New York Colony Council Papers

Chronological; oversize records are in a separate chronology.

This series consists of documentation used as the basis for many council actions and decisions as recorded in the Council Minutes. It reflects the council's administration of land settlement, economic development, Indian affairs, litigation, and military affairs. Records include correspondence, reports, petitions, orders and warrants created by government officials and by private citizens.

Most of the records are in English and date from the period after 1690. There are scattered documents in Dutch dating from 1666-1690 and, rarely, documents in French. These documents were not recorded in the series of Council Minutes (which record only decisions and actions taken) but were filed for reference.

Specific administrative matters included are: 1) land - instructions to colonial officials regarding land settlement, laws and orders of the governor and council regarding land settlement, and petitions to the governor for land; 2) military affairs - laws and orders of the governor and council regarding military actions, appointments of military officers, petitions to the governor for payments due from soldiers who had received no compensation for service, petitions to the governor for protection from the French and their Indian allies, petitions to the governor for commissions to command ships of war against the French during the French and Indian War, correspondence and orders concerning mobilization of the militia in the French and Indian War, printed proclamations of the king, including the declaration of war against the French in 1756, and reports concerning Jacob Leisler's rebellion and claim to the lieutenant governorship of New York; 3) Indian affairs - instructions to colonial officials and laws and orders of the governor and council regarding trade and relations with Indians, reports and correspondence from inhabitants of Albany regarding their relations with Indians and their fear of attack by the French and Indians, and minutes and reports of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs concerning discussions with and concerns of Indian allies, often in regard to conflicts with the French and their Indian allies;

4) trade and finance - laws and orders of the governor and council regarding taxes, overseas trade restrictions and regulations, regulation and value of coins used, and sale of liquor, petitions to the governor for claimed inheritances, payments due, or trade privileges, and accounts of officials and expenses of the government, e.g. for rebuilding forts at Albany and Schenectady; 5) legal matters - laws and orders of the governor and council regarding jurisdiction and procedures of courts and escaped criminals and servants, and arrest warrants, indictments, arguments of plaintiffs and defendants, verdicts, and punishments of those found guilty; and 6) other matters, such as appointments of administrative officials and records of events preceding and during the Revolution, including depositions of victims or witnesses of assaults on loyalists or suspected loyalists by supporters of the Revolution.

Notable items include: an order of the House of Representatives (April 9, 1691) for the Speaker to address the Council on the rights and privileges of the House; a petition by coopers of South and East Hampton, Long Island (October 13, 1675), for protection against unfair competition from Boston coopers who came in for the winter season (an early effort to confine work of a particular trade to local craftsmen); an order of the New York Executive Council (December 5, 1679) abolishing Indian slavery and servitude; and a directive from the Directors of the Dutch West India Company to Governor Peter Stuyvesant (March 13, 1656) allowing Jews to settle in New Netherland and granting them all civil and political liberties (Jews came from Holland, Brazil, and elsewhere).

A1894-98: This accretion consists of a small number of badly burned parchment documents that strayed from the bulk of the series. Most of the documents are charred or warped beyond all but fragmentary recognition. There are three processing labels referencing three separate documents in the group; only one of the parchments is directly matched with a label.

The one parchment matched with a label is a commission from May 16, 1711 for "Sampson Broughton, to be naval officer, in place of William Chambers" (55.21). The two other labels refer to a commission from May 23, 1709 for "Francis Nicholson to be commander-in- chief of the forces to be sent against Canada" (53-60?); and a "Muster roll of the governor's company in New York, from February 24 to April 24, 1711" (54:158-163).

This series has been microfilmed on 27 rolls; available for use at the New York State Archives or through inter-library loan.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

Vol. 22: 1-156 [Dec. 1664 - June 1674] published in: Peter R. Christoph, ed. New York Historical Manuscripts: English. Volume XXII. Administrative Papers of Governors Richard Nicolls and Francis Lovelace, 1664-1673 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980).

