Scope and Contents
The collection was compiled over time by New-York Historical Society and is composed of miscellaneous documents related to New York City. Included are affidavits, correspondence, Common Council reports, muster rolls, receipts, licenses, wills, property surveys, account statements, and a variety of other items. Although the bulk of the collection consists of original documents, many are various forms of copies of originals.
The collection contains documents regarding the Five Indian Nations; correspondence from the Sons of Liberty; a directive from the 16th British regiment allowing each solider a "half a galloon" of beer per day; records of the New York Revolutionary Committee; an 1803 document listing deaths from yellow fever; a brief history of the New York Asylum for Lying in Women; a 1904 invitation to the opening of the subway and a ticket for one ride; and the last piece of ticker tape from the Stock Market crash on October 29, 1929.
Arrangement
The container list is presented in rough chronological order. This differs from how the physical folders are arranged, though they seem to follow an uneven chronology as well. For documents that are a later copy of a document, the chronology (and date presented in the finding aid) is based on the date of the copied document. Undated items are presented in the finding aid in the approximate chronology implied by their place in the physical sequence of folders.