Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Buffalo, NY

The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum is a set of museums with a mass of more than one million collections of original manuscripts and documents that include science, literature, religion, art and history.

Some of the well-known documents the museum has in its archives include the original draft of the Bill of Rights of the United States, Einstein's description of his Theory of Relativity, Roget's Theasaurus, Webster's Dictionary and the original manuscript of The Wedding March.

In Buffalo, New York there are two Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum: the North Hall and the Porter Hall.

The North Hall is the former sanctuary of the First Church of Christ. The church commissioned a Chicago architect by the name of Solon. S. Beman to design the building. In 1911 the church building was completely constructed. The Christian Scientists used the church until the early 1980s. The church was purchased by the museum in December 2003.

The museum made changes to the sanctuary to accommodate manuscript displays. Remodeling included removing some pews, installing a level hardwood stage, re-plastering and repainting the interior and making roof and gutter repairs.

In the summer of 2006 the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum officially opened the renovated church.

The Porter Hall location was originally a Plymouth Methodist Church that was built from 1908 to 1911. The museum bought the building on August 7, 1995 for $2 million.

Extensive renovations including installing a modern electrical service, heating boiler system and removing pounds of pigeon dropping immediately followed the purchase of the building.

The first phase of rebuilding was finished in October 1998.