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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 06737 6423
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MAY - - 1985.
GUIDE to DEPOSITORIES OF MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS in New York State (Exclusive of New York City)
Volume 1
Prepared by THE HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY DIVISION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
ALBANY, NEW YORK November 1941
5357 106
Historical Records Survey Program
Sargent B. Child, National Director George W. Roach, State Supervisor
Research and Records Section
Harvey E. Becknell, Director Edward J. Bennett, Regional Supervisor Neil W. Mckay, State Supervisor
Division of Community Service Programs
Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner Agnes S. Cronin, Chief Regional Supervisor James W. Gaynor, State Director
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
Howard Hunter, Commissioner R. C. Branion, Regional Director Lester W. Herzog, State Administrator
Sponsor New York State Education Department, Division of Archives and History
974.7 HET ٧٠٨ c.2
GetENlogi
FOREWORD
By Arthur Pound, State Historian
The annals of New York are convincing proof of the truth of Dr. Jameson's famous saying that "local history is national histo- ry locally exemplified. " So comprehensive is New York history as battlefield, folk pathway, and melting pot, that whoso knows well the tale of our years knows almost equally well the history of America.
In one way or another New York has touched nearly all the significant movements of our colonial and national experience. In four wars against France and two against Britain, this state was a battleground. Here were fought the campaigns which decided first that the American continent would be English in language and law, and, secondly, that it would be independent. Stubbornly contested here also was the struggle between white man and red for the pos- session of this fertile soil. Hither came Southerners bringing slaves in considerable numbers, crossing in their south-to- north migration the more popular cast-to-west routes of the Yankees and Yorkers. New York had her own West, as William Henry Seward told the people of Wisconsin in 1860. On that West of our own there flourished from 1790 onward all the frontier aspects of life so well portrayed by Turner, with one aspect of especial brilliance - the blooming of new and heterodox religious sects such as Mormon- ism and Spiritualism, to name only two of the more prominent sur- vivors. The fervor of this energetic people carried over to make New Yorkers the champions and New York the scene of conflict in idealistic reforms now a completely accepted part of our national life - abolition, temperance, woman suffrage, civil service re- form. Gerrit Smith, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Grover Cleveland - these are a few of the many noted Yorker leaders of these triumphant causes. Industrially and com- mercially the case for New York leadership is equally strong.
How well has New York served the cause of history by pre- serving its manuscript records for posterity? Not too well as a state, unfortunately. In 1911 a great fire in the State Capitol destroyed priceless records; at present, inattention to state doc- uments courts further losses of irreplaceable material. In the State Library, however, a notable and growing manuscript collec- tion receives expert care under physical conditions by no means ideal from the standpoint of modern storage. The same criticism on the physical side applies to many of the local depositories re- ported on in this Guide to Depositories of Manuscript Collections in New York State. Nevertheless, the local libraries, colleges, universities, and historical societies deserve the warmest praise for preserving so many manuscripts of great value. Surely it is
F 117.3 ,4584 1941 gen Vil C.2
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Foreword
cause for congratulation that one state has 226 or more deposito- ries possessing manuscripts well worth inventorying and publiciz- ing for the information of scholars. This great number is the more remarkable because, to a very considerable degree, these col- lections are the result of the loving amateur spirit which appears at some point in the transition of private and public papers into historical manuscripts and documents. New York history owes a profound debt of gratitude to thousands of unpaid collectors and custodians, who carry the responsibility for these treasures until they can be turned over to the more skilled hands of professional workers and scholars.
Among the many "finds" brought to light in this colossal inventory are the following notable collections of manuscripts:
Land Records: the Holland Land Company papers in Batavia, Buffalo, and Westfield; the Phelps-Gorham papers in Albany and Canandaigua; the Pulteney estate papers in Canandaigua and Rochester; the Platt papers in Albany and Plattsburg; the Lynch papers at Rome; the Banyar, Frank- lin, Hardenbergh, Scriba, and Rensselaerswyck manuscripts in Albany; and countless deeds, mortgages, Indian grants, maps, and surveys scattered throughout the state.
Education: the archives of Alfred, Colgate, Cornell, and Rochester Universities; Elmira, Hamilton, Union, and Vassar Colleges; and scores of academies, seminaries, literary societies, lycoums, and other institutions of learning.
