Research


New York State Department of Law Attorney General Subject Files


Some content may contain outdated and offensive terminology. See: New York State Archives Statement on Language in Descriptive Resources


Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:
This series consists of outgoing and incoming correspondence, memorandums, news clippings, published and unpublished reports, copies of draft legislation (federal and state), notices of appointments, and other materials created by the Attorney General and support staff for reference and to document activities.
Creator:
Title:
Attorney General subject files
Quantity:

232 cubic feet

Inclusive Dates:
1978-2006
Series Number:
18564

Arrangement

Chronological by year, then alphabetical by subject.

18564-99: Arranged roughly by subject.

18564-07: Alphabetical.

Scope and Content Note

18564-94, 18564-95: These accretions consist of the administrative subject files of Attorney General Robert Abrams. Records include published and unpublished reports, correspondence and memoranda to and from staff and other agencies, court briefs, background material, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, and press releases.

Records document many issues, such as environmental and consumer protection; civil rights; antitrust enforcement; gambling; false advertising; utility rate control; charity fraud; investment fraud; worker protection; organized crime; white collar crime; the Tawana Brawley investigation; drug trafficking; money laundering; defense of constitutionality of state laws; legal defense for state agencies; criminal justice reforms; and ethics reform.

A subset of records, mostly labeled as "miscellaneous" or "personal" is included. The arrangement, dates, and subjects of these records vary greatly. It is unclear whether they were arranged and maintained by the same staff as the main group of records. Of special interest in this subset are materials related to an ethics advisory committee and to Jewish organizations; annual reports of the attorney general's office; and publications for the consumer dealing with such topics as tenant's rights, financial planning, buying jewelry, asbestos in the home, automobile "lemon" laws, and women's rights.

18564-99: This accretion consists of a portion of the administrative subject files (1991-1998) of Attorney General Dennis Vacco. Records relate primarily to the Attorney General's Commission on Quality Care at the End of Life. They include a financial ledger of income and expenses of a $50,000 grant from the Open Society Institute's Project on Death in America; transcripts of commission public hearings; and a file on the Vacco v. Quill court case (re: physician assisted suicide).

In addition this accretion includes copies of "Delegation of Authority to Act in the Absence of the Attorney General" and a file on the "Attorney General's Milk Report" (Section 258-r of the Agriculture and Markets Law requires the attorney general to report on the number and status of complaints referred by the Commission of Agriculture and Markets).

18564-07: This accretion consists of the administrative subject files, 1999-2006, of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The records include memoranda, published and unpublished reports, analyses, and correspondence. The files document many issues, such as consumer and insurance fraud, gas prices, Internet safety, same-sex marriage, and the World Trade Center.

18564-12: These records are originally from accretion 18564-07, covering Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's tenure, and are records determined to have no restrictions for disclosure. Some records are photocopies containing redactions. Records determined to be restricted for these folders remain in 18564-07.

Related Material

18571 Subject files, contains related records generated by the Executive Office of the Department of Law.

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

18564-94, 18564-95: Rough folder lists for some years are available at the repository.

18564-99, 18564-12: Folder lists are available at the repository.

Access Restrictions

18564-07: Designated records may contain information that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to state or federal statute or common law. Requests for access to designated records are reviewed by staff of the State Archives and the Office of the Attorney General (Dept. of Law). In certain circumstances, designated records or portions of records may be withheld.

Access Terms

Personal Name(s):
Corporate Name(s):
Geographic Name(s):
Subject(s):
Genre(s):
Function(s):

