Archives & Library Special Collections
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Call Number: 1978.185
Extent: 0.25 linear feet, in four folders
The Southold, N.Y. register book spans the period 1683 to 1850 and measures 0.25 linear feet. Entries in the register cover genealogical information, indenture, bond and deed information, records of town information, manumission of slaves notices, town meeting minutes, and voting records with results. Also included are the Southhold Academy bylaws and constitution, First Universalist Church in Southold bylaws and constitution, and records of the Commissioner of the highway of the town of Southold. The register book includes an index and was prepared by successive town historians throughout the mid-20th century.
Names:
- Southold (N.Y.)
- First Unitarian Church (Southold, N.Y.)
- Southold Academy
Places:
- Long Island (N.Y.)
- Southold (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Genealogy
- Slavery — New York (State) — Long Island
- Unitarian Churches — New York (State) — Long Island
Types of material:
- Bonds (legal records)
- Bylaws (administrative records)
- Constitutions
- Deeds
- Indentures
- Indexes (reference sources)
- Minutes
- Registers (lists)
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Call Number: 1978.010
Extent: 0.08 Linear feet, in one folder
This collection contains bills of sale for the purchase of slaves in Queens County, N.Y. from 1751 to 1793, prior to the abolition of slavery in New York State. Three of the six bills of sale document the purchase of slaves by the Wyckoff Family of Queens County, as well as John Van Wyck.
Names:
- Van Wyck family
- Wyckoff family
Places:
Subjects:
- African Americans — New York (State) — Queens County
- Slavery — New York (State) — Queens County
Types of material:
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Call Number: 1978.157
Extent: 0.3 linear feet, in eleven folders, including one oversize
The Teunis G. Bergen collection of Van Brunt family genealogy papers spans the period 1770 to 1881 and measures 0.3 linear feet. The papers include letters, legal documents, and genealogical notes and transcriptions concerning the Van Brunt family, collected by Teunis G. Bergen. Much of the material concerns Kings County (N.Y.), especially New Utrecht (now part of Brooklyn), but New Jersey and other locales also appear in the genealogical documents. Many of the letters are from John Van Brunt (1802-1880) of Englewood, N.J.; these typically concern genealogy and family history, but some also include his perspectives on politics, the development of Englewood, and local issues such as a controversy over racially segregated schools. The legal documents include deeds, wills, and slave bills of sale.
Names:
- Bergen, Teunis G., 1806-1881
- Van Brunt family
- Van Brunt, John
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Englewood (N.J.)
- Kings County (N.Y.)
- New Utrecht (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
- African Americans
- Families — New York (State) — Kings County
- Genealogy
- Slavery — New York (State) — Kings County
- Wills — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Cadastral maps
- Correspondence
- Family papers
- Genealogical tables
- Genealogies
- Indentures
- Legal documents
- Manuscript maps
- Research notes
- Slave bills of sale
- Transcripts
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Call Number: ARC.281
Extent: 2.4 Linear feet, in one manuscript box and one flat box
The Anita Lott Cruikshank collection (circa 1677-1892) consists of documents concerning various families, principally from Kings County (N.Y.) and principally concerning land and estate transactions. It is surmised that the materials were accumulated by various members of the Lott family, especially Jeremiah (1776-1861) and John A. Lott (1806-1878), of Flatbush (now part of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City) in the course of various private, public and professional activities. Many documents either concern a Lott as a party to the transaction or indicate a Lott performing an official responsibility or acting as estate executor, attorney, or in some other role as advocate. Accordingly, though many of the papers concern the Lott family, most of the collection concerns other families as well. The most important example of this is a set of papers concerning the Ludlow-Willink family of New York and Flatbush. These papers include documents regarding the commercial interests of Dutch merchant John Abraham Willink (died 1852) and his estate. Willink was married to Cornelia Ann Ludlow (1788-1865); documents from her family include estate, property, and professional papers for various Ludlows and related family ancestors, among these Charles Crooke and Anthony Rutgers of New York City. In addition to the towns of Kings County, documents in the collection refer to matters in New York City, Dutchess County (N.Y.), and Middlesex County (N.J.), among other places. Among the other surnames represented in the collection are Brownejohn, Cortelyou, Couwenhoven, Lefferts, Lloyd, Stryker, Van Brunt, Van der Bilt, and Vanderveer.
Names:
- Cruikshank, Anita Lott
- Cortelyou family
- Couwenhoven family
- Lefferts family
- Lott family
- Lott, Jeremiah, 1776-1861
- Lott, John A., 1806-1878
- Ludlow family
- Van Brunt family
- Vanderbilt family
- Vanderveer family
- Willink family
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Flatbush (New York, N.Y.)
- Gravesend (New York, N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.)
