BuffaloResearch.com
Genealogy & Local History in Buffalo, NY

About the Webmaster
Cover of "Quotable Buffalo"
Cynthia Van Ness is pleased to announce that her second book, Quotable Buffalo,  has been published by Western New York Wares and is available at local bookstores.  Out-of-towners can mail order through the publisher.

Many thanks to BuffaloRising.com for this nice feature on it.
Boring Biographical Stuff


Cynthia has a Master's Degree in Library Science from the School of Information and Library Science at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from SUNY/Empire State College.  She does not do FaceBook, MySpace, or Twitter, though she recently did consent to LinkedIn.

She wears several hats:

It goes without saying that the bottom four activities on this list are undertaken on her own time and are not endorsed by her employer.  Want to know more? Here is the whole tedious tale--Cynthia's resume. She began her library career as a page at the wonderful Egyptianate Rochester Public Library.  She knows that you are not one of those people burdened by silly librarian stereotypes.

In 1996 she took a short HTML course, but she is mostly a self-taught web designer, which is obvious, given the primitive appeareance of this website. She became a webmaster in December 1995, when she assumed responsibility for Roots, which ranks as one of the oldest genealogy websites in all of cyberspace.  Roots was launched in December 1993 at Buffalo Freenet and has since been absorbed into BuffaloResearch.com.

As a bicycle commuter who once got two broken bones thanks to a motorist's negligence (guy flung open his SUV door in her path), Cynthia adores her Breezer bike and refers those who think she is crazy to "Is Cycling Dangerous?"

Cynthia is a member of:


 Stuff She Webmasters


Someone spends way too much time online.
 Stuff She Has Written

Oops, there's too much damned opinion to fit it all here.  Feast your eyes at  Essays & Rants instead.
 Stuff She Researches

Some of you will be puzzled to learn that Cynthia does not call herself a genealogist. Though she loves local history & genealogical librarianship, she doesn't do genealogy as a hobby (or for hire, or as a favor-just-this-once-please).  If this seems odd, remember that schoolteachers and pediatricians do not have to have children of their own in order to succeed at their jobs.

The truth is that genealogical librarians do not find your ancestors for you, just as medical librarians do not diagnose and treat you and law librarians do not represent you in court.

Those of you with VAN NESS queries are invited to post them on FamilyTreeMaker's VAN NESS Family Forum.
 Stuff She Adores

Just in case you were worried that she does not have A Life.


 Stuff She Abhors


You Thought She'd Never End


Those of you who read all the way to the bottom have probably figured out that this page is only a ridiculously elaborate way to manage some bookmarks and refer people to links that are amusing or personally relevant.  

She also regretfully reminds everyone that BuffaloResearch.com is copyright 2011, all rights reserved, and that these pages may not be copied and pasted anywhere without written permission.  

Having thus 'fessed up, she is at a loss about how to end gracefully end this excursion so she just hopes that it was as pleasant for the reader as it was for the writer.

Updated 14 October 2011
BuffaloResearch.com