USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884, Volume I > Part 18
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The gallery also embraces the remaining pictures of the American Art Union, also the justly famous Bryan Gallery of Christian Art, so rich in pictures by the old masters and pre-Raphaelite paintings. This collection was generously presented to the society in 1867 by the late Thomas J. Bryan, who continued to add to it until his death. The "Durr collection" of paintings was bequeathed to the society by the late Louis Durr, one of its members, in 1880, and was placed in the gallery in June, 1552. The society also possesses the original water- color pictures made by J. J. AAudubon for his great work on natural history, thirteen specimens of ancient sculpture from Nineveh, pre- sented by the late James Lenox, and fifty-seven pieces of modern sculpture by Crawford. Browne, and others.
The entire collection of paintings and statuary belonging to the New York Historical Society numbers nearly one thousand. In it may be seen many pre-Raphaelite pictures, and paintings by Cimabue, Gior- gione, Correggio, Raphael, Titian, Del Sarto, Da Vinci, Murillo, Velas- quez, Rembrandt, Paul Veronese, Pouissin, Van Dyck, and half a score of other renowned artists. For lack of room and good light these pictures appear to a great disadvantage, while the marvellous sculptures from Nineveh are hidden away in the crypt or basement room of t!" building.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
So rapid has been the accumulation of the archaic and other riches (excepting money) of the Historical Society during the last few years, that larger space and a position nearer the centre of the class of popu- lation who enjoy and would profit by such exquisite pleasure as it can afford has been an absolute and keenly felt necessity. It is not credit- able to the citizens of New York, so widely and justiy praised for their enterprise, abounding wealth, generosity, intelligence, and æsthetic cultivation, to allow this venerable society, now fourscore years of age, with all its wealth of possible entertainment and instruction, to remain half smothered in close quarters, year after year, for want of pecuniary means to expand its usefulness and become one of the most attractive wonders of the great metropolis. It possesses an abundance of precious things which money cannot buy and the world cannot afford to lose.
The present number of the members of the Historical Society is about two thousand - life, resident, corresponding, and honorary. They embrace the best elements of society in New York. It has no debts, no mortgage on its building or its collections, and no outstanding bills .*
THE NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ranks among the older of the benevolent institutions of New York City. It is believed to be the oldest benevolent association of printers in the United States. Its nativity was in the year 1809, and its natal day was the twenty-third anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The avowed object of the society was " the relief of the indigent and distressed members of the association, their widows and orphans, and others who may be found proper objects of their charity." To this purpose it has been religiously faithful, and its record is a noble one.
The society was incorporated by the Legislature of New York in 1818. The late Thurlow Weed, who became a member of the associa- tion in October. 1816, was chairman of the committee who procured the charter, and he would refer to it as his first effort as a " lobbyist." He was then twenty-one years of age. To effect its benevolent pur- poses the society was allowed by the charter to hold real and personal estate to the amount of $5000. In case of sickness or other disability a member was allowed a prescribed sum per week from the treasury ; in case of death a specific sum was given toward paying the expenses
* The officers of the society for 1883 are : Augustus Schell, president ; Hamilton Fish. first vice-president ; Benjamin H. Field, second vice-president ; William M. Evarts, for- eign corresponding secretary ; Edward F. De Lancey, domestic corresponding secretary ; Andrew Warner, recording secretary ; Benjamin B. Sherman, treasurer ; Jacob B. Moore, librarian.
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of the funeral. Moderate sums were allowed to widows of members. and to full-orphaned children of members for a short time. In no case has the family of a living member any claim on the funds of the society.
The limited charter of the society was renewed in 1832. for fifteen years, and in April, 1847, it was organized under the general law of the State for charitable and benevolent institutions. Its present revised constitution has transferred the association from a relief society to meet the urgent necessities of the indigent and distressed into a benefit society. from which every member, when sick, by conforming to the provisions of the constitution and by-laws, may draw a certain amount without regard to his pecuniary condition.
During its long career the New York Typographical Society has never failed to meet all demands against its treasury, and has at this time quite a large fund securely and profitably invested. It also pos- sesses a library of over four thousand volumes, some of which are ex- ceedingly rare and valuable.
