Board of Estimate and Apportionment special files for 1898 to 1901

Accession ACC-1983-014. Unprocessed - RG 014. New York City Council

Description

This special collection consists of letters, publications (annual reports, constitutions and bylaws, etc.), and affidavits. Certificates and statements, largely from private agencies, were culled from 3 cubic feet of "Departmental Estimates"; those estimates of the following year’s expenditure submitted annually by City departments, the judiciary, county officers, and charitable institutions entitled to receive money from the City treasury under Section 226 of the Greater New York Charter (Laws 1897, Chapter 378). Because their informational value as city documents has been greatly reduced by their publication verbatim in the minutes of the Board of Estimate (in separate volumes sub-headed, Departmental Estimates) they were culled for intrinsic value, i.e. for letterheads, signatures, or as examples of original documentation of institutions long gone or for which documentation is sadly lacking. Among the latter are a number of black institutions of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan including St. Philip’s Parish Home, the Colored Home and Hospital, Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People, Brooklyn Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, and the Colored Orphan Asylum. Some of this material appears to be relatively unique. The Librarian of the Bronx Historical Society said they had “no materials whatsoever” on the two Bronx institutions and that she considered items like this of great interest. A similarly positive reaction came from the director of a black historical society in Brooklyn when shown documents relating to racially connected institutions in her area, two of which had graphic letterheads showing buildings and a street scene. Although information in these documents has all been available in published minutes for many year, it appears to have been overlooked or disregarded by most researchers as an unlikely source to find substantive information on private institutions. The handwritten quality along with the signatures of the often little known people who ran these institutions add another dimension of interest. These items have been placed in Vertical Files for their subject interest. The files are presently located in the Processing Unit. Arranged alphabetically by subject within the Board of Estimate and Apportionment section of vertical files.


Access to Unprocessed Archival Collections

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