Research

Scope and Content Note

The series consists of a variety of document types created or collected by the assembly prior to 1830 and transferred to the office of the secretary of state for preservation. Approximately half the series consists of claims of Revolutionary war soldiers for services rendered, supplies furnished, or damages incurred.

The remainder of the series consists of a wide variety of other documents related to such topics as: meetings reciting public grievances; revolutionary war claims; resolutions of the assembly for inquiring into and encouraging mechanical inventions; memorials from chambers of commerce and reports of committees upon them; reports on committees to inquire concerning canal construction; reports of canal commissioners; and petitions for compensation and transfer of property. Included is the 1816 petition from Canal Commissioner DeWitt Clinton to the State Legislature (32 pp.) to create a canal system between the Hudson River and Lake Erie, which became known as the Erie Canal. Many other subjects are difficult to discern because of the fragmented condition of the documents, due to fire damage.