Brooklyn Public Library Digital Collections

The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has digitized some 20,000 photographs from its collections. Many of these feature visual images from the late 19th century. Among these collections are the Froger-Doudement Photograph Collection, the George Bradford Brainerd Photograph Collection, the Julius Wilcox Photograph Collection, and the Ramus Family Papers and Photographs. Besides photographs, the BPL has also digitized some of its cartographic objects. The Brooklyn Maps Collection includes hundreds of digitized maps from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

The Buffalo History Museum Digital Collections

The Buffalo History Museum specializes in the history of western New York, and some of its early materials have been digitized. These include the 1828 Buffalo City Directory, the Buffalo Town Meeting Proceedings, 1814-1837, various Atlases for Buffalo & Erie County, the Maris B. Pierce Papers, and a Register of War of 1812 Soldiers in the Williamsville (N.Y.) Hospital, 1814-1815.

Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections & Online Exhibitions

The Columbia University Libraries are home to a large collection of early American sources, some of which are held by the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Much of these materials have been digitized. Works of art can be found in Columbia’s Art Collection Online. The Robert Biggert Collection of Architectural Vignettes on Commercial Stationery features some 1,300 digital images of printed business ephemera from 1850 to 1920. Nineteenth century photographic images can be found in the Carlyle Photo Albums, the McKim, Mead & White Photo Albums, and the Photographs from the Frederick Fried Coney Island Collection. The Chamber of Commerce of New York, the Columbia Historical Corporate Reports, and the Samuel Oldknow Papers feature commercial related manuscripts and records. Late nineteenth-century New York property records can be searched through The Real Estate Record. The Seymour B. Durst Old York Library consists of some 40,000 books, maps, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, and other memorabilia related to New York City from the 1700s to the 1980s. Race, slavery, and anti-slavery materials can be viewed in Sydney Howard Gay’s “Record of Fugitives.” Material on the American Revolution and the founding of the United States can be found in the Papers of John Jay, as well as the exhibit In Service to the New Nation: The Life & Legacy of John Jay.

Cornell University Library Digital Collections

Cornell University Library has several digitized collections related to early America. Rare books, prints, and literary manuscripts can be found in various collections, including the Alfredo Montalvo Bolivian Digital Pamphlets Collection, the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture, the Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection, the Cornell University Witchcraft Collection, the Cornell Wordsworth Collection, The Making of America, The Hive and the Honeybee, and the Huntington Free Library Native American Collection. Digitized photographs are available in the A. D. White Architectural Photographs, the Historic Glacial Images of Alaska and Greenland, and the Midvale Steel Company Photographs Collected by Charles D. Wrege. Anti-slavery materials consist of The Friend of Man collection and the Liberian Law Collection. Other early American materials include the Ezra Cornell Papers, a collection of Political Campaign Memorabilia, and the Stevens Family Papers.

Fordham University Libraries Digital Collections

The Fordham University Libraries Digital Collections contain a wealth of material related to early New York. Rare books and prints can be found in Digital Hudson and the Archives and Special Collections. Material objects of the early pharmaceutical industry make up the Joseph and Blanche Slotnik Pharmaceutical Collection. Photographic collections consist of the Fordham Graduation Photographs and the Fordham Photograph Collection. There is also a large selection of Maps of New Netherland, New Amsterdam, and New England. Several items related to Cuban Baseball in the 19th century are also available. Other early materials include the President’s Print Collection and the US Civil War Era Letters of the Shipping Industry.

New York City Municipal Archives Online Gallery

The Online Gallery of the New York City Municipal Archives contains over 1.6 million digitized images from the Municipal Archives’ collections. New York City’s entire history is represented by these records, including material dating back to Dutch and English colonization. A sizeable selection of New Amsterdam Records are available, including court minutes, indentures, marriages, municipal records, notarial records, property deeds, and ordinances of the director-general. Some of these documents have been published in Berthold Fernow’s Records of New Amsterdam. The Old Town Kings County Microfilm is made up of over 160 digitized rolls of microfilmed records of several Kings County towns and villages prior to their annexation by the City of Brooklyn. Several Bodies in Transit Registers recorded the transportation of bodies in, out, and through Manhattan from 1859 to 1894. An Almshouse Ledger Collection consists of records related to various city departments and their administration of the city’s almshouses on Blackwell’s Island from 1758 to 1952. Materials related to New York City’s park system, and especially Central Park, may be found in the Parks and Parkways Drawings and Plans. A collection of DOB: Architectural Plans and Drawings contains permits and schematics for buildings on every block in Lower Manhattan between Battery and 34th Street. Various 19th century Maps and Atlases are also available. An invaluable genealogical resource are the bound volumes comprising the New York County Jury Census. 19th century photographs of New York City can be found in the collection on Ports & Terminals.

