This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Albany settings vital to Kennedy's literary successes
Albany author William Kennedy speaks of the city as his muse guiding his Albany cycle and Ironweed amid strong reviews. He recalls returning to Albany in 1963 after illness and the city’s decay, then evolving into a symbolic landscape for works like The Ink Truck Legs Billy Phelan's Greatest Game and Ironweed. Kennedy notes extraordinary circumstances and a sense of place fueling his novels, with offers from Cornell and several New York colleges after Ironweed acclaim. He remains coy about future moves, saying he needs the city to function.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Albany
William Kennedy Jr
America
Kennedy
Ironweed
New York Times Book Review
The
New Yorker
Philadelphia Inquirer
Time Magazine
Los Angeles Times
Jack “Legs” Diamond
Billy Phelan
John J. O’connell Jr
Dan O’connell
Legs
Billy
Kennedy Haa
Francis Phelan
Puerto Rico
Miami
Bellow
Saul Bellow
Charley Weaver
Menands
Francis
Herman
Melville
Spain
Hemingway
Hudson
Viking
Washington Park Press
Quinn
MacArthur Foundation
Cornell
State University At Albany
Skidmore College
Bard College
Albany State