For many years in the earlier period of the history of the Typo- graphical Society it took part in nearly all of the civic processions. It bore a conspicuous part, as we have seen, in the great celebration of the completion of the Erie Canal. The last public occasion in which it participated was the celebration of the successful laying of the telegraph ocean cable between the United States and Great Britain, in 1858.
Benjamin Franklin being recognized, by common consent. as the " patron saint" "of printers, his birthday was honored by the Typo- graphical Society for many years, usually in the form of a banquet, sometimes by an entertainment. The late William Cullen Bryant was a favorite president at the banquets, and John Brougham managed the entertainments. These have been abandoned of late years, and the society has taken its place among the quiet workers for the good of fellow-men.
During its existence of more than half a century since receiving its charter the New York Typographical Society has had only four treas- urers-George Mather, James Narine, J. G. Clayton, and George Parsons-the latter still in office. T. C. Faulkner was its secretary for twenty-one consecutive years. The society has embraced in its mem- bership many who have not only reflected honor upon the profession. but upon our country. Now its list of membership contains the names of many of the most influential printers in the city .*
* The officers of the New York Typographical Society for 1553 are : Edward Meagher, president ; John Brusnahan, vice-president ; George Parsons, treasurer ; R. H. Cressing-
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
On the 3d of November, 1820, at the office of the New York Com- merciul Advertiser, William Wood posted a call for a meeting of mer- chants' clerks on the 10th, at a room in the Tontine Coffee-House, to consider a plan for establishing a library and reading-room. The call was addressed to "the clerks of South Street, Front Street. Pearl Street. and Maiden Lane." That original " poster" is preserved in the great library, which is the flourishing product of that tiny germ.
The meeting comprised about two hundred merchants' clerks. A plan was agreed to. On the 27th of the same month a constitution was adopted and officers were elected, with Lucius Bull as president. On the 12th of February following, in an upper room of the building known as No. 49 Fulton Street, the association was formally ushered into existence, by the presence of one hundred and fifty members (the total number of subscribers) and the deposit of about seven hundred volumes of books.
The association had a feeble existence-a struggle for life -- for several years. The clerks could not, for a long time, induce the merchants to countenance their undertaking or give them aid. At length (1826) the library was removed to the printing establishment of Harper & Brothers, No. 82 Cliff Street, where that now great publishing house was just feeling the peace and joy of assured business prosperity. There the association had a reading-room in connection with the library, which was furnished with four weekly newspapers and seven magazines. The merchants now began to take an interest in the new enterprise, and soon began to give the association pecuniary aid. The year 1826 was the beginning of the era of the real growth and an ever- expanding field of usefulness for THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Before the close of that year the library contained six thousand volumes.
In 1828 a separate organization was effected for the purpose of erect- ing a building for a permanent home for the library, to be enjoyed without expense or any incumbrance. Arthur Tappan, " a silk mer-
ham, secretary ; C. C. Savage, H. Bessey, W. Marshall, and S. F. Baxter, trustees, and ten directors.
* Arthur Tappan was born in Northampton, Mass., in May, 1786, and died in New Haven, Conn., in July, 1865. He received a common-school education, was clerk in a hardware store in Boston, and also engaged with his brother Lewis in the dry-goods busi- ness in that city. Arthur finally went to Montreal, but when the war of 1812 broke out he went to New York City, and established himself in the dry-goods importing business in 1814. He was very prosperous, very religions, and very benevolent. He was one of the founders of the American Tract Society, and gave liberally to its building fund. Ho gave largely toward the establishment of the Lane (Presbyterian) Theological Seminary at
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
chant, headed a subscription with a liberal sum. The required amoun: of money was soon raised, a building was erected at the corner of Beekman and Nassau streets, and on November 2, 1830, it was dedi. cated with the title of ". Clinton Hall," in honor of De Witt Clinton. then the foremost man in the city and the State, and who gave the first book to the Mercantile Library -- a " History of England." The persons who caused the erection of the hall were known collectively by the name of " The Clinton Hall Association."
