Access to the New-York Historical Society's American Historical Manuscripts Collection

FAIN: PW-51674-14

New York Historical (New York, NY 10024-5152)
Henry F. Raine (Project Director: July 2013 to November 2016)

The cataloging and conservation of 6,000 manuscript collections documenting the history of New York City and the United States more generally, spanning the 17th to 20th centuries.

The New-York Historical Society respectfully requests funds to support the first two years of a four-year project to catalog and conserve the American Historical Manuscript Collection. This collection consists of 12,000 distinct, small collections, averaging about 40 pages each, and dating from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. The contents, a range of physical formats including account books, baptism records, bills, certificates, date books, deeds, diaries, indentures invoices, leases, letters, receipts, tax records and wills, comprise a powerful amalgam of multiple creators, subject areas, time periods, and geographic locations that offer unprecedented views into the history of New York and the United States. Funds will support the hire of two cataloguers and two cataloging assistants over a two-year period.