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New-York Historical Society collection of New York City tavern licenses

Call Number

MS 443.28

Date

1783-1797, 1862, inclusive

Creator

New-York Historical Society

Extent

0.42 Linear feet in one document box

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The collection includes about 400 tavern licenses, plus many related excise tax receipts, from New York City dating from the 1780s and 1790s. One outlying exception is an 1862 license for a tavern in Morrisania, Westchester County. The collection as a whole was compiled over time by New-York Historical Society from various donations, especially those of former N-YHS President Samuel V. Hoffman.

Arrangement Note

There is no particular order to the overall collection, but generally the earlier licenses (circa 1784) are in the first folders and the later licenses (1790s) are in the later folders. A broader mix of dates are found in the fourth folder, including the 1862 outlier. Within some folders, the documents are arranged by license number.

Scope and Contents Note

The collection includes about 400 tavern licenses, plus many related excise tax receipts, from New York City dating from the 1780s and 1790s. There is one outlying exception to this: an 1862 license for a tavern in Morrisania, Westchester County. The licenses are signed by the New York City mayors of the time, James Duane and Richard Varick, and the excise receipts are signed by Commissioner of Excise and Alderman Abraham P. Lott. The licenses were granted to a variety of individuals and pertain to several wards of the city. The licenses of the 1790s refer to the licensee's occupation (often grocer or innkeeper, but others appear as well) or to whether a woman licensee is a widow (licenses of the 1780s have "innkeeper" preprinted on the form). The container list below includes an item level description of all the documents in the collection.

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection may be 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 Note

This collection should be cited as the New-York Historical Society collection of New York City tavern licenses, MS 443.28, New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

The collection as a whole was compiled over time by New-York Historical Society from various donations and a purchase. All but ten of the licenses were donated to N-YHS by a former N-YHS President Samuel V. Hoffman, on four different dates: 3 January 1910, 26 November 1923, 21 September 1926, and 7 October 1926. One license was likely received as part of a bequest of manuscripts from Hoffman on 21 April 1943 (see folder 3). Other donated licenses were: one by Thomas P. Teale on 5 October 1847 (see folder 5); three by Robert F. Seybolt on 27 September 1932 and 20 September 1939 (see folder 4); one by E.B. Child on 23 March 1933 (see folder 4); and one by C. Otto von Kienbusch on 6 January 1958 (see folder 4). Four licenses with affidavits were purchased on 15 January 1918 (see folder 3).

Collection processed by

Alison Barr and Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:17 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information Note

Volunteer Alison Barr compiled the detailed document list and entered the data to the collection management system. Archivist Larry Weimer added the overall descriptive notes to produce a finding aid.

Repository

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