New York State Legislature Assembly Files Related to Revolutionary War Claims and Other Subjects A4682

New York State Legislature Assembly Files Related to Revolutionary War Claims and Other Subjects

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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 documents created or collected by the New York State Assembly prior to 1830 and transferred to the office of the secretary of state for preservation. The bulk consists of Revolutionary war soldiers claims for services rendered, supplies furnished, or damages incurred. Other topics include: public grievances; mechanical inventions; chambers of commerce; canal construction (including the 1816 for the creation of the Erie Canal); and compensation and transfer of property.

Creator:

New York (State). Legislature. Assembly

Title:

Files related to Revolutionary War claims and other subjects

Quantity:

33 cubic feet

Inclusive Dates:

circa 1777-1830

Series Number:

A4682

Arrangement

Roughly chronological.

Administrative History

On April 20, 1830, the Legislative Assembly resolved that Azariah C. Flagg and others be employed to examine the assembly archives, to select from such original papers and documents as judged to be proper, and to deposit the papers in the office of the Secretary of State. In June and July, 1831, the papers selected were deposited and bound in 45 volumes designated as "Assembly Papers." In 1900, a report on the public archives of New York published by the American Historical Association described these "miscellaneous" papers as containing numerous documents of great interest and historical value.

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.

Alternate Formats Available

Photostat use copies are available at the New York State Archives.

Scanned images of the 1816 petition of DeWitt Clinton to the State Legislature to create the Erie Canal are available at the New York State Archives.

New York State Archives Digital Collections

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

Remnants of indexes are present for most of the series.

Container list is available at the repository.

"Revolutionary soldiers and claims" (Assembly Papers, vols 14-24), are cited in Bielinski, Stefan, ed., Guide to Revolutionary War Manuscripts in the New York State Library (Albany, 1976), item no. 1189.

Processing Information

These papers were originally volumes 1-24 of old collection #143, "Assembly Papers" from which several other series were created by Archives staff.

Records in this series were originally part of Assembly Papers volumes 1-13, "Miscellaneous Records," and volumes 14-24, "Revolutionary soldiers and claims." The records suffered extensive burn damage in the State Capitol fire of 1911 and were disbound. Portions of original volumes 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13-24 survive.