- New York (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- County courts — New York (State) — Kings County
- Decedents’ estates — New York (State)
- Decedents’ estates — New York (State) — Kings County
- Families — New York (State) — Dutchess County
- Genealogy
- Lawyers — New York (State) — Kings County
- Real property — New York (State) — Dutchess County
- Real property — New York (State) — Kings County
- Real property — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Bonds (legal records)
- Cadastral maps
- Correspondence
- Deeds
- Estate inventories.
- Family papers
- Indentures
- Leases
- Manuscript maps
- Receipts (financial records)
- Slave bills of sale
- Wills
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Call Number: ARC.279
Extent: 0.8 Linear feet, in two manuscript boxes.
The Terhune and Wyckoff families papers (1747-1932) include documents of two prominent families, affiliated through marriage, from Gravesend in Kings County, New York (part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn after 1898). John Terhune (1767-1842) played a significant role in the early development of Coney Island as a resort location, and the collection includes some documents on that subject and on a dispute over whether to incorporate the town of Gravesend. The bulk of the collection, dating from the first half of the nineteenth century and likely compiled principally in connection with the administration of the estates of various Terhunes and Wyckoffs, includes bills, receipts, promissory notes, inventories, deeds, indentures, court filings, and other financial and legal documents. The collection holds several individual items of interest, including two letters commenting on the use of personal slanders as a tactic in political campaigns, a document related to the founding of the Agricultural Society of Kings County, six cartes-de-visite, bills of sale and a will referring to enslaved African-Americans, indentured servitude agreements, and a promissory note (1796) from Aaron Burr to Albert Terhune. Other names of Gravesend residents appearing frequently in the collection include Bennet, Emmans, Lake, Lott, Ryder, and Stillwell.
Names:
- Terhune family
- Emmans family
- Lott family
- Stillwell family
- Terhune, Albert
- Terhune, John
- Wyckoff family
- Coney Island House (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Gravesend and Coney Island Bridge and Road Company
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Coney Island (New York, N.Y.)
- Gravesend (New York, N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.) — Genealogy
Subjects:
- African Americans — New York (State) — Kings County
- Auctions — New York (State) — Kings County
- Court records — New York (State) — Kings County
- Executors and administrators — New York — Kings County
- Genealogy
- Indentured servants — New York (State) — New York
- Inventories of decedents’ estates — New York (State) — New York
- Legal documents — New York (State) — Kings County
- Locomotive engineers
- Public officers — New York (State) — Kings County
- Railroads — New York (State) — Kings County
- Real property — New York (State) — Kings County
- Wills — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
- Correspondence
- Deeds
- Estate inventories.
- Genealogies
- Indentures
- Invoices
- Promissory notes
- Receipts (financial records)
- Slave bills of sale
- Tax records
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Call Number: 1974.134
Extent: 2.4 Linear feet, in two flat boxes and one manuscript box
The collection includes five scrapbooks of Civil War era artifacts. Two scrapbooks hold envelopes with Union-themed images. One scrapbook includes Confederacy and Confederate state artifacts, especially currency and securities. Another scrapbook holds examples of various forms of scrip, not necessarily War-related, from several states. The final scrapbook holds a variety of documents on Union-related themes, including various Sanitary Commission fairs and other relief efforts, Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and the Lincoln assassination.
Names:
- Nichols, C. B.
- Ellsworth, E. E., 1837-1861
- Brooklyn and Long Island Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission. (1864)
Places:
- United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
Subjects:
- Bonds
- Money — United States
- Paper money — Confederate States of America
Types of material:
- Admission tickets
- Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
- Circulars (fliers)
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Envelopes
- Fliers (printed matter)
- Poems
- Scrapbooks
- scrip
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Call Number: ARC.278
Extent: 2.6 Linear feet, in two flat boxes and one manuscript box.
The Hulbert collection (1698-1846) consists principally of late eighteenth century documents related to colonial British America. The collection also includes documents from the American Revolution and early national period. The collection holds papers related to the British military presence in North America, including statistical reports (i.e., returns) for troops for several months in 1760 and documents compiled by Frederick de Deimar in connection with the Corps of Hussars (1779-1781) he raised for the British during the American Revolution. Non-military matters include correspondence, chiefly from Goldsbrow Banyar, Register of Prerogative Court and deputy to George Clark, Secretary of the Colony of New York, concerning a dispute among colonial New York officials over their respective rights to collect and receive patent and other fees (1766-1770). There are papers concerning the Bahamas (1795-1796), including correspondence, principally to and from colonial agent George Chalmers, and minutes of the Legislative Council. Among the other documents in the collection are land grants and indentures, a will, court filings, and other documents from New York State, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Florida. Several of these documents still have a large wax seal tied to them.
