Albany County Democratic Party boss Dan O’Connell in an undated photo. For decades, journalists and historians believed O’Connell left no written records, but boxes recently reviewed at the Albany Institute of History & Art contained a trove of papers attributed to O’Connell, including bills to block his signature fedoras. (Bernie Kolenberg, Times Union archives/Courtesy William Kennedy)

Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd, left, with Albany County Democratic Party boss Dan O’Connell on Sept. 28, 1962. For decades, journalists and historians believed O’Connell left no written records, but boxes recently reviewed at the Albany Institute of History & Art contained a trove of papers attributed to O’Connell, including bills to block his signature fedoras. (Times Union archive)

Albany County Democratic Party boss Dan O’Connell is shown in an April 13, 1967, file photograph. For decades, journalists and historians believed O’Connell left no written records, but boxes recently reviewed at the Albany Institute of History & Art contained a trove of papers attributed to O’Connell, including bills to block his signature fedoras.

A suit from 11-term Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd and an original Hy Rosen cartoon on display at a recent exhibition from the permanent collection of the Albany Institute of History & Art.

Hy Rosen political cartoon featuring Democratic machine boss Dan O’Connell’s fedora, a gift of Nancy Button Nathan in memory of her father, Daniel E. Button, former Times Union editor and Congressman. Box of Dan O’Connell receipts and invoices from 1933-1939 at the Albany Institute of History & Art.

A receipt for plumbing done at Albany machine political boss Dan O'Connell's house on Whitehall Road on June 10, 1935 among the Daniel P. O'Connell Papers at the Albany Institute of History & Art. Journalists and biographers previously believed the shadowy O'Connell never left a paper trail.

Receipt for insulating Dan O'Connell's home on Whitehall Road at the corner with Holmes Court on Oct. 21, 1935 in the Albany Institute of History & Art archives. O'Connell's papers were acquired in 1998, with a murky provenance, and went unnoticed.

The conventional wisdom that journalists and biographers labored under for the past half-century was that Albany Democratic machine political boss Dan O’Connell did not leave a paper trail.

Or, so we thought.

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After O’Connell, who died in 1977, was sent to federal prison for his role in an illegal baseball betting pool in........

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