In this article from William Wilkinson’s scrapbook “One Hundred Great and Near-Great Events, Person and Places in Rochester History” (1947) he writes about the Rundel building of the Rochester Public Library. That building houses the Local History and Genealogy Division.

The Rundel Memorial building, South Avenue and Court St. houses the Reynold’s Reference Library and the Rochester Public Library completed in 1936. It is constructed of limestone and designed in a modern interpretation of Italian Renaissance style. Funds for the completion of the building were bequeathed by Morton W. Rundel, (1835 – 1911) who born in Alexander, N. Y., conducted an art store on Rochester for several years and fostered local exhibitions of water colors and oil paintings. In his will he left the city $400,000 for a building to be used as am art gallery and library. The fund increased to nearly a million dollars and was finally made available in 1934. With the addition of a Federal PWA grant of about 200 thousand dollars the building finally was completed in 1936 and houses the central public library.