Names:
- Hulbert, Milan
- Banyar, Goldsbrow
- Chalmers, George
- Diemar, Frederick
- Great Britain. Army. Corps of Hussars (1779-1781)
Places:
- Bahamas — History
- New York (Colony)
- New York (State) — History — Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
- United States — History — French and Indian War, 1755-1763
- United States — History — Revolution, 1775-1783
- West Florida — History
Subjects:
- Land titles — New York (State)
- Land titles — South Carolina
- Land titles — West Florida
- Legal documents — Rhode Island
- Legal documents — Virginia
- Real property — New York (State)
- Real property — South Carolina
- Real property — West Florida
Types of material:
- certification
- Correspondence
- Deeds
- Land grants
- Returns (military reports)
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Call Number: ARC.257
Extent: 2.25 Linear feet, in one manuscript box and two flat boxes
The collection includes the journals maintained from 1790 to 1826 by Flatlands (Kings County, N.Y.) farmer John Baxter (1765-1826) and from 1826 to 1835 by his son, Garret (1792-1835). In addition, the collection includes a manuscript attributed to Garret Bergen with extracts from the journals of both Baxters. The Bergen manuscript also includes extracts dated 1824 from a journal not in the collection, that of one John Bergen. Access to the documents in this collection is restricted because they are in exceptionally fragile condition. Researchers are requested to use the typescript transcriptions available in the library. Researchers requiring access to the original documents need to request permission in writing from the Director of Library and Archives.
With attributes of diaries, the subjects covered by the Baxter journals include farming and agriculture, market transactions, health and illness, social relationships, civic duties, and weather conditions. The division and overlap of labor across gender, age, and race can be discerned. References to African-Americans, including those enslaved, are found in the journals. Social networks and matters of genealogical interest are illustrated by the journals because individuals are attributed by name in connection with labor, social visits, recreation, Sunday preaching, medical assistance, marriages, births, and deaths. Among the many family names well-represented in the journals are Wyckoff, Stoothoff, Bergen, and Lott.
Names:
- Baxter, Garret S.
- Baxter, John, 1765-1826
- Bergen family
- Hegeman family
- Lott family
- Stoothoff family
- Vanderveer family
- Voorhees family
- Wyckoff family
- Bergen, Garret
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Flatlands (New York, N.Y.)
- Flatlands (New York, N.Y.) — Climate
- Flatlands (New York, N.Y.) — Social life and customs — 19th century
- Kings County (N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.) — History — War of 1812
Subjects:
- African Americans — New York (State) — Kings County
- Agriculture — New York (State) — Kings County
- Families — Health and hygiene
- Farmers — New York (State) — Kings County
- Fishing — New York (State) — Kings County
- Genealogy
- Labor — New York (State) — Kings County
- Markets — New York (State) — New York
- Piety
- Slavery — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Diaries
- Journals (accounts)
- Transcripts
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Call Number: ARC.212
Extent: 28.0 Cubic feet, in 75 boxes: 32 manuscript boxes, 38 flat boxes, and 5 small boxes.
The Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims and Henry Ward Beecher collection traces the career of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the well known 19th century preacher, and the history of Plymouth Congregational Church, of which Beecher was the first pastor. Plymouth Church was a major institution in 19th century Brooklyn, first gaining recognition on national and international levels as Beecher’s pulpit. Beecher was well known for his oratorical ability and for his vocal opposition to slavery and support of the Northern cause during the Civil War. He also spoke out on subjects ranging from women’s suffrage and evolution to organized labor and temperance. Beecher was a popular figure despite controversy that surrounded his activities, including a charge of adultery that resulted in a widely reported trial in 1875.
The collection relates principally to Beecher’s pastorate at Plymouth Church from 1847 until his death in 1887. Other materials, ranging through 1980, concern the church’s other pastors and the history of Plymouth Church itself, which consolidated with the Church of the Pilgrims in 1934. The papers provide insight into the church congregation’s various activities, illustrate the history of Beecher’s influence on his congregation and on 19th century congregationalism, and shed light on both the public and private life of a major American personality of the 19th century.