Only about twenty years afterward it was found that the accommo- dations in Clinton Hall were too limited for the rapidly increasing number of books in the library. It was observed, too, that the popula- tion was deserting that quarter of the city. So, after much delibera- tion, the association purchased the Astor Place Opera-House, which was fitted up with a capacity of one hundred and twenty thousand volumes. In 1854 the library was moved into the new home, a dis- tance of two miles from its former dwelling-place. Soon afterward the old hall was pulled down, and on its site the Nassau Bank erected a handsome building of light brown stone. It, too, has been pulled down, and in its place has risen Temple Court, a lofty structure of brick and stone, ten stories in height, the property of Eugene Kelly, a banker.
In the new Clinton Hall at Astor Place the Mercantile Library Asso- ciation still lingers with its library, but will probably soon take another long stride northward, for now the centre of population is nearer Mur- ray Hill. Besides, even now its home is too narrow for the literary family that occupies it. At the time of the removal of the association to Astor Place it had a membership of about three thousand merchants' clerks, and the library consisted of about twenty thousand volumes : in 1883 the number of persons entitled to the use of the library and reading-room-active and subscribing members, honorary members. editors using the library, and Clinton Hall stockholders-was about
Cincinnati, founded a professorship in Auburn Seminary, and erected Tappan Hall at Oberlin. With his brother Lewis, who removed from Boston to New York in 1827, he established the New York Journal of Commerce. He was one of the early and most vigor- ous opponents of slavery, and established the Emancipator in 1933 as the organ of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, of which he was one of the chief founders. He was made president of the American Anti Slavery Society, organized in Philadelphia, to which for some time he gave $1000 a month. The financial troubles of 1837 ruined their honse. Lewis established a mercantile ageney, and in this business Arthur joined him in 1842. He had given up all his property to his creditors, and never lost his reputa- tion as an honest man. To the end of his life he was the same earnest and benevolent Christian.
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seven thousand. The association is clear of debt. The number of books in the library (18$3) was over 200,000."
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK was organized in 1828 by a few enterprising citizens, it is said, who met in a small room in Tammany Hall, corner of Spruce and Nassau streets. Its ob- jects were to encourage and promote domestic industry in the United States by bestowing rewards and other benefits on persons excelling or making improvements in the branches of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and the arts. This is the accepted history of the origin of the American Institute. Its origin may be found in a notable move- ment at an earlier date. In the spring of 1828 Peter II. Schenck, the founder of the Glenham Manufacturing Company, in Dutchess County, N. Y., issued a call for a convention of woollen manufacturers to assemble at the Eagle Hotel, in Albany. Only three persons responded to the call, namely, Peter II. Schenck and Elias Titus, of Dutchess County, and William Phillips, of Orange County, N. Y. Not dis- couraged by this seeming indifference, these three woollen manufac- turers organized a convention by the appointment of Mr. Phillips president, Mr. Titus vice-president, and Mr. Schenck secretary. They passed a series of resolutions, and authorized the secretary to call a national convention in the city of New York. It was done, and Clinton Hall, then lately erected, was designated as the place for the meeting of the convention, early in the summer.
There was a numerous attendance of woollen manufacturers at Clin- ton Ifall from all parts of the country. They organized an association. Cotton manufacturers were admitted to it, and finally practitioners of all trades ; and at a meeting in the fall the association assumed the name of " The American Institute," which it still bears.+
The Legislature of New York granted the Institute a charter of incorporation' in 1829. Its first president was William Few, whose
* The association has had fifty-five presidents. The officers for 1881-82 were : Charles H. Patrick, president ; A. H. Timpson, vice. president ; Robert L. Coursen, treasurer, and A. Wetmore, Jr., secretary.
+ Elias Titus was the last survivor of the three real founders of the American Institute. He died in July, 1880. At the time of the little convention at Albany he had just estab- lished a woollen-mill on Wappinger's Creek, four or five miles from Poughkeepsie. For many years previous to his death it was carried on under the firm name of Elias Titus & Sons. The sons still continue the business. It is a notable fact that during the long period of fifty-four years, so skilfully has the establishment been conducted and so unsuspected has been the business standing of its proprietors in all the vicissitudes of business, the mills have never suspended work excepting in the case of an accident or for the purpose of making repairs.
