The City Hall Library has existed for over 100 years, and over that tenure has cobbled together a collection of around 66,000 books and a staggering 285,000 magazines, newspapers and assorted pieces of ephemera dating back to the 19th century.
Tucked just inside the historic Surrogate's Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, visitors can find the library with little more than a Google search, yet many locals and tourists miss this historic gem due to its lack of external signage, which itself is a result of the building's untouchable landmark status. Seekers who do locate the library can browse the stacks of massive, chipped tomes on such subjects as the laws and charters of New York or biographical files on the city's many mayoral personalities. While the various annual reports and bound logs cannot be checked out, there is a quiet (and mostly empty) reading room where interested parties can peruse their findings.
Beneath the ground-floor rooms which are open to the public, are the private municipal vaults containing hundreds of storage boxes of material chronicling the city's history all the way back to the unification of the five boroughs. In addition to clipped periodicals and delicate newsprint, the archives contain countless photos, letters and thousands of maps and blueprints from throughout New York's long, architectural history. The maze of stacked boxes and rolled-up schematics is not open to the public, but can be researched and viewed with the help of the location's above-ground library staff.
The City Hall Library and its attendant archives are adjoined by a recently created visitors center which showcases many of the collection's incredible finds such as the original deed to Coney Island and Jazz-age mugshots of famous mobsters.