Leo Hershkowitz Collection of New York Supreme Court Records and Research Material
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Leo Hershkowitz collection of New York Supreme Court records and research material is an assembled collection of diverse materials pertaining to early New York City social and economic history. Hershkowitz (1924-2017) was a professor at Queens College and a recognized expert on early New York City history, particularly of the Jewish community, from its origins to the period before the 20th century mass migrations. The collection includes court records, assorted family papers and corporate records, theater ephemera, illustrations, newspaper clippings and maps, dating from the early 1700s to the early 20th century. The bulk of the collection consists of common orders of the New York Supreme Court, dating from 1825 to 1915. Together these materials document the emergence of downstate New York's prominence in global trade, finance and culture. Also included in this collection are a small quantity of personal records and research materials from Leo Hershkowitz.
Biographical / Historical
Leo Hershkowitz was a professor emeritus of history at Queen College where he taught for close to fifty years. Hershkowitz was born on November 21st, 1924 in the Bronx, New York. Before attending Hunter College through the G.I. Bill, Hershkowitz served in the Army on Hawaii. He received his master's degree from Columbia College and Ph.D. from New York University. Hershkowitz primarily researched and wrote about early New York history and early history of Jews in New York City. He began teaching history at Queens College in 1960 and also taught classes at New York University.
Hershkowitz was known as a leading expert in colonial Jewish New York history. He was the co-editor of a book published in 1967 titled Wills of Early New York Jews, 1704-1799. Throughout his academic career, Hershkowitz sought out primary archival sources for his research. He was known for diving into dumpsters and digging at construction and open dig sites in his quest to find historical artifacts and records. Through these salvaging efforts Hershkowitz gained a reputation for saving papers and objects that were earmarked for disposal.
Hershkowitz's salvaging methods directly influenced how he wrote about well known historical figures. In 1977, Hershkowitz published his most well known book, Tweed's New York: Another Look. In the book, he claims that William Marcy Tweed did not steal millions of dollars from the city's treasury and was never convicted of that crime in court. Hershkowitz claims that primary archival material that he salvaged—payrolls, vouchers and other financial documents—absolves Tweed of his most well known crime.
Hershkowitz died on August 10th, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into six series, three of which have been further arranged in subseries. The contents of Series I are arranged to reflect the New York State Unified Court System's index of records. Series IA is grouped by the first letter of the Plaintiff's last name, then chronologically. Series IB and IC are grouped chronologically by year filed and then alphabetically by Plaintiff's last name. Series II is arranged alphabetically by court name. Series III and IV are grouped by subject, and arranged into subseries, which are arranged alphabetically. Series V is arranged alphabetically by publication title or topic. Series VI is arranged by alphabetically by subject. The series and subseries arrangement of the collection is as follows:
Series I. New York Supreme Court Records, 1805-1915, undated
Series I.A. Common Orders, 1825-1899
Series I.B. Common Orders, 1900-1915
Series I.C. General Records, 1805-1912, undated
Series II. New York, New Jersey and Tennessee Court Records, 1709-1915, undated
Series III. Family, Organizational and Corporate Records, 1745-1955, undated
Series III.A. Personal Papers, 1745-1953, undated
Series III.B. Organizational and Corporate Records, 1777-1955, undated
Series IV. Printed Materials, 1804-1984, undated
Series IV.A. Advertisements and Notices, 1807-1949, undated
Series IV.B. Performing Arts, 1814-1984, undated
Series IV.C. Illustrations, 1815-1885, undated
Series IV.D. Maps, 1804-1971, undated
Series V. Newspaper Clippings and Serials, 1830-2001, undated
Series VI. Hershkowitz Research Materials, 1942-2004, undated
Scope and Contents
The Leo Hershkowitz collection of New York Supreme Court records and research material is an assembled collection of diverse materials dating from the early 1700s to the mid-20th century pertaining to New York City social and economic history. The bulk of the collection consists of common orders, or procedural records, of the New York Supreme Court from 1848 to 1910. Assorted records from other New York, New Jersey and Tennessee courts are also included in this collection. Printed materials reflect public and commercial life in the city, including advertisements, incorporation records, public notices, illustrations and maps. The performing arts are reflected through playbills and sheet music. There are a substantial number of clippings from major publications such as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion. This collection also includes a small amount of assembled family, organizational and corporate records, such as correspondence, account books, and captains' logs. Finally, this collection includes personal records from Leo Hershkowitz, including correspondence, research notes in both paper and electronic form, and manuscripts.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions with the exception of the map of New York City, 1836. Repository permission is required for access to this map. Please contact the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Leo Hershkowitz were transferred to New York University in 2012 by Leo Hershkowitz. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Leo Hershkowitz Collection; TAM 415; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Dr. Leo Hershkowitz in 2008; additional materials were donated in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are: 2008.050, 2008.053, 2009.025, 2009.025, 2009.090, 2010.099, 2011.054, 2011.143, and 2013.029.