Indian Affairs: the Gen. John S. Clark papers and maps at Auburn; the Samuel Kirkland papers at Hamilton College; the Jasper Parrish papers at Vassar College; the journals and other records of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign at Auburn, Buffalo, Canandaigua, Elmira, Geneva, Ithaca, and elsewhere; and Indian accounts, deeds, and treaties at the Albany Institute, Canandaigua, Fort Johnson, and Schoharie.
Military History: choice Revolutionary papers in Albany, Newburgh, Riverhead, Schenectady, Schoharie, Syracuse, and White Plains; Confederate material at New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, and Sag Harbor; and innumerable documents, journals, diaries, and correspondence bearing on the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the World War.
Church Records: Mohawk Valley church material at Fonda; up- per Hudson Valley (Dutchess, Greene, Ulster, and Columbia counties) church archives at Coxsackie; Methodist Episco- pal Church material in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Troy; Froc Methodist Church material in North Chili; Baptist records at Alfred, Hamilton, LeRoy, and Rochester; and data on Catholicism, Methodism, Millerism, Mormonism, and other religious movements.
2.2. 24 Aug31'43
Foreword
Medical History: the Dr. Bryant Burwell clinical notes, di- agnoses, accounts, and other papers at the Grosvenor Li- brary in Buffalo; the Earl W. Stevens daybooks, invoices of medicine, and journals at Albany; the Menzie papers in Caledonia; Dr. Edwin Brown's account books at Hempstead; and the papers of Dr. William Petry in Herkimer, Dr. War- ren Fay in LeRoy, Drs. Chase, Robinson, and Cowan in Pal- myra, Dr. John B. Roscoe in Schoharie, and Dr. Chauncey L. Sheldon in Warsaw.
Legal History: the law notes of Chancellor Kent in Albany; students'notebooks etc .; legal accounts of Bleecker and Sedgwick in Albany, Edward and William G. Nicoll on Long Island, Peter Van Schaack in Kinderhook, Spencer and Bar- low at Oneida, Miller and Tuthill at Riverhead, and Tif- fany and Mann at Schoharie; and justice dockets, records of litigation, and Supremo, Circuit, and Common Pleas court registers.
Commercial History: tho Wason Chinese collection at Cor- nell; the business papers of Peter Van Gaasbeek in Kings- ton; marine insurance papers at Schenectady; logbooks of whaling vessels in Albany and Sag Harbor; canal and rail- road papers in the Jervis Library at Romo; Augustus and Peter B. Porter papers at Buffalo and Youngstown; and correspondence and accounts of scores of merchants en- gaged in local and world trade.
Social and Cultural History: the Dr. Elisha Yale papers at Gloversville; the Samuel J. May papers and the Wordsworth Collection at Cornell; the Gluck Collection of literary manuscripts in the Buffalo Public Library; the music man- uscripts in the Sibley Library at Rochester; the Gorrit Smith papers at Syracuse; and documents bearing on anti- slavery, the arts, the care of the poor, moral reform, prisons, libraries, lyceums, benevolent and fraternal or- ganizations, Sunday schools and Bible societies, travel, temperance, women's rights, and countless other subjects.
This work of manuscript identification and collation is the most extensive and thorough yet issued in any state by the Histor- ical Records Survoy, which oporatos under the Work Projects Admin- istration. It would be impossible to prepare a work of this kind without making a few minor errors of omission and commission. Such exist, but that is inevitable in a work of this scope and na- ture, which calls for patient industry and extreme precision. Considering the difficulties involved, however, this Guide to De- positories of Manuscript Collections in New York State reflects high credit upon its editors, their staffs, and the cooperating historical institutions.
1
PREFACE
The Historical Records Survey, as a nation-wide project of the Work Projects Administration, was established by authority of a Presidential Letter in January of 1936. From 1936 until August 31, 1939, the project was operated as a part of Federal Project No. 1, but since September 1, 1939, it has operated in each state as a state-sponsored project. The Survey is engaged in compiling inventories of and guides to the original sources of American his- tory, including the public archives, printed works prior to 1877, nonarchival historical manuscripts, and church archives. Since September 1, 1939, the project has been under the sponsorship of the New York State Education Department, Division of Archivos and History. From 1936 until December 8, 1938, the project was under the supervision of Dr. E. P. Alexander, who was also Director of the New York State Historical Association. Dr. Alexander ro- signed on the lattor date to take up full-time duties with the Association, and was succeeded as State Director by Mr. Stewart A. Currie. Mr. Currie resigned on April 26, 1940, and was suc- ceeded by Mr. George W. Roach.
