Town Historian
Robert Lowell Goller
Southside Municipal Center
300 Gleed Avenue
Entrance #5 (in the back of the building)
East Aurora, New York 14052
Historian's Office Open for Research: Fridays from 1-4 p.m., and by appointment by emailing historian@townofaurora.com. Requests for information may be sent to the Town Historian's attention at 300 Gleed Avenue, or via e-mail.
PLEASE NOTE: While you might see us working in the Historian's Office to unpack and file items from the recent move to the new Town Hall, the office is open for research from 1-4 p.m., Fridays only. An appointment is necessary to conduct research at other times. Unfortunately at this time we cannot accommodate walk-ins outside of our regular hours on Fridays.
A NOTE ABOUT GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH: The research library, including cemetery listings, obituaries and family files, is available for visitors to conduct their own genealogical research. We are happy to assist you conduct your research and locate files, however due to limited resources and personnel we are unable to conduct extensive genealogical research for you beyond looking up a name or two. We appreciate your understanding.
E-mail: historian@townofaurora.com
Who is the Town Historian
and what does he or she do?
Town Historian's Annual Report for 2010
The Opera House stood at Main and Church streets until a fire destroyed the structure in 1908.
The Town Historian's Office is available as a resource for historical documents, photographs and family histories. New York State law requires each town and village to appoint a historian to collect and preserve materials related to the history of the municipality. The Town Supervisor appoints the Town Historian for a one-year term. The town historian also serves as historian for the Village of East Aurora.
Contents of the office include:
Indexed file boxes with items related to Roycroft, businesses, civic clubs, etc.
Obituary files - more than 5000 index cards on former residents and computer index to many newspaper notices.
Marriage records - Computer index to many newspaper notices.
Cemetery records and maps for area grounds.
General historical reference books - Architecture, State, County and Local, People and Military.
Scrapbooks - 100 scrapbooks of various events.
East Aurora Advertiser on Microfilm - films from 1872 to present, and bound copies of some early editions. Other newspapers are also available.
U.S. Census - data from 1810 to 1910 on microfilm.
Family group files - files on more than 500 families.
Photographs
Maps - Sanborn, Holland Land purchase, periodic development maps, and atlases of Erie County for 1866, 1880 and 1909.
Computer resources - There is an ongoing effort to index and digitize many of the Historian's Office records. The system can be used to assist in information searches.
