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Philip Hamilton Hill diaries

Call Number

MS 3052

Date

1855-1865, inclusive

Creator

Hill, Philip Hamilton, 1839-1915

Extent

0.42 Linear feet in one document box

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The collection includes the three volumes of diaries maintained from August 1855 to June 1865 by Philip Hamilton Hill (1839-1915). Hill, who was employed by the Jewish businessman Jacob Bamberg in a millinery shop in Albany and New York City, wrote entries concerning his social activities with family, friends, and women; leisure activities, including going to the theatre; employment matters; description of travel and events he witnessed in New York; and his time during the Civil War as an enlistee with the 7th Regiment of the New York State National Guard at Fort Federal Hill in Baltimore.

Biographical/Historical Note

Philip Hamilton Hill was born 10 August 1839 in or around Albany, New York. He was the third of four children born to William and Matilda Jones Hill. In August 1852 the teenage Hill went to work for Jacob Bamberg, a local Jewish merchant in the wholesale millinery trade. During the period of these diaries (1855-65), Hill appears to have been a sales clerk for Bamberg, with larger responsibilities as well for account collections and other dealings with clients. Bamberg had originally worked for Albany milliner Joseph Sporborg before opening his own business. At some point in the 1850s, Bamberg moved to New York City to establish his business at 367 Canal Street (eventually moving to 475 Broadway), while still for a time operating a branch location in Albany. Hill remained in Bamberg's employ and, by the late 1850s, had joined Bamberg in New York City, though he continued to make collections and conduct other business for Bamberg in Albany and other locations in New York State. Hill had family in New York, including an uncle in Yorkville in upper Manhattan, a cousin on Adelphi Street in Brooklyn, and perhaps others.

During 1855-1865, the young man remained in Bamberg's employ with only short breaks in service, enjoyed an active social life with friends and family, courted ladies, became a member of an Oddfellows Lodge, and joined the 7th Regiment of the New York State National Guard for a short deployment during the Civil War. In 1865, as these diaries close, Hill married Emma Tompson (referred to as "Puss" in the journals), journeying to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon.

Subsequent to the close of the diaries, Hill became partners with Jacob Bamberg in the mid-1860s. By 1869 the firm had taken the name of Bamberg & Hill, changing it to Bamberg, Hill & Co. in 1870 as the business grew. About 1880, Hill left New York for Nashville, Tennessee, where he continued in the millinery trade. Bamberg reorganized the firm as Bamberg & Co., partnering with his son, Wallace. By about 1890, the firm had failed.

According to the Hill family descendants, Philip Hill lived his last years with family in Jackson, Mississippi. That seems more likely than the reference in the Illustrated Milliner of January 1917 that holds that Hill died in 1915 in China where it was said he was living with his missionary children.

(The above note is based on information primarily from Hill's diaries, New York City directories, an 1889 New York Times article, articles from the Illustrated Milliner, and information from Pete Hamilton, the donor's husband.)

Arrangement Note

The collection is arranged with Hill's 3 volumes followed by folders with the decryption keys for the codes Hill used and the transcripts prepared by Pete Hamilton, the donor's husband.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes the three volume set of diaries maintained by Philip Hamilton Hill (1839-1915) from August 1855 to June 1865. The entries for the earliest years are sporadic and often widely spaced, but in 1858 the entries become much more regular and this continues to their conclusion. With few exceptions, the entries tend to reflect Hill's direct personal experiences and his impressions and feelings about those experiences; generally Hill does not use his diary to record newsworthy events outside his direct experience or to write opinionated commentary about them. In this emphasis on the personal, the diaries provide insight into the lived experience of a young man who was part of the growing commercial middle class of New York City in the mid-19th century.

Several related themes, or points of emphasis, can be perceived throughout the diaries. One major theme concerns his social interactions with young women, that is, with potential girlfriends and wives. The entries reference the circumstances in which he meets women, the rituals of courtship, outings together, judgments about those he meets, his thoughts on marriage and possible life partners, his conflicted feelings when relationships do not work out, social pressures to find a wife, and eventually his marriage proposal and wedding. His social interactions extend to an array of friends and family, and the diaries reveal his frequent visits and activities with them, including Hill joining an Oddfellows Lodge on his father's introduction. One sees the emergence of new customs, such as the noteworthy exchange of daguerreotypes and cartes-de-visite between friends and with members of the opposite sex.

Hill's leisure activities appear frequently, perhaps especially with regard to the theatre, which he attends often, offering comment on the performances, such as that of Edwin Forrest at Niblo's Garden in 1860. Ice skating in Central Park and elsewhere, playing whist, collecting minerals, coins, and other curiosities, and ferrying across the Hudson River to Elysian Fields in Hoboken to watch ballgames also appear in his entries. Hill also takes advantage of his time in New York City to see the everyday sights, including Central Park, Barnum Museum, Greenwood Cemetery, and the great ships that arrive in the harbor and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Hill provides considerable description for significant events he witnesses in the city, including the celebration of the laying of the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable (1858) and the reception for the Japanese embassy (1860). He traverses the New York area regularly, sometimes leading to noteworthy encounters on streetcars or ferries, such as his life-threatening struggle with the Spuyten Duyvel current (1862). Hill's leisure travels take him outside of New York City on occasion, and he describes trips to West Point and Sing Sing prison (1858) and Niagara Falls (1864).

Another related theme is Hill's employment. His entries do not provide much detail about his actual work, but his references to business trips to Troy, Saratoga, Cohoes, or back to his hometown of Albany are common. Although the specific disputes are sometimes unclear, Hill has a contentious relationship at times with his employer, Jacob Bamberg. Still, entries show Bamberg and his wife including Hill in various social events, Bamberg and Hill working out employment agreements, Bamberg giving Hill his position back after Hill's departures for short durations, and Bamberg giving Hill a generous wedding gift. Bamberg closes his store on Jewish holidays, which Hill notes as he commonly uses those occasions to do his city sightseeing or local family visits.

The Civil War figures significantly in the second volume of the diary. Here Hill describes the various regiments moving through the city; the enlistment of his older brother, Luther, in the 34th New York Volunteer Regiment, and the aftermath of Luther's death at the battle of Fair Oaks; his eldest brother William's enlistment in the 7th Regiment of the New York State National Guard; Hill's decision to also join the 7th Regiment; and Hill's experience with the militia during its short mobilization at Fort Federal Hill in Baltimore in 1862.

Various parts of the diary are written in one of two codes. (A third code, that of using code names to obscure the identities of many of the women, is also used.) Hill's decryption key for one of the codes is in the collection. Pete Hamilton, the husband of the collection's donor, who was a Hill descendant, decoded the second and that key is also in the collection. Hamilton also prepared annotated transcripts of the volumes, which are included in the collection; the transcripts include decryptions of the coded content.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Use Restrictions

This collection is owned by the New-York Historical Society. The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as Philip Hamilton Hill diaries, MS 3052, The New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

Gift of Judith Hamilton, 2018.

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:51 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information Note

Processed by archivist Larry Weimer, March 2018.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024