The present volume is the second to be issued by the Survey in New York State in the field of koys to manuscript depositories. In Soptombor 1941, a Guide to Ton Major Depositories of Manuscript Collections in New York State was printed and distributed by the Middle States Association of History and Social Science Teachers,
as a special number
of
the Association's annual Proceedings for
The ten depositories selected for this publication were 1940-41.
the Buffalo Historical Society, the the State Library at Albany,
Ontario County Historical Society at Canandaigua, the Chomung County Historical Society at Elmira, the Columbia County Histori- cal Society at Kinderhook, the Sonate House Museum at Kingston, the Rundel Memorial Building at Rochester, the Schenectady County Historical Society at Schenectady, the Syracuse University Library at Syracuse, and Headquarters House of the State Historical Asso- ciation at Ticonderoga. These have been included also in the vol- ume now issued.
Until now there has been no adequate key to the enormous masses of manuscript matorial scattorod throughout Now York State. From time to time there have appeared checklists of the holdings of various depositories, but these have been little more than out- lines of the collections, drawn up in the skotchiest fashion. The Library of Congress publications - Checklist of Collections of Personal Papers in Historical Societies, University and Public Libraries, and Other Learned Institutions in the United States (Washington, 1918), and Manuscripts in Public and Private Collec- tions in the United States (Washington, 1924) are sadly out of date and were never too useful for the historian of New York
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Profaco
Stato. They included only a fraction of the manuscript deposito- rios in New York, and the entries were often inaccurate and mis- loading.
A fow New York institutions have pursued an intelligent policy of acquiring, proserving, and publicizing their manu- scripts. One of the carliest to do so was tho Stato Library at
Albany, which issued an Annotated List of the Principal Manu- scripts in the New York State Library in 1899, but the cataclysmic State Capitol fire in 1911 destroyed such large segments of the
collection that
a reinventory was necessary.
It is safe to say
that historical study in New York was set back a generation by that fire, even though thousands of documents have since been ac- quired. In the Annual Reports of the Director of the State Li- brary since 1912 there may be traced an increasing concern with techniques of the storage of manuscripts and their propor presor- vation and publication, and today the Stato Library rightly assumes its place as the single most important manuscript doposi- tory in the state.
With the haunting memory of the Capitol fire constantly bo- fore them, it is not surprising that collectors and donors of manuscripts have been chary of depositing such highly inflammable materials in any library or public building. It would be inter- esting to know whether we have more private collections now than we had in 1910. Yet in spite of the very evident fire hazards which plague certain depositories, manuscripts are being acquired, as this Guide so adequately assures us. To some of the members of historical societies and to frequenters of certain public librar- ies, the following inventories of manuscripts will come as a sur- prise, just as we ourselves have been continually amazed, in the course of the field work, to learn of the rich source materials housed in some rather unlikely places.
No one has taken the trouble to count the number of indi- vidual pieces and bound records listed in this volume, but a con- servative estimate would place it well over 10,000,000 items. A glance at the index will serve to indicate the incredible range of subject matter which the manuscripts cover. In addition to mato- rial which we had more or less expected to find as we set out in quest of manuscripts, a bewildering variety of other types has
account appeared. One is struck by the superb collection of
books, journals, ledgers, and memoranda of storekeepers, farmers, tailors, and others among the holdings of the DeWitt Historical Society at Ithaca and in other depositories throughout the state. And at the Albany Public Library there exist the complete records of the Albany Young Men's Association for Mutual Improvement, from its organization in 1833 until its demise in 1923. The report for the Headquarters House of the State Historical Association at Ticonderoga reveals the existence there of a great deal of mate-
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Preface
rial dealing with the manufactures of Essex County and the Cham- plain Valley. We do not often think of colleges as real ostate agencies; yet at Union College in Schenectady and at Cornell University in Ithaca there are many documents which pertain to their enormous landholdings in various parts of the state and nation.
We find account books of blacksmiths and dressmakers, diaries of dentists, bank records, papers dealing with the tele- graph and the railroad, cemetery records, and hundreds of other items which illuminate both the recont and the distant past. An immense panorama unfolds before us as the inventory proceeds from place to place across the length and breadth of the state. These mountains of paper contain the residue of the thoughts, aspira- tions, and achievements of New Yorkers over a period of three centuries, and they reach back even beyond that span of time to include records of the Indian tribes which first knew this region.
