Cortelyou and Bergen houses photograph collection
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Abstract
This collection consists of 21 glass negatives and 13 black and white prints made from the negatives, along with some supporting documentation. The images are primarily of 7 historic houses belonging to various branches of the Cortelyou and Bergen families in Brooklyn.
Historical Note
The Cortelyou and Bergen families descend from two of the earliest immigrants to settle in Brooklyn: Jacques Cortelyou (ca. 1625–1693) and Hans Hansen Bergen (ca. 1610 – 1654).
Jacques Cortelyou was an influential early citizen of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Cortelyou came to New Netherland from Utrecht, Holland, where he had been born to French Huguenot parents. He arrived in the colony as the tutor of the children of Cornelis van Werckhoven, to whom the Dutch West India Company had granted a tract of land called New Utrecht, located in Brooklyn. Cortelyou had studied mathematics and land-surveying and eventually served as Surveyor General of New Netherland. Cortelyou's main accomplishment was the Cortelyou Survey, the first map of New York City, commonly called the Castello Plan after the location in a Tuscan palace where it was rediscovered centuries later. Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn is named for the family.
Hans Hansen Bergen was also one of the earliest settlers of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, and one of the few from Scandinavia. A native of Bergen, Norway, Hans Hansen Bergen was a shipwright who emigrated to New Netherland in 1633. In 1647, he was granted a patent for 400 acres of land in Wallabout Bay in Brooklyn. Bergen married Sarah Rapelje, one of the first children of European parentage born in the colony of New Netherland, and founded a prominent Brooklyn clan. Bergen is a place name which today appears frequently in Brooklyn, including Bergen Street and the neighborhood of Bergen Beach, both of which are named for the family.
The Cortelyou and Bergen families subsequently intermarried several times. A more detailed family history and genealogy can be found in the 1876 volume by Teunis G. Bergen (1806-1881): The Bergen family, or, the descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen, one of the early settlers of New York and Brooklyn, L. I., with notes on the genealogy of some of the branches of the Cowenhoven, Voorhees, Eldert, Stoothoof, Cortelyou, Stryker, Suydam, Lott, Wyckoff, Barkeloo, Lefferts, Martense, Hubbard, Van Brunt, Vanderbilt, Vanderveer, Van Nuyse, and other Long Island families.
Arrangement
This collection is organized in three series:
Series I: Glass Negatives
Series II: Prints
Series III: Documentation
Series I and II are arranged alphabetically by surname. Series III is arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 21 glass negatives, along with their original paper sleeves with handwritten captions, and 13 black and white prints made from the negatives. Most of the images are of 7 different historic houses which belonged to various members of the Cortelyou and Bergen families in Brooklyn. The images were taken ca. 1899-1913, and the prints were made much later. The houses, built during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, have all since been demolished. One image is an undated portrait of Teunis Cortelyou. One glass negative is broken and unusable. The collection also includes a letter from the Holland Society describing the collection and noting that it came from "Mr. Cortelyou's estate." There are also 3 paper negative sleeves with no negatives. A handwritten note reading "plates to Ms. Dilliard" indicates the negatives were loaned and not returned. The note is written on the back of T.G.B. Cortelyou's business card. Ms.Dilliard may be Maud Esther Dilliard (1888-1977), who published the 1945 book Old Dutch Houses of Brooklyn.
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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
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
This collection should be cited as: Cortelyou and Bergen houses photograph collection, PR 328, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Holland Society of New York, 2017
About this Guide
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Marybeth Kavanagh with additional research by Joseph Ditta.