Series 4: Scrapbooks, circa 1788-circa 1882, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
The series includes eight scrapbooks compiled by Onderdonk in the 1860s. Seven of these scrapbooks, completed in 1869, comprise a set covering Queens County, which at the time also included the towns that would later become Nassau County. In these volumes, Jamaica, Flushing, and Hempstead are perhaps most prominent, but other locales, including Newtown, Oyster Bay, Cow Neck, Roslyn, and Glen Cove, are represented significantly. Occasional Kings County material appears, though not extensively; generally this material especially concerns Brooklyn and are often clippings from a series of historical pieces published by the Eagle. The bulk of the material consists of newspaper clippings; it is seldom clear which newspapers were the source of particular clippings, but at least three newspapers appear to have been significant sources: Democrat (Jamaica); Long Island Star; and Long Island Farmer and Queens County Advertiser. Some handbills, advertisements, circulars, and other such ephemera can also be found in the scrapbooks; in most instances, these items date from after the scrapbooks compilation date and are tipped-in at seemingly random places, such as a circa 1880 Manhattan Beach Railway timetable and map found in Volume 2.
The clippings focus on Queens County matters of potential local historical interest, so broader New York or national events are not represented aside from their local connection, nor are literary or other fictional writings included. The subject matter of the clippings is wide-ranging, but there is also a high level of consistency across the seven volumes for several subjects. These subjects include political matters, such as accounts of political gatherings, detailed results by town of presidential, state, and local elections, and party positions; agriculture, such as agricultural society fairs (especially the Queens County Agricultural Society) and lists of premiums awarded by the societies; temperance and temperance societies; government matters, such as accounts of town meetings, meetings of town trustees or supervisors, and court proceedings; announcements, public notices and advertisements, such as those for public auctions, lectures to be given, openings and other events at schools, churches, and other institutions, camp meetings, stagecoach departure schedules, and recreational outings and events; financial information, such as taxpayer lists and assessments, town finances, and corporate operations; crimes (e.g., murder, rape, assault, theft) and accidental deaths (e.g., drownings, fires, falls); lists of interments; July 4 celebrations, including accounts of the toasts given; and railroad development and reports of operations. References to African-Americans, though not frequent, appear throughout the volumes in the context of the above subjects, such as runaway notices (Vol. 1), announcements of camp meetings (e.g., Vol. 4) or annual beach parties (Vol. 6 and 7), and in accounts of crimes, accidents or deaths.
The first volume includes Revolutionary War events, including information on the prison ships and the refugees from Long Island. Volumes 6 and 7 include much on the Civil War as it relates to Queens County, such as town war meetings, lists of draftees, deaths, and regiment recruitment, musters, and other activities. Items with an obvious personal connection to Onderdonk are common, including material on Union Hall Academy and articles referring to individuals with the Onderdonk name. By 1866, the scrapbooks include box scores and summaries of local baseball games. The eighth scrapbook in the series was compiled at an earlier date, in 1864, than the seven volume set. The single volume includes Kings and Suffolk counties in its scope, as well as Queens County. The subject matter of this one volume is generally consistent with that described above. Because of the overlap in chronology, the Queens County section of this scrapbook can be viewed as a supplement to the seven volume set. The Kings County section of this scrapbook consists principally of a series of historical narratives published by the Brooklyn Eagle circa 1862.
Arrangement
A seven volume set of scrapbooks Onderdonk finished compiling in 1869 concerning Queens County is first in the series, followed by an 1864 volume with material covering all three Long Island counties of the time (Kings, Queens, Suffolk).
The date range used in the container list is the approximate date of the original documents in the scrapbooks. Some of the scrapbook documents, particularly in Queens County Volume 1, are mid-nineteenth century transcriptions, newspaper reprints of old items of interest such as town record entries, historical narratives published in newspapers, or other forms of secondary material concerning the seventeenth century and later; accordingly, a second date range, found within the item description, is used for the approximate date range of the historical period referred to by the content of the scrapbook documents.
The content of the seven volume Queens County set advances in chronological order, covering historical matters from circa 1663 to 1868. Much of the material concerning the period until the 1820s are not contemporary documents; the earliest contemporary documents date from circa 1798. Several of the volumes include post-1868 handbills and other ephemera (i.e., material dating from after Onderdonk's completion of the scrapbooks) tipped-in to the scrapbooks at various places in no discernible order. The content of the earliest volumes in the set seem to adhere to a less rigorous organization than the later volumes which run in a reliable chronological order.
The content of the one volume scrapbook includes well-defined sections on Kings, Queens, and Suffolk counties. The volume includes a subject index prepared by Onderdonk. There is also a partial list of contents at the front of the scrapbook prepared by a Brooklyn Historical Society librarian in 1940.