Names:
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887
- Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1897
- Beecher, William Constantine, b. 1849
- Durkee, J. Stanley, 1866-1951
- Fifield, Lawrence Wendell, b. 1891
- Hibben, Paxton, 1880-1928
- Hillis, Newell Dwight, 1858-1929
- Hunt, Rose Ward
- Tilton, Elizabeth M. Richards, b. 1834
- Tilton, Theodore, 1835-1907
- Bethel of Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Sunday School
- Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Henry Ward Beecher Literary and Debating Society (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Henry Ward Beecher Missionary Circle (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Sunday School
- Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Institute (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Ellinwood, T. J., 1830-1921
- King, Horatio C., 1837-1918
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Church history
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Religious life and customs
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- United States — Religion
Subjects:
- Plymouth chimes (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Abolitionists — New York (State)
- Adultery — New York (State) — Kings County
- Antislavery movements — United States
- Authors, American
- City clergy — New York (State) — New York
- clergy as authors
- Congregational churches — New York (State) — Kings County — Clergy
- Congregationalists — New York (State) — Kings County
- Lectures and lecturing — New York (State) — Kings County
- Pews and pew rights
- Reformers — United States
- Religious education of children — New York (State) — Kings County
- Religious institutions — New York (State) — Kings County
- Sunday schools — New York (State) — Kings County
- Trials (Adultery) — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
- Church newsletters
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- cylinder phonographs (phonographs)
- Photographs
- Picture postcards
- Scrapbooks
- Sermons
- typescripts
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Call Number: ARC.045
Extent: 10.0 Linear feet, in 8 manuscript boxes and 4 flat boxes
Henry Onderdonk (1804-1886) of Queens County, Long Island, New York, was an educator at Union Hall Academy, and an historian and author of many works based on his research among local records. The Onderdonk papers include manuscript versions of Onderdonk’s historical works; notes and transcriptions taken by Onderdonk from private journals, church and local government records, and newspapers; correspondence from historians, genealogists and others often conveying information requested by Onderdonk; and scrapbooks of newspaper clippings covering the 1820s to 1868, with some earlier and later dated material. The bulk of the material concerns the geographic area encompassing present day Queens and Nassau counties, though the other two counties on Long Island, Kings and Suffolk, are also represented. The historical manuscripts, notes and extensive correspondence in the collection tend to center around Onderdonk’s research into the American Revolution, Quakers, churches, agriculture/animal husbandry, and genealogies, all with a focus on Long Island. Perhaps the most prominent correspondent is James Fenimore Cooper, whose three letters concern Loyalist Oliver de Lancey. Among the many other correspondents are historians George Bancroft, E. F. Ellet, E. B. O’Callaghan, Jeptha Root Simms, and Jared Sparks. The several scrapbooks in the collection, also with a Long Island focus, concern a number of subjects, principally electoral and partisan politics, agriculture, temperance, announcements and public notices for a wide variety of events, such as school openings, church dedications, auctions, cultural talks, etc., crimes and accidents, court proceedings, Civil War recruitments and drafts, and railroad developments, among other matters.
Names:
- Onderdonk, Henry, 1804-1886
- Bancroft, George, 1800-1891
- Bergen, Teunis G., 1806-1881
- Bowne, J. T., 1847-1925
- Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851
- Corwin, Edward Tanjore, 1834-1914
- De Lancey, Oliver, 1718-1785
- Ellet, E. F., 1818-1877
- Frost, Gideon
- Hicks, Benjamin Doughty
- Hicks, John D.
- Hoadly, Charles J., 1828-1900
- Johnson, Jeremiah, 1768-1852
- Jones, William Alfred, 1817-1900
- King, John A., 1788-1867
- Latting, John Jordan, b. 1819
- Lossing, Benson John, 1813-1891
- O’Callaghan, E. B., 1797-1880
- Sabine, Lorenzo, 1803-1877
- Simms, Jeptha Root, 1807-1883
- Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866
- Strong, Thomas M.
- Stuart, I. W., 1809-1861
- Thompson, Benjamin F., 1784-1849
- Queens County Agricultural Society (N.Y.)
- Union Hall Academy (Jamaica, New York, N.Y.)
Places:
- Flushing (New York, N.Y.)
- Hempstead (N.Y.)
- Jamaica (New York, N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.)
- Long Island (N.Y.)
- Long Island (N.Y.) — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
- Long Island (N.Y.) — History — Revolution, 1775-1783
- Nassau County (N.Y.)
- North Hempstead (N.Y. : Town)
- Oyster Bay (N.Y.)
- Queens County (N.Y.)
- Suffolk County (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- African Americans — New York (State) — Queens County
- Agriculture — New York (State) — Long Island
- Agriculture — New York (State) — Queens County
- Church announcements
- County courts
- Crime — New York (State) — Long Island
- Crime — New York (State) — Queens County
- Fourth of July — New York (State) — Long Island
- Fourth of July — New York (State) — Queens County
- Genealogy
- Local elections — New York (State) — Long Island
- Local elections — New York (State) — Queens County
- Long Island, Battle of, New York, N.Y., 1776
- Press and politics
- Quakers — New York (State) — Long Island
- Quakers — New York (State) — Queens County
- Railroad companies — New York (State) — Long Island
- Temperance — Societies, etc.
Types of material:
- Birth records
- Burial records
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Fliers (printed matter)
- Genealogies
- Marriage records
- Scrapbooks
- Transcripts
- Vital statistics records
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