Boundary line maps

Numerical by portfolio or roller map number assigned by the Secretary of State.

This series consists of six maps compiled by the Office of the Secretary of State in its capacity as the general recording office for the government of New York State. All but one of the maps relate to the boundaries of the Province or State of New York. The earliest map in the series (portfolio map no. 175), completed by Deputy Surveyor General John Collins in 1774, traces the boundary line between the Provinces of Quebec and New York from the Connecticut River to the vicinity of the St. Regis River. A 1787 map (portfolio map no. 167), created by Abraham Hardenbergh, depicts the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania from the Delaware River to Lake Erie. Hardenbergh was among the commissioners appointed pursuant to legislation enacted in 1787 (Chapter 130) for the purpose of "running out and marking the jurisdiction line between this state and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

Concurrent resolutions, adopted in 1819 by the State legislature, called upon the Secretary of State to preserve and arrange "certain books, maps, records and papers" that had been filed in the Secretary's office. Funding was appropriated later that year and these two eighteenth century boundary maps were among the items included when the project was undertaken.

Chapter 69 of the Laws of 1887 empowered the Governor to appoint three commissioners to cooperate with commissioners from the State of New Jersey in locating and marking out by proper monuments and buoys the "true boundary line between the two States in lands under water in Raritan Bay." The act also stipulated that a map showing such boundary line be filed with the Secretary of State within one year. Roller map no. 306, included in this record series, resulted from the work of this joint commission. Chapter 159 of the Laws of 1888 expanded the scope of the joint commission's work to include locating and marking out by proper monuments and buoys the "true boundary line between New York and New Jersey in New York bay, Kill Von Kull and Arthur Kill or Staten Island sounds." Roller map nos. 411 and 412, included in this record series, resulted from this additional mandate and were filed with in the Office of the Secretary of State as directed by the statute.

The only map in the series that does not pertain to state boundaries is a "Plan and Profile Showing a Street or Avenue between Spuyten Duyvil Parkway and Line 'A' in the Southern Part of the Spuyten Duyvil District Replacing Partially the Present Johnson Avenue." This item (roller map no. 322) was created in 1885 by the New York City Department of Public Parks and subsequently amended as directed by Chapter 577 of the Laws of 1887. That legislation called for "maps or plans locating and laying out the streets, avenues, roads, parkways, public parks, squares and places in the twelfth, twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards of the City of New York" to be rendered "more definite and certain."

The maps depicting the New York and New Jersey boundary line measure 30 x 52 inches and feature scales of 1: 10,000 or 1: 20,000, but dimensions and scales of other maps in the series vary greatly.

B1867-07: This accretion consists of boundary line maps of New York and New Jersey from 1882 and 1889. The 1882 map is a preliminary sketch of the boundary line while the 1889 maps are the official boundary line maps agreed upon by officials of New York and New Jersey.

The eighteenth century maps in this series are listed in Mix, David E. E., "Catalogue of Maps and Surveys in the Offices of the Secretary of State, State Engineer and Surveyor, and Comptroller, and the New York State Library," (Albany, 1859).

All maps in the series are listed in Jewett, Freeborn G., comp., "Catalogue of Records of the Office of Secretary of State, with Information Pertaining to the Office," (Albany, 1898).

Provenance of these maps is unclear, but it is likely that the Department of State transferred them to the State Library at some point prior to the establishment of the State Archives. The State Library then transferred the maps to the State Archives after the Archives began accepting records in 1978. The maps were accessioned in conjunction with a project undertaken by Archives staff in 2004 to describe or integrate estrayed or unidentified records. Record series B1454, Inventories, Receipts, and Transfer Documentation for Assorted Land Records, contains information concerning the provenance of these maps.

B1867-07: These maps were accessioned in conjunction with a project undertaken by Archives staff in 2007 to describe or integrate estrayed or unidentified records.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.