New York State Department of State Memoranda Books of Documents, Publications, and Instruments Received, Delivered or Recorded

This series changes over time from a general memorandum book of filings, recordings, documents received and delivered and assorted lists, to a special memorandum book relating to the distribution of state laws and other documents.

The lists, registers, and "memoranda" in these volumes range in value from trivial to crucial. Information on publications may be of interest for the history of bibliography and printing. Data on elections may complement or correct other sources. The list of releases may serve to access a little-used series of land records. Lists of Land Office Actions may index portions of the Land Office records still held by the Office of General Services. The lists of banks and railroads may be useful for business history. General summaries of contents of individual volumes follow (with binder's title given in quotation marks).

Volume 1, "Memorandum Book 1," contains lists, registers, or "memoranda" of mortgages delivered to the State Comptroller (1823-1840); leases executed by Commissioners of the Land Office (1826-1847); resolutions of the Commissioners of the Land Office sent to appraisers of land acquired by the state on mortgage foreclosure (1821-1832); abstract of releases to the state filed and recorded in the office of the Secretary of State (1794-1843); lists of printers of official canvass (1826-1847); statement of votes for governor (1789-1852); petitions referred by the legislature to the Commissioners of the Land Office (1826-1848); certificates of election transmitted to state senators (1826-1849); certificates of election to Congress (1826-1850); warrants of payments for refunds of taxes paid, pursuant to a law passed on October 25, 1828, repealed by Chapter 179 of the Laws of 1843;

receipts of Revised Statutes of 1829-1830, including signatures of state officers; receipts of Supreme Court reports distributed to counties (1832-1852); recipients of Burr's county maps (1830); receipts of session laws and state documents (1832-1852), showing numbers distributed; names and residences of presidential electors (1832); distribution list for revised edition of Revised Statutes (1837-1843); certificates of association of banks filed in office of Secretary of State, pursuant to a law passed on April 18, 1838 (1838-1851), showing name of bank, location, amount of capital stock, duration of charter, names of major stockholders, and date of filing, railroad company presidents receiving copies of assembly resolution of February 2, 1843; resignations of state senators and members of Congress (1830-1844); academy charters recorded and delivered (1840-1853);

session laws distributed to county treasurers (1846-1853); and reports of Commissioners of the Land Office on petitions referred by the legislature (1849-1853).

Volume 2, "Memorandum Book 2," shows newspapers printing official canvass (1862-1880); newspapers publishing proposals for printing and binding session laws (1862-1880); and local laws distributed to county treasurers (1862-1880).

Volume 3, "Memorandum Book 3," contains matter similar to volume 2; the format changes to a daybook of mailing of certificates, publications, laws, commissions, court terms, and other documents and instruments. Occasionally copies of printed forms are pasted in.

Volume 4, "Memorandum Book," contains lists and tables of receipt and distribution of volumes of the "Documentary History of the State of New-York" and the "Natural History of the State of New York" (1850-1851).

Volume 5, "Memorandum Book-Receipts," contains tables of receipts of session laws, books, reports, documents, legislative journals, etc., ordered to be printed by the legislature during the period 1860-1885. These are statistics only.

Volume 6 (no binders title) contains memoranda of delivery of volumes 19 and 20 of the "Natural History of the State of New-York," 1860-1863; also blank forms relating to distribution of state publications ca. 1874-1880.

Series A0453, Record of Deeds, contains charters that are effectively indexed by lists of academy charters recorded and delivered, which are found in Volume 1 of this series

Series A0451, Original Releases to the State, is effectively indexed by lists of filed and recorded abstracts of releases to the state, which are found in Volume 1 of this series

Series A0050, Deeds of Cession, is possibly indexed by lists of filed and recorded abstracts of releases to the state, which are found in Volume 1 of this series

Series B1446, Register of Delivery of Laws, Patents, Deeds, and Other Documents, contains lists of state documents received or delivered

Series A0321, Distribution Lists of State Publications, contains lists of state documents received or delivered.

These records were originally accessioned in 1978 as volumes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 15 of series A0321, Distribution Lists of State Publications. They were culled to form a separate series by State Archives staff in June 1996.

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