The 1911 Capitol Fire May 9, 2011

In the early morning hours of March 29, 1911, a fire broke out in the northwest corner of the New York State Capitol. The fast-moving flames claimed the life of an elderly night watchman and destroyed much of the State Library and irreplaceable collections of the State Museum. The 100th anniversary of the Great Fire of 1911 is commemorated through historic photographs, dramatic eyewitness accounts and important objects that survived the inferno.