Access to the New-York Historical Society's American Historical Manuscript Collection, Phase Two

FAIN: PW-234808-16

New York Historical (New York, NY 10024-5152)
Henry F. Raine (Project Director: July 2015 to March 2018)

The cataloging and conservation of 6,000 manuscript collections documenting the history of New York and the United States more generally, spanning the 18th to 20th centuries.

The New-York Historical Society (N-YHS) requests funds for the second phase of a four-year project to catalog and conserve the American Historical Manuscript Collection. The collection consists of 12,000 distinct small collections, averaging about 40 pages each and dating from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. The contents represent a range of physical formats including account books, baptism records, bills, certificates, date books, deeds, indentures, invoices, letters, tax records, and wills, and comprise a powerful amalgam of multiple creators, subject areas, time periods, and geographic locations that offer unparalleled views into the history of New York and the United States. The first phase of the project began in 2014 and is meeting its goal to catalogue 6,000 collections by 2016. A new grant from the NEH will allow N-YHS to complete the cataloging of the remaining 6,000 collections in Phase Two.