Custodial History
This collection has a complex custodial history. The New York Supreme Court Common Orders, which form the bulk of this collection, were transferred from the City of New York to Queens College in 1984. The City of New York retained common orders beginning with the letters C and D. Leo Hershkowitz conducted an appraisal to determine which records were of value. In part, this meant he retained records relating to famous people, such as John Jacob Astor, Thomas Edison, Hamilton Fish, William M. "Boss" Tweed, Andrew Carnegie, and others. Hershkowitz also indicated he had implemented limited random sampling and retained chronological series of at least some case files. In 1994 the records were transferred to Hofstra University, and in 2007 (following more aggressive sampling) to New York University. These court records were merged, presumably by Leo Hershkowitz, with an artificial collection of records from courts throughout New York State, assorted private and public records, and ephemera to become the Leo Hershkowitz collection. The custodial history of the remaining court records, public and private records, and ephemera is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
An access terminal for viewing WordPerfect documents in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view original container and/or carrier through QuickView Plus software on laptops available in the reading room, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Separated Materials
On accessioning, books were separated from the archival materials and review by Tamiment Library staff. Additional boxes of books were discovered in un-numbered boxes during the collection survey and processing. The vast majority were removed from the collection due to being out of scope.
Materials determined to belong to the Municipal Archives operated by the New York City Department of Records and Information Services primarily including general expense reports, checks, stocks and bonds, Coroners' inquisitions, indentures, tax lists and correspondence and expenses regarding the Bronx Zoo, Museum of Natural History, Central Park, and Croton Aqueduct were separated from the collection and returned to the original repository in two batches. The first batch included microfilm, which contained duplicates of court records and archival materials present in this collection or held at other institutions was transferred to the Municipal Archives on March 8th, 2017. This first batch measured approximately seven linear feet. The second batch measured approximately three linear feet and was transferred to the Municipal Archives on March 13th, 2019.
An unidentified painting on glass was discovered in the repository during processing. The painting was rehoused for stabilization, and was transferred to New York University's Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center.
Exhibition materials (such as mounted captions) were removed from the collection. Newspaper clippings from fully digitized publications (Harper's Weekly and London Illustrated News) were appraised out of this collection. CVs and personnel records were deaccessioned from the collection and shredded. A small number of reproductions of historical records were weeded from the collection.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Material were placed into new acid-free folders and boxes. Original court case titles and court system titles were transcribed as folder titles for Series I and II. Folder titles were created by topic by the archivist for Series III-VI.
Initially, there was very little discernable arrangement of the collection. Records were loosely grouped by type in boxes in such a way that original order and context were impossible to discern. In the course of surveying the collection approximately fifteen linear feet of the common orders were found to have mold and were treated in the course of arrangement and description. Material was arranged in series grouped by provenance and subject matter. Material was described at the folder level. There was limited physical rearrangement.
The collection includes one floppy disk, which was forensically imaged, anaylsed, and arranged in Forenstic Toolkit.
New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