Detailed Description

Dates Contents Box

Accretion: 18564-94
1979 Subject Files 1
1979 Subject Files 2
1979 Subject Files 3
1979 Subject Files 4
1980 Subject Files A - B 5
1980 Subject Files C 6
1980 Subject Files D - H 7
1980 Subject Files I - L 8
1980 Subject Files M - Q 9
1980 Subject Files R - S 10
1980 Subject Files T - Z 11
1981 Subject Files A - C 12
1981 Subject Files C 13
1981 Subject Files D - H 14
1981 Subject Files H - Mc 15
1981 Subject Files M - O 16
1981 Subject Files P - R 17
1981 Subject Files R 18
1981 Subject Files S - Z 19
1982 Subject Files A - C 20
1982 Subject Files C 21
1982 Subject Files C - D 22
1982 Subject Files E - G 23
1982 Subject Files H - L 24
1982 Subject Files L - N 25
1982 Subject Files O 26
1982 Subject Files P - Q 27
1982 Subject Files R 28
1982 Subject Files S - Z 29
1983 Subject Files A - Be 30
1983 Subject Files Be - C 31
1983 Subject Files D - E 32
1983 Subject Files F - Hea 33
1983 Subject Files Her - Lev 34
1983 Subject Files Lev - Opp 35
1983 Subject Files Or - Q 36
1983 Subject Files R - Sch 37
1983 Subject Files Se - V 38
1983 Subject Files W - Z 39
1984 Subject Files A - B 40
1984 Subject Files C 41
1984 Subject Files D - F 42
1984 Subject Files G - J 43
1984 Subject Files K - L 44
1984 Subject Files M - N 45
1984 Subject Files O 46
1984 Subject Files P - Regional 47
1984 Resignation - Sotheby 48
1984 Sports Bet - Student Loans 49
1984 Subject Files T - Z 50
1985 Subject Files A - Bie 51
1985 Subject Files Bio - Conroy 52
1985 Subject Files Cons - Donn 53
1985 Subject Files Dons - Fio 54
1985 Subject Files Fis - Gul 55
1985 Subject Files H - L 56
1985 Subject Files M - Oil 57
1985 Subject Files Omn - Pes 58
1985 Subject Files Pho - Reg 59
1985 Subject Files Reg - Sen 60
1985 Subject Files Sev - Thy 61
1985 Subject Files Ti - Z 62
1986 Subject Files A - Bl 63
1986 Subject Files Bu - Cons 64
1986 Subject Files Cons - Fin 65
1986 Subject Files Fi - Hu 66
1986 Subject Files Hy - La 67
1986 Subject Files Le - Na 68
1986 Subject Files O - P 69
1986 Subject Files Q - R 70
1986 Subject Files S - Z 71
1987 Subject Files A - C 72
1987 Subject Files D - S 73
1987 Subject Files O - Z 74
1988-1989 Subject Files A - Bo 75
1988-1989 Subject Files Bu - Env 76
1988-1989 Subject Files Eni - Fee 77
1988-1989 Subject Files Fio - Hil 78
1988-1989 Subject Files Hyn - Man 79
1988-1989 Subject Files Meh - Pen 80
1988-1989 Subject Files Poo - Roc 81
1988-1989 Subject Files Reg - Sch 82
1988-1989 Subject Files Sev - Suf 83
1988-1989 Subject Files Sta - Zwi 84
1988-1993 Subject Files Ab - Am 85
1988-1993 Subject Files Ar - Bu 86
1988-1993 Subject Files Bu - Ch 87
1988-1993 Subject Files Ch - D 88
1988-1993 Subject Files Do - Ex 89
1988-1993 Subject Files Fa - Go 90
1988-1993 Subject Files Gr - In 91
1988-1993 Subject Files In - Ko 92
1988-1993 Subject Files Ko - La 93
1988-1993 Subject Files Li - Me 94
1988-1993 Subject Files Me - Mu 95
1988-1993 Subject Files Mu - Ni 96
1988-1993 Subject Files Nu - Ph 97
1988-1993 Subject Files Po - Re 98
1988-1993 Subject Files Re - Sl 99
1988-1993 Subject Files Sm - Te 100
1988-1993 Subject Files Th - Tu 101
1988-1993 Subject Files U - Z 102
circa 1993 Resignation Files 103
1978-1980 Ethics Advisory Committee (Box 1 of 2) 104
1978-1980 Ethics Advisory Committee (Box 2 of 2) 105
1979 Robert Abrams Personal 106
1981 Attorney General Miscellaneous CL/1981 107
undated Robert Abrams Miscellaneous Files 108
undated Robert Abrams Miscellaneous CL 83 109
1988 Robert Abrams Personal (Box 1 of 3) 110
circa 1981-1985 Robert Abrams Personal (Box 2 of 3) 111
1988 Robert Abrams Personal (Box 3 of 3) 112
1989 Attorney General Miscellaneous (Box 6) 113
1989 Attorney General Miscellaneous (Box 7) 114
undated Robert Abrams Miscellaneous 115
undated Robert Abrams Miscellaneous 116
undated Robert Abrams Miscellaneous 117
circa 1980 Jewish Organizations 118
circa 1981-1983 Jewish Organizations 119
undated Annual Reports and Publications 120

Accretion: 18564-95
Abortion - Animal Farm Home 1
Annual Report - Anti-Trust, Construction Industry 2
Anti-Trust Garbage Carters - Apartment Referral Services 3
Applications/Resumes - Atlantic City 4
Atlas - Automobiles General Motors 5
Automobiles Lemon Law - Brooklyn Psychosocial Rehabilitation Institute 6
Brooklyn Union Gas - Cable TV 7
1982 Campaign "82" - Carpasso 8
Central Hudson - Charity Legislation 9
1979 Charities - Christmas List "79" 10
Churches - Civil Aeronautics Board 11
Civil Rights - Consolidated Edison 12
Conflicts of Interest - Continental Towers 13
Coop. Conversions - Disability 14
Disabilities Benefits Reform Act - Drinking Age 15
Drug Testing - Cuomo Relations 16
1986 Elected Officials - Endorsements "86" 17
Environment (Acid Rain) 18
Environmental Legislation - Ethics Clips 19
Executive Committee - First Amendment Cases 20
First Energy - Gasland 21
Gas Line - Goldstein 22
Golf Course - Hazardous Waste 23
Hazardous Waste 24
Health Fraud - HUD 25
Hudson River - Inner Circle 26
Insanity Defense - Kennedy 27
Kerosene Heater - Law Enforcement Council 28
Law Enforcement Fund - LILCO 29
Lincoln Square - Love Canal 30
Love Canal - Malpractice 31
Manson - Mehlman 32
Mitchell-Lama - Modern Landfill, Inc. 33
Mortgage - Niagara Mohawk 34
Niagara River - Nutritionists 35
Oakes, William - Opinions 36
1983-1989 Opinions 37
Op-Ed Pieces - Payant, Leo E. 38
Payco - Port Chester-Connecticut Bridge 39
Potamkin Cadillac - Process Servers 40
Professional Discipline - Pyramid Co. 41
Pyramid Scheme - Rent Stabilization 42
Reorganization - Sewer Cleaners 43
Sackman - Securities Bureau 44
Securities Fraud 45
Sewer Service - SONYMA 46
Sopher File I - Sotheby 47
Soviet Union - Special Prosecutor 48
Special Prosecutor - Spodek 49
Sports Betting - State Government Contracts 50
State Hospital - Swain, John R. 51
Sweatshops - Testimony Before the Western Trunk Line 52
Texaco - Tree Tops, Inc. 53
Triplex Publication - Van Lare 54
Vantage - Westway 55
Whitecollar Crime - Zimmerman 56