Because of the vast amount of material with which it has been necessary to deal, some important depositories have had to be omitted from this first volume of the Guide. Limitations of time forbade the inclusion here, for example, of such a significant de- pository as the St. Lawrence University Museum at Canton, with its magnificent collection of land papers relating to northern New York and lower Canada. Also missing from this volume is the re- port for the Revolutionary manuscripts in the Smithtown Branch Li- brary; and because it was inventoried late in the summer, it was not possible to include the vitally important agricultural materi-
al in Warren Hall at Cornell University. The inventory of the Jefferson County Historical Society's collection at Watertown was also completed too late for inclusion in the first volume. All of these, however, as well as many more, will appear in a second vol- ume of the Guide before long. Readers of this volume should use in conjunction with it the recently issued Survey of the Manu-
script Collections in the New York Historical Society (New York is re- City, 1941). For New York City depositories, the reader
ferred to Evarts B. Greene and Richard B. Morris' indispensable A Guide to the Principal Sources for Early American History (1600- 1800) in the City of New York (New York City, 1929), and to a re- cent publication of the New York City Historical Records Survey entitled Guide to Manuscript Depositories in New York City. All cite innumerable manuscripts pertaining to upstate New York.
This is the first publication issued by the Historical Rec- ords Survey of New York State in which not only the entire super- visory staff, but also many of the field workers, have played roles of primary importance.
But for the indefatigable labors of Dr. Harry B. Yoshpe, State Manuscripts Editor,
it is doubtful whether the Guide would have appeared at this time. Under his careful guidance, the field work continued until August 1941, when
-X-
Preface
a deadline was established for reports which were to appear in volume one. The district supervisors, Mabel C. Holmes, Harold G. Brayley, William H. Miller, Michael F. Klodzon, Edward J. Dwyer, John L. Reynolds, James F. Cuff, Jack W. Tinkle, Walter Swan, Catherine Wicks, and Frank E. Gibbons, supervised the work in their respective areas of the state. They are, in the final anal- ysis, responsible for the utility of the Guide. Their staffs have, without exception, worked extremely hard to complete the job, and they deserve our thanks.
The volume was prepared for publication in the Albany of- fice of the Survey, under the direct supervision of Dr. Yoshpe and George W. Roach. The entries comprising this work were prepared by Dr. Yoshpe from forms and field notes submitted by supervisors and field workers. Each custodian has rechecked his or her entry for accuracy, and cach entry received the approval of the custodi- an before it was considered for publication. Much of the accuracy and completeness of the Guide depends on the care with which many custodians assisted the Survey's workers and checked their record- ings.
The final draft was typed by Lucille Senchock and Ruth Knappe and stenciled by Laura Johansen. The index was prepared by Dr. Yoshpe with the assistance of Anna Mae Kimmel and other members of the Albany staff. Much of the accuracy of the text is the result of the caroful proofreading givon it by Benjamin Schoenberg and Martin L.
Rosenfield, who have also given it the benefit of helpful editorial hints. The mimeographing of the entire volume was done by Paul Fox in the Albany office, and the books were sewed and bound by Dominic F. Padula. The cover of the book was designed by George E. Jones of the Albany office.
The Survey owes special thanks to a number of persons not directly connected with it, for help of various kinds in the course of the work of compiling the Guide. Mr. Robert W. G. Vail, Director of the New York State Library, has given froely of his time and vast store of bibliographical knowledge on many occasions as the volume took shape. Mr. Arthur Pound, State Historian, has boen consulted on a number of points from time to time, and has kindly provided the book with an inspiring foreword. To Dr. Arthur E. Bestor, Jr., of Teachers College, New York City, we owe many thanks for his aid in publicizing work on the Guide through the issuance of the Guide to Ten Major Depositories of Manuscript Collections as Volume 38, Part II of the Proceedings of the Middle States Association of History and Social Science Teachers. Sover- al of Dr. Bestor's suggestions have been incorporated as perma- nent features of the form in which each entry is set up. Special thanks are tendered also to President Dixon Ryan Fox and Clifford L. Lord, Director of the New York State Historical Association, for the agreement through which copies of the Guide are to be sold.