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name appears prominent in many public movements for the benefit of society at that time. John Mason was the first vice-president, Potter Ellis treasurer, and Thaddeus B. Wakeman corresponding secretary. Mr. Wakeman was for more than twenty years one of the most active members of the Institute. Indeed, he has been called the father of the American Institute. He served it as secretary from 1828 till 1-4 -. excepting one year.
The first manufacturers' fair or exhibition of the American Institute was held in the Masonic Hall, which stood on Broadway near Pear. Street, and nearly opposite the City Hospital. The Ilon. Edward Everett, then thirty-four years of age, delivered the first anniversary address in 1829. It was a brilliant display of oratory. The address was published, and went through two or three editions. The fair was a great success in every respect.
After holding five other fairs at the Masonic Hall, it was necessary to have more ample room. Niblo's Garden, on Broadway near Prince Street, was chosen for the purpose. Many shook their heads in doubt when this spot was selected so far up town. But the fair was well attended, and the exhibitions were held there, with ever-increasing popularity, until the place was consumed by fire in 1846.
Castle Garden, at the Battery, was next selected as the place for the annual exhibition, and there they were held for seven successive years. Then the managers of the Institute took a bolder step than when they chose Niblo's Garden for their place of exhibition. The Crystal Pal- ace, built in 1853 for the exhibition of the industries of all nations, was standing empty. The managers of the Institute chose it for their fair in 1855. It was on the northern verge of the more refined society. occupying a portion of Reservoir Square, between Fortieth and Forty- second streets. The late exhibitions had made the citizens acquainted with that remote region, and the fair was successful. In that " pal- ace" three other fairs were successively held, when, on a bright day in October (5th), 1858, fire assailed the building and the rich collections of the American Institute, and laid them in ashes in the space of one hour.
It was supposed by some that this terrible blow would be fatal to the American Institute. It reeled, but did not fall. Adversity stimulated increased activity, and to the surprise of many the Institute held a fair the next year in Palace Garden, in Fourteenth Street, on the site of the (present) armory of the Twenty-second Regiment. There the Institute fairs were held for several successive years, and these word uniformly profitable.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
For forty years the American Institute had been a wanderer. It vearned for a home-a more spacious one, and possibly a permanent one. On Third Avenue, between Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth streets, was a large building which had been erected for a skating rink. These premises the Institute leased in 1868. Three buildings were added to the rink, when the whole covered forty building lots between Second and Third avenues. There is ample space for the exhibitions, which are kept open several weeks. There is a promenade concert given each evening during the exhibition, which attracts young people.
The office and other rooms of the Institute are in the Cooper Union. The library, established in 1833 by contributions of 85 each from mem- bers of the Institute, contains over eleven thousand volumes. The purchases of books have been confined to works on agriculture, chem- istry, and the industrial arts. The Institute is divided into three sections-namely, the Farmers' Club, under the direction of the Com- mittee on Agriculture ; the Polytechnic Section, under the direction of the Committee on Manufactures ; and the Photographical Section, under the direction of the Committee on Chemistry and Optics. The Institute is governed by a board of trustees, elected by the members."
The cultivation of the fine arts had not been conspicuous in the city of New York during the first half of the present century, and only a single institution professedly devoted to the promotion of a taste for pictures existed. It maintained only a feeble existence from the pabulum of public patronage.
The first school of art in the city was opened about 1792 by Archi- bald Robertson, a young Scotchman, who came to America on the invitation of Dr. Kemp, of Columbia College. His advent was under very favorable auspices. He was the bearer of the famous box, made of the oak tree that sheltered Wallace, which the Earl of Buchan sent to President Washington, with a request that he should allow Robert- son to paint his portrait. The President graciously complied. He invited the young artist to dinner, and both he and Mrs. Washington sat to Robertson, who painted their portraits in miniature. That of Washington he copied in oil, the natural size, and sent it to the earl.
