Henry Onderdonk papers, 1729-1895. 12 boxes (8 manuscript boxes and 4 flat boxes), 10 linear feet
Call number: ARC.045
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.
Access Points:
Personal Names
Bancroft, George, 1800-1891 – Correspondence
Bergen, Teunis G., 1806-1881 – Correspondence
Bowne, J. T., (Jacob Titus), 1847-1925 – Correspondence
Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 – Correspondence
Corwin, Edward Tanjore, 1834-1914 – Correspondence
De Lancey, Oliver, 1718-1785
Ellet, E. F., (Elizabeth Fries), 1818-1877 – Correspondence
Frost, Gideon – Correspondence
Hicks, Benjamin Doughty – Correspondence
Hicks, John D. – Correspondence
Hoadly, Charles J., (Charles Jeremy), 1828-1900 – Correspondence
Johnson, Jeremiah, 1768-1852 – Correspondence
Jones, William Alfred, 1817-1900 – Correspondence
King, John A., 1788-1867 – Correspondence
Latting, John Jordan, b. 1819 – Correspondence
Lossing, Benson John, 1813-1891 – Correspondence
O’Callaghan, E. B., (Edmund Bailey), 1797-1880 – Correspondence
Onderdonk, Henry, 1804-1886
Sabine, Lorenzo, 1803-1877 – Correspondence
Simms, Jeptha Root, 1807-1883 – Correspondence
Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866 – Correspondence
Strong, Thomas M. – Correspondence
Stuart, I. W., (Isaac William), 1809-1861 – Correspondence
Thompson, Benjamin F., (Benjamin Franklin), 1784-1849 — Correspondence
Subject Organizations
Queens County Agricultural Society (N.Y.).
Union Hall Academy (Jamaica, New York, N.Y.).
Subject 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.)
Subject Topics
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.
Vital statistics
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View Supplementary Finding Aid for Correspondence Series