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Preface
The prosent volume differs somewhat from the Guides issued by the Historical Records Survey in other states, in that each entry gives a detailed picture of the manuscript holdings of a de- pository. In other states it is planned to issue guides to indi- vidual manuscript collections within the various depositories, but because of the large number of depositories in New York State, such a publication does not soom practicablo at this timc. We have decided; therefore, to give more attention to the often very interesting manuscripts in the scores of smaller depositories of
the state. Many of these do not have collections large enough to be given the special emphasis which obtains in a guide to collec-
tions, and
it
is doubtful
whether
more than a handful of them
would ever undertake the publication of such special keys to
their holdings. The service performed by the Survey in publiciz-
ing these lesser known materials is, £ therefore, a considerable one. It is gratifying to know that so much has been preserved in out-of-the-way places.
This Guido is being sold through the courtesy of the New York State Historical Association at Cooperstown, New York, where the Association maintains a museum and research center. Copies, at $2.00 each, may be secured by writing to Mr. Clifford L. Lord, Director, Central Quarters, New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown. Inquiries concerning this, as well as other publica- tions of the Survey, may be addressed to the Historical Records Survey, 39 Columbia Street, Albany, N. Y.
November 15, 1941
George W. Roach . State Supervisor Historical Records Survey
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
iii
Preface vii
Entries:
1. Albany. ~ Albany Institute of History and Art 1
2. Albany. ~ Harmanus Bleecker Library 8
3. Albany. - New York State Law Library 9
4. Albany. - New York State Library, State Education Department 10
5. Albany. - New York State Medical Library 32
6. Albany. - New York State Museum 33
7. Albany. ~ Schuyler Mansion
34
8. Albion. ~ Orleans D: A. R. and Historical Society 39
9. Albion. - Swan Library 40
10. Alfred. - Alfred University Library
11. Alfred. - Allen Steinheim Museum 45
12. Allegany. - St. Bonaventure College, Friedsam Memorial Library 46
13. Amityville. - Amityville Free Library
48
14. Amsterdam. - Guy Park Manor 48
15. Angelica. - Angelica Free Library 49
16. Auburn. - Cayuga County Historical Society 50
17. Babylon. - Babylon Library Association 51
18. Bacon Hill. - Saratoga County Historian 52
19. Batavia, - Holland Land Office Museum 54 20. Belfast. - Belfast Public Library 56
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Table of Contents
21. Boonville. - Erwin Library and Institute 57
22. Brockport. - Seymour Library 58
23. Brockport. - State Normal School 59
24. Buffalo. - Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Educational Loan Department 59
25. Buffalo. - Buffalo Historical Society Library 60
26. Buffalo. - Buffalo Public Library 65
27. Buffalo. ~ D'Youville College Library 67
28. Buffalo. ~ Grosvenor Library 68
29. Buffalo. - University of Buffalo: Lockwood Memorial Library 74
30. Caledonia. - Big Springs Historical Society 74
31. Caledonia. - The Caledonia Library Association 76
32. Canandaigua. - Ontario County Historical Society 77
33. Castile. ~ Wyoming Historical Pioneer Association 81
34. Catskill. - Catskill Public Library 82
35. Chatham. ~ Chatham Public Library 83
35. Churchville. - Riga Free Library 84
37. Clarence. - Clarence Free Library 84
38. Clinton. - Hamilton College Library 85
39. Cobleskill. - Cobleskill Public Library 86
40. Cohoes. - Cohoes Historical Society 87
41. Cooperstown. - New York State Historical Association, Central Quarters 88
42. Corning. - Corning Public Library, World War Memorial 92
43. Cortland. - Cortland County Historical Society 92
44. Cortland. - Cortland Free Library
94
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Table of Contents
45. Cowlesville. - Mary Willard Memorial Free Library .. 94
46. Coxsackie. - Greene County Historical Society, Inc. . 94
47. Coxsackie. - Heermance Memorial Library 98
48. Danube. - Herkimer House 99
49. Earlville. - Earlville Free Library 100
50. East Aurora. -. Emery Park Museum 100
51. East Hampton, - "Home Sweet Home" (Birthplace of John Howard Payne) 101
52. Eden. - Eden Frec Library 102
53. Ellenville. - Ellenville Public Library 103
54. Elmira. ~ Chemung County Historical Society 103
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