Series I. Scrapbooks, 1843-1991
Language of Materials
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
The Scrapbook series includes 28 boxed volumes of clippings from newspapers, general interest magazines, museum, antiques, and other specialist journals, and other print matter concerning New-York Historical Society and New York's history. Although there are articles dating from as early as 1843, the regular content of the scrapbooks appears to begin principally in 1871. The scrapbooks advance with increasing consistency and quantity well into the twentieth century, pausing about 1972, and then picking up with some final volumes covering various years in the 1980s and 1990s, ending with 1991.
Articles related to N-YHS concern exhibitions, lectures, and other programs and events; acquisitions of new collections or objects; activities of the Field Exploration Committee and other initiatives; building construction, management controversies, and other organizational issues; and recognitions, leadership changes, obituaries, and other matters connected to individuals. Newspapers represented are principally from New York City and Brooklyn (e.g., Herald, Evening Post, Tribune, American, Sun, Times, World, New York Commercial, Evening Telegram, Citizen (Brooklyn), Standard Union (Brooklyn), Times (Brooklyn), and others). Other cities and states are also represented (e.g., Providence, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco, various New Jersey papers, and others). Some clippings retained their transmittal information so the work of providers such as Henry Romeike, Inc., Argus Pressclipping Bureau, Selective Service Clipping Co., and Burrelle's is evident.
Arrangement Note
The scrapbooks are arranged in chronological order, although this is only approximate for the first six books as their date ranges do not proceed in a strictly sequential manner. The titles of the volumes used in the container list were taken, when present, from the scrapbooks; [bracketed] titles were supplied by the archivist.
The clippings in the scrapbooks, especially those from the nineteenth century and into the mid-twentieth century, are very fragile and must be handled with great care. Many clippings, especially in the earliest volumes, are not secured to pages of the scrapbook, but are simply inserted at various points. Clippings that come loose or break during use should be brought to the attention of the reference librarian.
Processing Information Note
The series was processed by project archivist Larry Weimer in September 2015.
[Clippings], 1858-1859
Scope and Contents Note
Includes clippings concerning notable New York City events and other matters of the time, articles about New York's history, and just a few articles about N-YHS.
Newspaper Cuttings Related to the NY Historical Society, 1844-1909
Scope and Contents Note
The core scrapbook includes clippings from 1871-1907, with loose clippings at the front of the album ranging from 1844 to 1909. The most interesting of these early clippings are a set from 1855 relating to the laying of the cornerstone of N-YHS's 2nd Ave building, and a November 1844 Daily Tribune article about a dinner held by N-YHS at the New-York Hotel, with seating diagram. Includes a photograph of the 2nd Ave building in 1904.
[N-YHS Clippings], 1899-1900, 1905, 1907-1911, 1916-1918
Scope and Contents Note
The core of the scrapbook includes the years 1907-11, with loose clippings at the back of the album or miscellaneous pages including other years.
[N-YHS Clippings], 1911-1917
N-YHS Clippings, 1905-1907, 1912-1921
N-YHS Clippings, 1843, 1921-1927
Scope and Contents Note
Includes clips about the Edwin Smith Medical Papyrus and other N-YHS Egyptian holdings, Field Exploration Committee, and advertisements placed by N-YHS in various papers soliciting documents, etc. from the public. Includes pages from the New York Herald of April 17, 1843, that include Albert Gallatin and Daniel Webster's remarks on the John Jay North Eastern boundary map (also reproduced in the paper).
N-YHS Clippings, 1928-1935
N-YHS Clippings, 1935-1939
Scope and Contents Note
Includes articles about the construction and opening of the expanded building.
N-YHS Clippings, 1939-1941
Scope and Contents Note
Includes the transcript of the Oct 19, 1940, radio interview with Alexander Wall, Jr. about N-YHS and the transcript of a radio interview with museum curator H. Maxson Holloway about an exhibition of campaign objects.
N-YHS Clippings, 1941-1943
N-YHS Clippings, 1943-1949
Scope and Contents Note
Many pages in the album are stuck together. Loose matter inserted in pages are stuck on underlying documents. Assistance from conservation staff is needed to use this volume.
N-YHS Clippings, 1949-1952
Scope and Contents Note
Includes New York Subways Advertising Co. ads for N-YHS (1952).
N-YHS Clippings, 1952-1954
Scope and Contents Note
Includes New York Subways Advertising Co. ads for N-YHS (1953-1954).
N-YHS Clippings, 1954-1956
N-YHS Clippings, 1956-1958
[N-YHS Clippings], 1958-1959
[N-YHS Clippings], 1959-1961
N-YHS Board of Trustees Clippings, 1942-1962
Scope and Contents Note
Includes obituaries and articles about honors and recognitions received by individual trustees and about their positions outside their N-YHS roles. Also includes articles about the death of Alexander Wall.