New York Heritage Digital Collections

New York Heritage brings together digitized collections from over 350 New York institutions. These Collections are quite numerous and chronicle well the history of the Empire State, especially the colonial and early national periods. Available materials can be browsed by both Topic and Type. Collections that begin during the colonial era and the American Revolution include 18th- and 19th-Century Cooking in the Hudson Valley, the Cherry Hill Receipt Books, the Colonial Manuscripts, Huntington Legal Manuscripts, the Huntington War Manuscripts, the New Paltz Historic Documents, the Saratoga National Historical Park Collection, the Senate House Collection, and the Yellow Fever Collection. Materials from the early republic include the Benjamin Raymond Record of Sales 1803-1818, the Caldwell Family Collection, a collection of Documents About Enslaved People in Schenectady, several Family Bible Records of Schoharie County NY, the Glen Letters Collection, the Hamilton-Burr Duel Collection, the Joseph Jacques Ramee Architectural Plans for Union College, the Newburgh Glebe Documents, the New Paltz Town Records Digital Collection, the exhibit Provincial Exile: Roelof J. Eltinge’s Banishment from the Paltz,, the War of 1812 Letters from the Young Men’s Association, and the Willsborough Town Book. Antebellum materials are featured in the Abram Lincoln Letter Collection, the Acorn Stove Trade Cards, the Bard Family Papers, the Clarke Family Business Papers, the Clarke Family Correspondence, the Dr. Daniel Roberts Collection, Early Education in the Hudson the Hudson Valley, the Fairfield Medical College Collection, the Huntington Town Schools Collection, the James E. Horton Collection, the Julia Lawrence Hasbrouck Collection, the Leah Catharine Deyo Jessup Collection, the Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck Dress Reform Collection, the Millard Fillmore Papers, the Murder Pamphlet Collection, the Oneida County Anti-Slavery Petitions, the Samuel F. B. Morse Collection, the Somers Circus Collection, and the Warder Cadbury Sheet Music Collection. Items related to the American Civil War can be found in the Butler Family Papers, the Civil War Carte de Visite Collection, the Civil War Collection, the Civil War Letters, the Civil War Letters and Journal of Charles F. Weller, the Edward M. Ruttenber Collection, the Edwin A. and Mary Hopper Hopkins Family Papers, the Fred Walster Diary, the Hiram S. Wilson Civil War Letters, the Huntington War Manuscripts, the John McConihe Collection, the Schenectady County Civil War Collection, the School Letters of Rachel Eltinge, the Sterling Iron & Railway Company Correspondence Collection, the Taylor Civil War Letters, the Union College Civil War Era Patriotic Envelopes, and the Westinghouse Family Papers. Several anti-slavery newspapers are available, including the African Repository and Colonial Journal, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter, The Anti-Slavery Record, the Christian Investigator, Douglass Monthly, The Emancipator, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, The Liberator, the National Anti-Slavery Standard, the National Freedman, the North Star, and the Radical Abolitionist. Early photographs can be found in the Erie Canal Photograph Collection, the Glen Cove Public Library Photograph Collection, the Golden Hill School Collection, the Historic Huguenot Street Photographs and Portraits, the John Quincy Adams Ward Papers Digital Collection, the Little Falls Public Library Collection, the NJ Palisades Scanned Image Library, the Saugerties, NY History Collection, and the Smith and Telfer Photographic Collection. There are also various map collections such as the Edmund Blunt Topographic Map Collection, the Heermance Memorial Library Digital Collection, the Historical Maps of Ithaca and Tompkins County, the Huntington Historical Maps, the Nyack Turnpike Maps and Documents, and the Western New York County Atlases. This list is by no means exhaustive and new materials are added to New York Heritage regularly.

New-York Historical Society Digital Library

The Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Library makes available various collections of the New-York Historical Society. A large amount of the Society’s material has been digitized, especially for the colonial and early national periods. Its Collections Relating to Black History consist of benevolent organization records, anti-slavery manuscripts, and various materials related to enslavement. Some highlights include the Bolton, Dickens & Co. Account Book, the Granville Sharp Collection, the James F. Brown Papers, the Lysander Spooner Papers, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society Records, the New-York African Free School Records, the New-York Manumission Society Records, the Slavery Collection, and the Town Book for Castletown for the Entry of Black Children. A wide variety of the Society’s Civil War Collections have been digitized, such as the Abraham Lincoln Manuscripts, the Charles Willoughby Dayton Diaries, the Civil War Stereographs, the Collins Family Letters, and the Sarah R. Blunt Correspondence. Dozens of other American Manuscripts are available. Standouts include the Abigail Adams Letters, the Christopher Bancker Journals, the Duane Family Cookbooks and the Duane Family Papers, the George Clinton Collection, the Horace Greeley Collection, the Ladies’ Christian Union Records, the Revolutionary Era Broadsides, the Richard Varick Papers, the Susan B. Anthony Letters, the Walt Whitman Letters, the William Burnet Papers, and the William Yarrington Diary. Early American material can also be found in several other digitized collections, including the Drawing Collection, the Ephemera Collections, the Map Collection, the Painting Collection, and the Sculpture Collection. There is also an extensive collection of Photographs of New York City and Beyond that dates back to 1839.