Young Robertson opened a seminary for teaching the arts of design in water-colors and crayon, and called it the Columbia Academy of Painting. He was quite successful, and when, ten years afterward,
* The officers of the Institute for 1883 are : Cyrus H. Loutrel, president : Thomas Intter and Walter Shriver, vice-presidents : Charles MeK. Loeser. secretary, and Elwart Schell, treasurer.
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the association alluded to was formed for the cultivation of a taste for the fine arts, he assisted in the task with his knowledge and advice.
This association had been suggested by Robert R. Livingston, who was the United States minister at the court of First Consul Bonaparte. An association was formed in 1502, and was composed chiefly of gen- tlemen of every profession excepting artists. John R. Murray, a mer- chant of taste and liberality, furnished the means for procuring from Europe, through Minister Livingston, a fair collection of casts from antique sculptures. The society was fully organized on December :, 1802, with Edward Livingston as president. It was incorporated in February, 1808, with the title of " The American Academy of Fine Arts."
The casts that were sent over by Minister Livingston were partly presents from Bonaparte, in acknowledgment of the compliment of hon- orary membership which the association had bestowed upon him. He afterward sent to the Academy twenty-four large volumes of Italian engravings and several portfolios of drawings.
The liberal design of the founders of the Academy to establish a museum of the fine arts in the city of New York was not carried out. After two unsuccessful exhibitions of the casts and a few pictures, the former were stored, and remained useless and unknown for many years. Indeed the very existence of the Academy was almost- forgotten by the public. Finally, in 1816, an effort was made to resuscitate the Acad- emy. Leading citizens gave their countenance and support. Among the most active of these were De Witt Clinton, Dr. Hosack, Cadwalla- der Colden, and other influential citizens. Clinton was made president of the Academy. Room was procured of the city authorities in the old alınshouse (on the site of the new Court-House), and there, in October of that year, the casts and many excellent pictures were exhibited, Joseph Bonaparte (also an honorary member) lending some from his rare collection for the purpose. The exhibition was a novelty, and the receipts exceeded all expectation.
Clinton was succeeded in the presidency by Colonel John Trumbull. then almost seventy years of age. Trumbull inaugurated a narrow and unwise policy in the management of the institution, and it soon declined in public favor. Instead of being a school of art. it became a society for the exhibition of pictures, and the same pictures were exhibited season after season. The novelty was gone, and the public withdrew its patronage. Another institution sprang into vigorous competition for public favor, and in a few years the American Academy of Fine Arts expired.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
A catalogue of the tenth exhibition of the American Academy of Fine Arts lies before me. It denotes one hundred and fifty-six pieces in the exhibition -- paintings, sculpture, and engravings. These were mostly the same pictures that hung on the walls in 1816. There were a few new ones by living artists in America. Of these one half were from the hand of Colonel Trumbull, the president of the Academy. The living local contributors were only sixteen in number .* What a contrast was this exhibition, less than sixty years ago, with the exhibitions to-day of the National Academy of the Arts of Design, the successor of the American Academy of Fine Arts. The catalogue of the fifty-eighth annual exhibition (1883) of the last-named institution denotes seven hundred and forty-six pieces and four hundred and fifty- one artists. Not one of the pieces was ever exhibited before.
The officers of the American Academy of Fine Arts at the time of its demise were : John Trumbull, president, and Archibald Robertson, secretary and keeper. The directors were : William Gracie. Benjamin W. Rogers, Henry F. Rogers, Gulian C. Verplanck, Archibald Rob- ertson, Henry Brevoort, Jr., Samuel L. Waldo, Philip Hone, Ezra Weeks, William Cooper, and J. Van Rensselaer, M.D. The academi- cians were : John Trumbull, William S. Leney, John Macomb, Samuel L. Waldo, William Dunlap, Peter Maverick, Archibald Robertson, Alexander Robertson, Alexander Anderson, William Rollins, G. B. Brown, A. Dickinson, John Vanderlyn, and J. O'Donnel.
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