Frank Hayward Severance became the Secretary-Treasurer of the Buffalo Historical Society in 1901 when it was preparing to move into its permanent home in the marble building which had served as the New York State Building during the Pan-American Exposition. HIs position was what would become the Executive Director of the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society. Before he transformed the Society into a ground-breaking enitity among history museums in the United States, he described the organization as "...a little coterie of elderly gentlemen, who had a taste for preserving records and relics of the yesterdays. Meeting now and then, to hear someone's reminiscences, more or less accurate, or if true, not always important; to sup together - and to elect officers for another term."

Frank Severance was the right person for the right job at the right time in the Buffalo Historical Society's history. Born in 1856, he graduated from Cornell University in 1879, worked for a time at the Gazette in Erie, Pennsylvania and then was hired by the Buffalo Express in 1881 as its marine editor. Before long he was named editor for the Illustrated Sunday Express, a position he left when hired by the Society at age 45. By that time, he had become a Buffalonian and deeply interested in the early history of Buffalo and the Niagara Frontier. Before joining the Society, he published "Old Trails of the Niagara Frontier," in 1899, which he dedicated to the school children of Buffalo.

His front-page obituary in the January 27, 1931 Courier-Express describes his achievements:

"A series of stories in the Sunday Express on behalf of the Indians of Western New York attracted attention to his historical knowledge. The Seneca Indians were so impressed that he was adopted by them and given the name Dadagowhatha, the carrier of the news. He was invited to many of their festivals and to ceremonies of which few whites were permitted to be observers.

"Not only by writing, but in his lectures before historical and learned societies did Dr. Severance contribute to interest and study of the formative period of European civilization in Western New York and the Great Lakes region. He remarked on one occasion that a knowledge of history does not seem atrractive until a person has reached mature years. Then comes a desire to know something about the peoples who have gone before and the part they played in the development of communities. He said this was true in his own case."

A retrospective by David J. Gorman in the Autumn 1969 Niagara Frontier, a Society periodical, refers to him as a "library builder." He wanted the library to become (Severance's words) "the best collection in existence of historical and descriptive literature, not only of Buffalo and Western New York, but of the upper St. Lawrence valley and Lower Lakes."

Gorman said, "He felt that by adhering to a selective program the library could become the leading one of its kind in Western New York and at the same time avoid serious duplication of holdings in other Buffalo libraries. Severance also felt that a library should provide an atmosphere wherein scholarly activity, taking its cue from the source material available, might be fully realized in productions of historical interest and literary worth."

Frank Severance also managed the collection which was largely comprised of gifts from private collectors, admitting that much of that was heterogenous, incongruous and "cherished relics." But he pursued the acquisition of historical medals because they (Gorman) "so readily and economically served as commentary on the past, and... pictures, which seldom failed to provide both data and explanation to anyone with rudimentary preparation for viewing a historical exhibit." He engaged the Buffalo School System in making use of the Society's educational resources.

During his thirty-year tenure as head of the Historical Society, Frank Severance edited all of its publications, believing that it was an important part of the mission of the Society. These publications, which included editions on the "Canals in New York," "An Old Frontier of France," Holland Land Company papers, Millard Fillmore papers, "Peace Episodes on the Niagara Frontier," "Picture Book of Earler Buffalo," among many others, attracted a national following for the Society's work and Frank Severance. And his work in creating bibliographies of the Society's holdings was ground-breaking, creating standards by which other Societies in other cities would judge themselves. He served as president of the New York State Historical Association for two terms.

Buffalo did not recognize his achievements to the extent others elsewhere did. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Vermont in 1912; in 1920 the University of Toronto gave him a doctor of laws degree. And in 1930, Knox College, where he attended one year before transferring to Cornell, awarded him a doctorate in literature and letters. In recognition of his work on the French settlement in the Great Lakes, the French Academy named him a director.

Frank Severance died at age 74, still Secretary-Treasurer of the Buffalo Historical Society, which Canadian historian James H. Coyne called "one of the strongest and most influential in America." He named Dr. Severance as the reason.