Vol. 24: [1674 - 1675; English-language documents only] published in: Hugh Hastings, ed. Third Annual Report of the State Historian of the State of New York, 1897. Transmitted to the Legislature March, 1898 (Assembly Document no. 68), Appendix L (pp. 215-435) (Albany: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1898).

Vols. 24-25 [July 1674 - Dec. 1676] published in: Peter R. Christoph and Florence A. Christoph, eds. The Andros Papers 1674-1676: Files of the Provincial Secretary of New York During the Administration of Governor Sir Edmund Andros 1674-1680 (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1989).

Vols. 26-27 [Jan. 1675/76 - Aug. 1678] published in: Peter R. Christoph and Florence A. Christoph, eds. The Andros Papers 1677-1678: Files of the Provincial Secretary of New York During the Administration of Governor Sir Edmund Andros 1674-1680 (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990).

Vols. 28-29 [Sept. 1678 - Dec. 1680] published in: Peter R. Christoph and Florence A. Christoph, eds. The Andros Papers 1679-1680: Files of the Provincial Secretary of New York During the Administration of Governor Sir Edmund Andros 1674-1680 (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1991).

Vol. 34, Part 1: 1-120 [Aug. 1683 - Sept. 1687] published in: Peter R. Christoph and Florence A. Christoph, eds. New York Historical Manuscripts: English. Books of General Entries of the Colony of New York, 1674-1688. Orders, Warrants, Letters, Commissions, Passes and Licenses Issued by Governors Sir Edmund Andros and Thomas Dongan and Deputy Governor Anthony Brockholls (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982).

Vol. 34, Part 2: 2-80 [various dates, Sept. 1683 - May 1688, March-Apr. 1691] published in: Peter R. Christoph, ed. The Dongan Papers 1683-1688. Part 1: Admiralty Court and Other Records of the Administration of New York Governor Thomas Dongan (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1993).

Vol. 35 [ca. Jan. 1687 - May 1689] published in: Peter R. Christoph, ed. The Dongan Papers 1683-1688. Part 2: Files of the Provincial Secretary of New York During the Administration of Governor Thomas Dongan (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996).

Vol. 36 [Jan. 1688/89 - Jan. 1690/91] published in: Peter R. Christoph, ed. The Leisler Papers 1689-1691: Files of the Provincial Secretary of New York Relating to the Administration of Lieutenant-Governor Jacob Leisler (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2002).

13913, Manuscript copy of Volume 25 of the New York Colonial Council Papers, 1675-1676, consists of an unbound transcription made before the 1911 New York State Capitol building fire.

Documents in this series are abstracted and partially indexed in Edmund B. O'Callaghan, comp. Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N.Y. Part II: English Manuscripts, 1664-1776. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1866. Reprinted Ridgewood, N.J.: Gregg Press, 1968.

About 1850 the Secretary of State's Office, under the supervision of E.B. O'Callaghan, arranged these records chronologically and bound them into 103 volumes entitled "N.Y. Colonial Manuscripts." Documents in the first 101 volumes were individually listed in O'Callaghan's Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State (1866). This series consists of volumes 22 and 24-102, except for those destroyed by the state capitol fire of 1911 (volumes destroyed were 30-33, 43, 64-69, 71-73, 92, 94-95, 97-98, and 103).

Several surviving volumes suffered severe burn damage in the fire: volumes 44, 46-48, 70, 74-78, 83, 88-91, 93, 96, and 99-102. Of these, 17 volumes (44, 46, 47, 48, 70, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 90, 91, 93, 96, 99, 100, 101) were too extensively damaged to be microfilmed. Some documents have been rebound into 144 volumes; the rest have remained disbound since the 1911 fire.

Several notable items (described above) were removed from the series as part of the Freedom Train exhibit that traveled the state from January 1949 to February 1950 (L. 1948, Ch. 659).

A1894-98: This accretion resulted from a project by Archives staff in 1998 to integrate or accession estrayed or unidentified records.

Originals are restricted due to severe burn damage. Use under supervision of archivist after consulting microfilm.