If you're digging for data, libraries (and Google) aren't the only place to go. Check out this fascinating look at New York City's Department of Records: New Yorker. They even have a visitor's center!
Here's another extraordinary place for New York legal research: the New York Legislative Service. Rather than combing through legislative history on your own, you can give these folks a call. They have folders filled with contemporaneous news stories, information from the governor, and classic legislative materials on thousands of New York state laws. They get a surprising number of requests from California attorneys because California's code was originally based on New York's. Legislative history that's good for the goose is good for the gander as well.
Here's another extraordinary place for New York legal research: the New York Legislative Service. Rather than combing through legislative history on your own, you can give these folks a call. They have folders filled with contemporaneous news stories, information from the governor, and classic legislative materials on thousands of New York state laws. They get a surprising number of requests from California attorneys because California's code was originally based on New York's. Legislative history that's good for the goose is good for the gander as well.