Search

The collection consists of addresses, press releases, memoranda proclamations, and other papers by and in regard to Charles Seymour Whitman (1868-1347) who was the District Attorney of New York County from 1910 to 1914 and Governor of New York State from 1915 to 1918. The material ranges in date from 1910 to 1937. The material is confined for the most part to drafts of the Governor's speeches to various groups on such subjects as the NEW YORK STATE PENAL CODE, unification of state laws, public health, education, and agriculture. Also, a typed memorandum on Whitman's ancestry and a few miscellaneous items. There are not papers or correspondence of a personal nature in the collection. The material is mostly in typescript. There is also a microfilm of Lt. Charles F. Becker's testimony in the Rosenthal murder case.

Five manuscripts, one map, and four books formerly belonging to various members of the Van Cortlandt family: New York (Colony) Laws, Statutes, etc. Lawes Establish'd by the Authority of his Majesties Letters Patents.. By virtue of a Commission from.. James Duke of Yorke.. 1664. This first set of laws for New York, commonly known as the "Duke's Laws" were promulgated by Governor Richard Nicolls, after a meeting with representatives in Hempstead, Long Island, on March 1, 1664. Bound with this code are nine additions most of which are "Orders made at the Generall Court of Assizes held in New York" 1664-1672. The texts are written in several different hands and signed variously by Richard Nicolls (1624-1672), first governor of New York, 1664-1668; Matthias Nicolls (1630?-1687), Richard's brother and secretary to the province during the period covered; and Francis Lovelace (1618?-1675?), brother of the poet Richard Lovelace and governor of New York, 1668-1673. Written copies of this code were prepared for all the towns on Long Island. Of these copies only four are apparently extant, including this one and one in the New York Historical Society.