Gabor Naphegyi lecture transcription
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Abstract
A transcription of "Languages of the Aborigines of the American Continent," a lecture presented by Gabor Naphegyi, circa 1865, at the Long Island Historical Society.
Historical note
The Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) was founded during a time of tumultuous change. In only a few decades, Brooklyn had grown from a rural agricultural community to the third largest city in the country. Civic pride was at an all-time high. Many of Brooklyn's citizens believed they needed to commemorate their city's rural past before it quickly faded from memory.
Founders also envisioned the LIHS as a center for dialogue about history. In the nineteenth century, the society's roster of speakers included newspaper editor and reformer Horace Greeley, writer Arthur Conan Doyle and abolitionist and women's rights activist Julia Ward Howe.
In 1985, the institution changed its name to Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS). In 2020, BHS underwent another transformation by becoming part of Brooklyn Public Library under a new name: Center for Brooklyn History (CBH).
Biographical note
Gabor Naphegyi was an importer, author, and financial and legal agent for General Antonio López de Santa Anna during the latter's stay in the United States in 1866-1867.
Naphegyi, born in Budapest, became a naturalized United States citizen and later moved to Mexico City. By the 1850s he was involved with his wife, Maria Amalia Kurezyn, in various enterprises, including the Santa Anna Mine, resulting by 1860 in financial difficulties. In 1865 the Naphegyis returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where Naphegyi was employed as director of the Mexican department of the Knickerbocker Life Insurance Company.
The following year, when Santa Anna arrived in New York, Naphegyi acted as his financial and legal agent. It is unclear what previous acquaintance the two men had, but Santa Anna speaks in his autobiography of Naphegyi as "a Hungarian I had befriended in Mexico." Santa Anna came to New York on May 12th, 1866, from St. Thomas, where he had been in exile since 1855, to arrange American aid through Secretary of State William H. Seward and others to regain control of Mexico.
Source:
- Gabor Naphegyi papers, MS 1155, Yale University Archives. https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/3183
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single document.
Scope and Contents
A transcription of "Languages of the Aborigines of the American Continent," a lecture presented by Gabor Naphegyi, circa 1865, at the Long Island Historical Society (later known as the Brooklyn Historical Society).
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Preferred Citation
Gabor Naphegyi lecture, c. 1865, 1977.663, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source and date of acquisition unknown. The item was formally accessioned in 1977.
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Processing Information
This collection was rehoused and the finding aid revised by Dee Bowers in 2023.
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