Series III. Other Committee Minutes, 1806-1822, 1856-1880
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
The Other Committee Minutes series includes the following three volumes:
The first volume holds minutes recorded by the Standing Committee and lists of early donations to N-YHS. The Standing Committee existed from 1805 until 1829 when the requirement for it was removed from the N-YHS Constitution and By-Laws. The volume does not include records from this entire period. Only four meetings of the Standing Committee are recorded; one of these (1807) was adjourned for lack of a quorum and the other three (1806, 1809, 1810) include only a small number of committee resolutions, one of which concerns the possible purchase of items from John Pintard. The bulk of the entries in the volume are lists of donations of books and other objects (1806 to 1818, with gaps, and 1822); these entries often, though not always, also indicate the donor.
The second volume holds minutes of the Mineralogical Committee, dating from 1818-1819. Although the committee was formed in October 1816 and existed until perhaps circa 1920 (the Society meeting minutes are silent on when the committee was discharged), this slender volume holds the brief minutes for only two meetings: December 28, 1818, and March 6, 1819. The minutes also include a letter from the committee's secretary indicating his unavailability for a March 26, 1819 meeting.
The third volume holds minutes of the Committee on Fine Arts, dating from its formation in March 1856 to March 1880. Although the committee existed until May 1895, there are no entries after March 1880. The minutes refer to the committee's support for collecting photographs, consideration of the Jarvis collection, the Audubon watercolors, the Bryan collection, the possibility of acquiring space for N-YHS in Central Park, and Mathew Brady's offer of photographs to N-YHS, among other matters.
Arrangement Note
The three volumes are listed here chronologically by their earliest entry. Within each volume, the entries proceed chronologically.
The bound pages of the Mineralogical Committee volume include only the December 1818 meeting minutes. The other content is on two loose sheets that were inserted into the volume. These two sheets were removed to a separate folder, which is noted in the container list below.
The Standing Committee and Fine Arts Committee volumes were bound in new covers in July 1936 by the New-York Historical Society. The Mineralogical Committee volume is in its original binding and covers.
A photocopy of the Standing Committee book is available for general access use. The photocopy is complete as to the book's bound pages, but does not include two loose sheets that are with the committee book. It also cuts off a small amount of information and is difficult to read at points because of the poor reproduction quality. Accordingly the photocopy cannot be relied on as a replacement for the original, but it is preferable to use over the somewhat fragile original for users initially surveying the document for potential usefulness.
Standing Committee and Record of Donations (1 of 2), 1806-1818, 1822
Standing Committee and Record of Donations (2 of 2), 1806-1818, 1822
Scope and Contents Note
This folder includes a photocopy of the Standing Committee book that is available for general access use. The photocopy is complete as to the original's bound pages, but does not include copies of two loose sheets that are with the committee book. It also cuts off a small amount of information and is difficult to read at points because of the poor reproduction quality. Accordingly the photocopy cannot be relied on as a replacement for the original, but it is preferable to use over the somewhat fragile original for users initially surveying the document for potential usefulness.