<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >
Chapter Two of the story of the New-York Historical Society

Chapter two: the formative years, 1804-1920

Humble beginnings, 1804-1857

On November 20, 1804, a merchant named John Pintard gathered a group of ten prominent New Yorkers and established an organization with a mission "to collect and preserve whatever may relate to the natural, civil, or ecclesiastical His­tory of the United States in general and of this State in particular."

This quote is from the Society’s original Constitution, which is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix A.
With this broad statement of mission, The New-York Historical Society (N-YHS) was born. Among the Society's earliest activities were canvassing for new members (for a $10 initiation fee and $2 annual dues),
These amounts are not as high as one might suppose. According to a “composite commodity price index” compiled by John J. McCusker, professor of history and economics at Trinity University, the $10 initiation fee is the equivalent of around $110 in 1991 dollars, and the $2 annual dues equates to $22 per year. For a discussion of the techniques used to develop this index, see McCusker (1992, tab. A-2, pp. 323-332).
educating the public on the importance of historical records and their preservation (by sponsoring lectures on history by prominent New Yorkers), and collecting whatever items people would donate. In an 1805 appeal "To the Public," which was distributed directly to prominent cit­izens and printed in the New-York Herald, the Society explained the importance of accurate historical documentation: "For without the aid of historic records and authentic documents, history will be nothing more than a well-combined series of ingenious conjectures and amusing fables."
The entire appeal “To The Public” is reprinted in Appendix B.
It then requested donations to help it record authentic history, asking for "Manuscripts, Records, Pamphlets, and Books relative to the History of this Country." A long and varied list of desired materials followed, ranging from items such as copies of laws and records to more unusual items such as proceedings from ecclesiastical conventions and narratives of Indian wars.

The breadth of the Society's appeal seems ambitious—"Our inquiries are not limited to a single State or district, but extend to the whole Continent"—but as only the second institution of its kind in the small nation, so comprehensive an agenda was understandable. The population of the entire United States in 1804 was only about six million people, the population of New York State approximately six hundred thousand, and the population of New York City just seventy-five thousand. Consequently, at that time, the Society's agenda was not overly aggressive; in fact, its first appeals resulted in just a trickle of donations.

The library got its real start in 1809 when Pintard sold his own book and man­uscript collection to the Society. With the nucleus of a collection established, the Society was incorporated in the State of New York on February 10, 1809.

The act of incorporation recognized the Society “by the name of ‘The New-York Historical Society,’ and by such name they and their successors forever hereafter shall and may have a succession.” That is how the Society came to have the hyphen in its name, which has ever been dropped (Vail, 1954, p. 34).
Still, none of the eleven founders endowed the new Society financially, and it operated on a shoestring. Fortunately, New York City Mayor DeWitt Clinton was one of the Society's founders. For the first five years of its existence, meetings were held rent-free in a room at City Hall. As the Society's collection grew, however, the cost of maintaining the library quickly outpaced revenues. In March 1810, the Society turned to the state assembly for relief. This initial request for funds was rejected, but when the Society petitioned the state for assistance four years later, it was more successful; an 1814 bill sponsored by DeWitt Clinton (who had been elected New York State senator) passed, granting the Society the right to raise, by means of a lottery, $12,000 to support its activities.

Questions & Answers

A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
Aislinn Reply
cm
tijani
what is titration
John Reply
what is physics
Siyaka Reply
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Jude Reply
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
David Reply
what is viscosity?
David
what is inorganic
emma Reply
what is chemistry
Youesf Reply
what is inorganic
emma
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
Krampah Reply
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
Sahid Reply
you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
Samuel Reply
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Joseph Reply
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what's motion
Maurice Reply
what are the types of wave
Maurice
answer
Magreth
progressive wave
Magreth
hello friend how are you
Muhammad Reply
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
hi
Mujahid
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
yasuo Reply
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
Reofrir Reply
Got questions? Join the online conversation and get instant answers!
Jobilize.com Reply

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, The new-york historical society: lessons from one nonprofit's long struggle for survival. OpenStax CNX. Mar 28, 2008 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10518/1.1
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'The new-york historical society: lessons from one nonprofit's long struggle for survival' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask