Call Number: ARC.190
Extent: 2.8 Linear feet, in seven manuscript boxes
Gabriel Furman (1800-1854) was a lawyer, Whig politician, New York State senator, and historian of early Brooklyn, New York, known for his Notes Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn, on Long-Island (1824). The Furman papers principally include thirteen journals dating from circa 1816 to circa 1854 in which Furman both documented his personal observations about Brooklyn and New York and recorded historical items relevant to his writing and lectures. Among the wide diversity of topics found in the journals are epidemics of cholera and yellow fever, financial crises, daily weather conditions, theatre and the arts, politics, and religious belief. The collection also holds Furman manuscript histories, notably one on theatre in New York. Finally, the collection includes several pages from a Furman letter book, principally from 1824, and a page of his legal drafts from 1823. The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters written by Furman to his father, William, who was a New York State assemblyman away at Albany. The principal subjects of these letters concerned local perspectives on matters that would be taken up by the legislature, including Brooklyn’s effort to gain a charter for a proposed Long Island Bank, the proposed act of incorporation for Brooklyn, and Furman’s opposition to a proposed expansion of capital punishment in New York. Local electoral politics is also a subject of the correspondence.
Names:
- Furman, Gabriel, 1800-1854
- Long Island Bank
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Buildings, structures, etc.
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Climate
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Commerce
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Description and travel
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Economic conditions
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — History
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — History — Archival resources.
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Politics and government
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Religious life and customs
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Social conditions
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Social life and customs
- New York (N.Y.) — History
- New York (State) — History
Subjects:
- Cholera — New York (State) — Kings County
- Theaters — New York (State) — New York — History
- Yellow fever — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- commonplace books
- Diaries
- Histories
- Letter books
- natural history
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