New York Historical Society

“ The early history of New York and the beginnings of steam navigation will be illustrated by an exhibition of views, paintings, manuscripts, books, etc., shown in the Lenox branch of the New York Public Library, detailed information in regard to the exhibits being offered in a special catalogue. The New York Historical Society, in its new building, on Central Park West, corner of Seventy-seventh Street, just below the American Museum of Natural History, exhibits many interesting pictures and relics relating to Robert Fulton. ”

“ Two other centres in the United States are of the first importance in this respect. In Washington, with the Library of Congress (of which a general consolidated catalogue is now printing) , embracing as it does the collection formed by Col. Peter Force, and supplementing the archives of the Government, an investigator of American history is situated extremely favorably. [128] In New York the Astor and Lenox libraries, with those of the New York Historical Society and American Geographical Society, give the student great opportunities. ”

“ The rude village has become a magnificent city. From the bay—now a capacious harbor, with phari at the entrance, and thronged with war-galleys, and barks with silken sails—ascend piles of architecture, temples, domes, and colonnades. The massive bridge, the streets and squares, lined with palaces and adorned with statuary, clustered columns, and sparkling fountains, are crowded with gorgeous pageants and triumphal processions. It is a day of triumph—man has conquered man—nations have been subjugated. By wealth and power, knowledge, art, and taste, man has achieved the summit of human grandeur. ”

“ In 1843 a movement was made in the State Legislature to emulate the action of New York in securing from the English Archives copies of its early historical documents; and in the next year the judiciary committee made a report on the subject, which is printed in the preface of this Index, p. vii. This, however, failed of effect, as did a movement in 1845; but it made manifest the necessity of an historical society, as a source of influence for such end; and the same year the New Jersey Historical Society was formed, of which Mr. Whitehead has been the corresponding secretary from the start. ”

“ The Society of New York was much less intelligent in matters of taste and knowledge than that of Philadelphia. In the latter city the institutions of the college and library, and the strict moral and political respectability of the first settlers, had contributed to form a community, which, though inferior in the elegancies of living, and the etiquettes of intercourse, to what is commonly found in the European capitals, was little behind them in point of practical and historical information. ”

“ Your Excellency, Tercentenary Commissioners, Representatives of New York and of Vermont, of France, of Patriotic and Historical Societies, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is with great pleasure that I accept on behalf of the New York Historical Association, the official custodians of the Crown Point Reservation, this beautiful and distinctive tablet which has just been presented by the Society of Colonial Wars to the State of New York, through you, its Governor. ”

“ This catalogue describes the paintings in the Gallery of Art of The New York Historical Society, with two hundred and eighty-six miniatures, comprising the Marié Collection and seventy-six objects of Sculpture. ”

“ We have solid reason to be proud of what the Society has accomplished during the three years it has been in the field. We have been accorded a generous welcome from historical societies long in existence; our advent has been hailed with satisfaction; our motives praised; our publications eagerly sought.
To-night we meet in New York city for the third time, and for 21the third time we are indebted to our New York members for unbounded hospitality, kindliest service and tireless efforts to make our annual gathering a success. ”

“ It was one of the best, if not the best house in town. The gardens extended to the river. This house was mentioned in the debates in Parliament to indicate the ability of the colonists to pay more taxes. What might in some respects be called the mate to this house, the Walter Franklin house, occupied by Washington during his Presidency, stood at the north end of the square. It was taken down in 1856, “and the only bit of it known to exist is the President’s chair of the N. Y. Historical Society, which is made of wood taken from the old house” (“Historic New York,” p. 298) . ”

“ The New York Gallery of Fine Arts, presented to the Society in 1858, with paintings donated to the Society at various times, are numbered 1 to 488 inclusive. Any notice of this collection would be deficient which should fail to commemorate the name of Luman Reed, Patron of American Art. In this connection the Society was chiefly indebted to the liberality and cordial coöperation of one of their most valued members, who was himself the chief promoter of the original design of the New York Gallery of Fine Arts, Mr. ”

“ The volume of knowledge has become so vast that no man, even the wisest, can do more than to touch its skirts. In no department of study is the trend of specialization more active than in the interpretation of history. In the hunt after the subtle causes that have lurked in the bosom of society and have flamed into consuming fire, from time to time, the patient historian, the student of sociology, has grouped tendencies, impulses, transitional waves of popular feeling, into generalizations. ”

“ But how fares it with that company of men and women who, frequently in obscure places and by unpretentious methods, have in the realms of discovery, invention and ethics, also advanced the prosperity and happiness of society? It must be admitted that they are too often neglected and that the fruitful lessons which their lives have to communicate remain too generally unappropriated. This paper, diverging somewhat from the beaten highway of history, has for its purpose, to rescue from threatened oblivion the memory of a noble man and the record of his monumental work. ”

“ A method, prevailing widely at present, of forcing local pride and business enterprise into partnership has produced in New York, as it has in other States, a series of county histories which may find in future antiquaries more respect than historical students at present feel for them. ”

“ Luxury has enervated, vice has debased, and the strength of the mighty nation has consumed away. A barbarous enemy sacks the city. The heavens are darkened by a tempest, and the storm of war rages beneath, amid falling walls and colonnades, and the flames of temples and palaces. ”

“ They are one-fourth of New York’s population, and probably hold almost an equally high fraction of its personal wealth, bating, of course, that enormous increment which comes to the metropolis from its commanding position as the continental centre of investment. ”

