Henry Van Solingen receipt books
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Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Biographical note
Henry M. Van Solingen, a physician, received his medical degree from Queens College, New Jersey in 1792. He moved to New York in 1789-90 and set up both a medical practice and a business, which manufactured and sold medicines. The 1793 New York Directory listed Van Solingen as a physician, residing at 45 Hanover Square; the 1806 Directory listed him living at 46 Cortland Street. His meticulous records indicate the he was careful with money, and quite religious, supporting the New Dutch Church, and later the Middle and North Dutch Churches. He invested in various rental properties on Maiden Lane, Greenwich Street, Cedar Street, Washington Street, Cortland Street and Broadway. One of the receipt books documents a business partnership with a Ryneer Suydham. Although records show tuition payments for a son, there is no mention of a wife.
Scope and Contents note
The receipt books provide a running record of money paid out from 1789-1832. The transactions provide a glimpse at the goods and services purchased by a member of the shopkeeper class of early 19th century New York City. The majority of the entries are for taxes; rents; house repairs; charitable donations; pew rents and support for ministers; fines for periodic chimney fires; street repair; and purchases for his drug business.
The clippings, many from the Commercial Advertiser, New York Herald and New-York American, are dated from 1789-1836. They vary in subject, including articles on medical advice; natural history; music; the stock market and real estate auctions; obituaries; ship accounts; and recipes for plant remedies. Also included is the public address written by John Pintard announcing the founding of the New-York Historical Society.
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Conditions Governing Use
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Preferred Citation
Henry Van Solingen receipt books, MS 2606, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased in 2001.