Photographer)
Ayers, Don (Louth System Operator)
Sliwa, Curtis, 1954-
Sliwa, Lisa
Guardian Angels (Organization)
Crime prevention--United States--Citizen participation
When crime fighters who wore red berets appeared on the mean streets of Buffalo in the early 1980s, people wanted to know more about the young crime fighters calling themselves the Guardian Angels. Their leaders, Curtis and Lisa Sliwa, invited WIVB-TV reporter Rich Newberg and photographer Mike Mombrea Jr. to cover the group's activities in the Bronx, where they began organizing subway safety patrols in 1979. Newberg got an up close and personal view of the Sliwas, who lived in poverty on Manhattan's Lower East Side. They lived on $9,000 dollars in 1982 and didn't own a car or have life insurance. They called their apartment "The Roach Motel." Yet they were effective in organizing chapters in big cities including Toronto and Cleveland. Sliwa was shunned by Buffalo Mayor Jimmy Griffin when he accused city officials and police of taking payola in the areas of prostitution and drug dealing. Griffin said Sliwa could not produce evidence that this existed. Interviews include Buffalo Police Commissioner James Cunningham, Curtis and Lisa Sliwa.
Mombrea, Mike, Sr. (Photographer, Editor)
Sliwa, Curtis (Guardian Angels Founder)
Sliwa, Lisa (Guardian Angels Founder)