“ It was a frame building, and was succeeded in 1818 by a brick building on the same site. In 1834 a new church was erected at Prince and Marion Streets. The foundation for the present church was laid in 1848, and the church occupied it in the following year.
Society Library
The New York Society Library, at 107 University Place, near Fourteenth Street, claims to be the oldest institution of its kind in America. It is certainly the most interesting in historical associations, richness of old literature and art works. ”

“ His theory of the state avoided, indeed, the absurdity of communism, but recognized slavery and the subjection of women. Like many of the modern Socialists, he denounced the taking of interest for the use of money. Such political theories must needs be ineffective. They ignore the equitable basis of society and indicate a short-sightedness that is amazing, in any era when thrift, industry and property rights are elements in the life of a state—as they were then and are now. ”

“ Human nature and human society are tremendously complex. No two persons are just alike; and each personality is a bundle of contradictory qualities. Government rests upon two forces, sovereignty and obedience. Somebody must command; somebody must obey. Each of these forces is powerfully operative in most men. The love of authority, dominion, power, the will to make another to do our bidding, is deeply planted in the human nature. Nothing is more intoxicating, more enjoyable, than power. ”

“ The red man was always free from political bondage. He was convinced that man was born free; that no person had any right to deprive him of that liberty. Undoubtedly the reason for this was the absence from the Indian mind of a desire for gain—that great passion of the white man—"His blessing and his curse in its use and abuse."
The hunter wants of the Indian, absence of property in a comparative sense, and the infrequency of crime, dispensed with a vast amount of legislation and machinery incident to the protection of civilized society. ”

“ It is not the purpose to pursue here the history of the Irish in New York City from the outbreak of the Civil War through the 114half century to our day. To the battle for the Union, however, the New York Irish furnished magnificent quotas of fighting men, and capable officers, earning names for bravery and skill, as would be expected of their race. Indeed, it was the whole-souled devotion of the Irish all over the northern states and their brilliant services in the field and on the sea that threw down the last barriers of prejudice against their people in America. ”

“ He knew the exalted possibilities of spiritual excellence to which humanity can rise, and the abysmal depths into which it can sink. He recognized the fact that society is swayed by selfish interests oftener than by a devotion to high ideals. ”

“ The shades of evening steal over shattered and ivy-grown ruins. The steep promontory, with its insulated rock, still rears against the sky, unmoved, unchanged; but violence and time have crumbled the works of man, and art is again resolving into elemental nature. ”

“ Whatever way governments began, they have been, they are, and they will be, until human nature and human needs undergo a tremendous transformation. As has been said, stable governments have been rare. Some of the forces of modern civilization may make the crystallization of society into localized governments possibly more unstable than ever. ”

“ Later he became a merchant in New York and between the years 1815 and 1832 he gained a fortune. It was then that he began to gratify other instincts and art attracted his attention. He became the patron of American Art and sought the acquaintance of artists, interesting himself in their labors, giving them many commissions for work.
Mr. Reed lived at 13 Greenwich Street, this city, the third story of which building he used as a picture gallery, to which visitors were admitted one day each week. This room was also a meeting place for the artists and literary men of the time. ”

“ View of New York from the Navy Yard, Brooklyn. (20X29.)
Presented by Samuel V. Hoffman, May 3, 1910.
447. Broadway at Grand Street, looking north, 1852. (21X17.)
Presented by Samuel V. Hoffman, May 3, 1910.
448. Portrait of Morgan Lewis, (1754-1844.) (29X36.) Charles C. Curran.
President of the Society, 1832-1835.
From the original by James Herring.
Presented by Maturin Livingston Delafield and John Ross Delafield, June 7, 1910.
449. Portrait of Mrs. Horatio Gates (Elizabeth Phillips) . (23⁄4X23⁄4.) (Miniature.)
[Pg 50]
Presented by John Austin Stevens, June 7, 1910. ”

“ Patrick’s Cathedral, the Cathedral of the great Archbishop of New York, the Most Reverend John Hughes, and proceeded thence to the rendezvous at Great Jones Street. Hope was given to the hearts of the good people of this city as they witnessed the spirit displayed by this brave body of citizen soldiery, and when at the appointed hour, the order to march was sounded and the regiment proceeded down Broadway to the strains of martial music, the surging multitude that lined the streets, the myriad spectators that filled the windows along the route to Cortlandt Street broke into continuous cheers. ”

“ The twelfth anniversary of the society was celebrated here in 1804, when Mr. Little was the landlord of the house.
New England Society
New York, as headquarters of the British forces in the Revolutionary war, had attracted much attention to her advantageous situation, and when peace returned men of energy flocked to it, as offering a good field for enterprise. Among these were many from New England, and it is claimed that the city owes much to this element, endowed with intelligence, vitality and perseverance. ”

“ A German artist, born at Weimar and died at Dresden. He learned the first principles from his father and afterwards studied under Alex. Thiele, a landscape painter. Was also an engraver of reputation.
John Dixey ( -1820) .
Sculptor, born in Dublin, Ireland, and educated in London. He was a student of the Royal Academy and came to America in 1789. He was vice-president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and lived many years in New York. ”

“ As to the permanent results of the celebration, it may be said, first, that New York City and New York State are to-day richer than they would otherwise have been in historical monuments and commemorative tablets which are of constant educational value. Further, both the city and the State have been stirred to an extraordinary pitch of civic pride and civic activity and in both the children have participated largely. What the past has accomplished has been thoroughly emphasized; what the future demands has by no means been neglected. ”

“ The cultivation of a knowledge of its own history is, therefore, one of the first duties of a community which seeks to understand itself so that it may better direct its life. Every community should maintain a record of its history, and have some means of preserving important historical material. The New York legislature has recently passed an act authorizing any township or village board to appoint a local historian, without salary, and to furnish safe storage for historical records. ”