Thomas F. De Voe scrapbooks
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The collection includes 80 scrapbooks compiled by Thomas F. De Voe (1811-1892). The bulk of the content is newspaper clippings, though some other printed forms are present as well. Some material ranges as early as circa 1720 and as late as 1890, but the bulk ranges from the 1850s into the 1880s. 34 of the volumes concern New York City history (e.g., politics, built environment, cultural institutions, events, etc.); 15 volumes relate to obituaries or other profiles of notable people; 8 relate to the Civil War and other military matters; 7 concern markets; and the remaining 16 volumes are on various topics.
Biographical / Historical
Thomas F. De Voe was born in 1811 in Westchester County, New York. He apprenticed as a butcher, then operated his own business at the Jefferson Market at 6th Avenue and Christopher Street in Manhattan from 1833 to 1872. In 1840, his fellow Jefferson Market butchers chose De Voe to represent them to the city on regulatory matters. To do this work more effectively, De Voe did research, including at New-York Historical Society, where he eventually became a member. With the encouragement of N-YHS Librarian George Moore and others, De Voe turned his research into the published works he is well-known for: "The Market Book" (1862), a historical account of New York's markets, and "The Market Assistant" (1867), a description of the foods available at the markets. De Voe was also an officer of the New York State militia's 8th Regiment. In 1872, De Voe gave up his business to become New York City's Superintendent of Markets. He died in 1892.
(The above note was largely based on an article about De Voe in the Spring-Summer 2008 issue of "The Quarto," a publication of the University of Michigan's Clements Library Associates.)
Arrangement
Although notations on many of the volumes suggest that there was an overall structure to at least many of De Voe's compilations, that structure is no longer fully discernible. Labeled spines are now missing, some items may have been separated from the collection, perhaps not all volumes were received by N-YHS, and other factors complicate any arrangement to original order. Consequently, the 80 volumes in this collection have been arranged roughly by subject matter as perceived by the N-YHS archivist in May 2022. The rough categories are:
Markets (7 volumes)
Obituaries (15 volumes)
Civil War and other military matters (8 volumes)
New York City historical matters (21 volumes)
New York City matters of the mid to late 19th century (13 volumes)
Miscellaneous subjects (16 volumes)
Each scrapbook was given a unique identifier (e.g., SN-1, SN-2) by the processing archivists in 2022. These are intended only to facilitate reference and are not indicative of any overall numbering scheme found in the collection itself.
Scope and Contents
The collection includes 80 scrapbooks compiled by Thomas De Voe. The bulk of the content is newspaper clippings, though some other printed forms are present as well. Some material ranges as early as circa 1720 and as late as 1890, but the bulk ranges from the 1850s into the 1880s. A few of the volumes are indexes to scrapbooks of clippings, which may or may not be in this collection. Entries in the container list that begin with the word Index indicate these.
34 of the volumes concern either New York City history (that is, from De Voe's perspective looking back from the mid-19th century) or contemporary developments during the 1850s to 1880s. These latter volumes include a variety of subject matter about the development of New York (especially Manhattan), such as in transportation (ferries, railways, etc.), cultural institutions (museums, historical societies), infrastructure (streets), events, etc. 15 volumes relate to obituaries or other profiles of notable people, 8 relate to the Civil War and other military matters, 7 concern markets, and the remaining 16 volumes are on various topics.
Each volume is listed in the container list. Volumes that retain a title given them by De Voe are noted in "quotations." Volumes that have a title given them over time by someone at N-YHS (possibly taken from a now missing original De Voe label) are noted in [brackets]. Volumes listed with no such markings were titled by the processing archivist in 2022 for the inventory; in these cases the volume had no indication of a title and the archivist assigned one based on a skim of the content.
Subjects
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection are stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Thomas F. De Voe scrapbooks, MS 3193, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Bequest of Thomas F. De Voe.
Existence and Location of Copies
There are bound facsimiles of volumes SN-67, SN-68, SN-79, and another copy of Mariam Touba's index (see SN-68) available at the reference desk.
About this Guide
Processing Information
In 2019-20, as part of a broader project, archivist Elise Winks performed a high level survey of the collection and assigned unique identifiers to each volume. In 2022, archivist Larry Weimer inventoried the scrapbooks, boxing them for offsite storage, and describing them in this finding aid.