New York Public Library Digital Collections

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is the world’s largest public library, and its digitized collections reflect that. Nearly one million items from the NYPL’s holdings have been digitized, including manuscripts, maps, photographs, and prints. Its Early American Manuscripts Project features nearly two dozen collections of papers related to early America. Among these are the Alexander Hamilton Papers, the Boston Committee of Correspondence Records, the George Washington Papers, the Henry Knox Papers, the James Madison Papers, the Liebmann Collection of American Historical Documents Relating to Spiritous Liquors, the Livingston Family Papers, the Noah Webster Papers, the Philip Mazzei Papers, the Richard Henry Lee Letters, the Robert Morris Papers, the Samuel Adams Papers, the Silas Deane Letters, the Society of Tammany, Or Columbian Order Records, the Theodorus Bailey Myers Collection, the Thomas Jefferson Papers, and various others. There are also several Collections About New York City. These consist of thousands of digitized images of New York City atlases, directories, ephemera, and photographs. Some standouts with early New York material include the Atlases of New York City, the Eno Collection of New York City Views, the New York City Directories, and photographic collections such as Photographic Views of New York City, 1870’s-1970’s, Portraits of Immigrants at Ellis Island, and Streetscape and Townscape of Metropolitan New York. Dozens of other Photography Collections are available. Digitized copies of rare books and prints can be found in the Public Domain Picks and the Book Art and Illustrations collections. The early history of science is well represented in the Nature Collections. There is also a robust collection of thousands of Maps & Atlases. Highlights include Atlases of the United States, Charting America: Maps from the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection, and Picturing America, 1497-1899. Other digitized collections with early American material include the Fashion Collections, the Poster Collections, and various Collections for Designers.

New York State Archives

The digitized collections of the New York State Archives are quite vast and cover much of New York’s colonial and early national periods. A significant amount of these collections pertain to the colony of New Amsterdam. Highlights of the Dutch Records include the New Netherland Council’s Dutch Colonial Administrative Correspondence, the Dutch Colonial Administrative Records, the Dutch Colonial Council Minutes, the Dutch Colonial Patents and Deeds, the Dutch Delaware River Settlement Administrative Records, the Fort Orange Settlement Administrative Records, the Dutch Colonial Land Deeds, the Dutch Colonial Ordinances, and the Writs of Appeal. Other Dutch records include the Register of the Provincial Secretary and the New Netherland Council Curaçao Records. There are also several colonial collections following England’s conquest of New Amsterdam. These include the New York Colony’s Council Minutes, Council Papers, the British Delaware River Settlement Administrative Records, and Original Colonial Laws. Early state court records are also included, such as the the Minute Book of the Court of Rensselaerwyck, the Supreme Court of Judicature’s Minute Books and its Pleadings and Other Civil and Criminal Court Documents, and various Probated Wills. Collections related to land and internal improvements in New York consist of the Applications for Land Grants, Canal System Survey Maps, the Letters Patent, the Recorded Indian Treaties and Deeds, the Records of Surveys and Maps of State Lands, and the Verplanck Colvin Maps of the Adirondack Wilderness. Various military records include the Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts of New York State Volunteers, United States Sharpshooters, and United States Colored Troops, the Entry Documentation Relating to Pension Claims, First N.Y. Regiment Volunteers, Mexican War, the Grand Army of the Republic Department of New York Records, the Papers Found on British Spy Major Andre, the Registers of Officers and Enlisted Men Mustered into Federal Military or Naval Service during the Civil War, and the Town and City Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War. Besides these public records, there are also several collections of private papers digitized by the State Archives. Some highlights include the Cockburn Family Land Papers, the Correspondence of Jeremias Van Rensselaer, the Correspondence of Maria Van Rensselaer, the John A. Thomson Family Papers, the John Kiersted Family Papers, and the Memorandum Book Kept by Antoinio de Hooges. It is worth noting that these listed collections only make up a fraction of what the State Archives have digitized.

Syracuse University Libraries Digital Collections

The Syracuse University Libraries have digitized some of their Special Collections Research Center’s early American materials. Visual objects can be found in the Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs, which consists of hundreds of mid and late nineteenth century photographic images. Various 19th century reform movements are represented in the Gerrit Smith Pamphlets and Broadsides Collection, including abolition, internal improvements, sabbatarianism, suffrage, and temperance. Similarly, the Oneida Community Collection focuses on material related to the prominent 19th century reform movement located in Oneida.

United States Military Academy Library Digital Collections

The United States Military Academy (USMA) Library collects and preserves the administrative records of the USMA, as well as material related to USMA students and alumni. Among its 19th century collections are the Albert E. Church Personal Reminiscences, the Annual Reports of the Association of Graduates, the Cadet Letters, the Class Rings, George B. Duncan’s My Four Years at West Point, the Manuscripts (Non-Cadets) of the USMA Special Collections, the Maps of the USMA Special Collections, a few military Publications, the Registers of the USMA, and various materials on West Point Fiction and West Point Music. There are also several collections of visual images such as artworks and photographs. These include the Class Albums, the Mathew B. Brady Photographs, the West Point and USMA Art Collections, and the William H. Stockbridge Photographs of West Point.