“Back number” in contemporary parlance means “back issue.” Today we take for granted the availability of old newspapers and other periodicals, as well as their invaluable glimpse into our past. But this was not the case in the 19th century. [Read more…] about Back Number Budd: A 19th Century One-Man Newspaper Archive
Legal History
How Harlem Developed as an African American Community
This week on The Historians Podcast, New York City attorney and regular New York Almanack contributor Jim Kaplan explains how Harlem was economically developed in the early 1900s. Jewish financiers joined with Black realtor Phillip Payton to develop Harlem and in the process improved race relations in New York City. [Read more…] about How Harlem Developed as an African American Community
Raines Law, Loopholes and Prohibition
A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a legal text or a set of rules that people identify and use to avoid adhering to it. Exploiting loopholes in tax legislation by big corporations or wealthy individuals is a preoccupation of our time. The authorities fight a losing battle trying to plug them as lawyers specialize in finding new and profitable flaws. [Read more…] about Raines Law, Loopholes and Prohibition
New York’s Anti-Rent Wars & The End of the Patroonships
In this episode of A New York Minute In History, Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts delve into the history of the Dutch Patroon system in New York State, and tell the story of the anti-rent movement of the 19th Century, during which tenant farmers banded together to (sometimes, violently) opposed the system under which they were not allowed to own their land outright. [Read more…] about New York’s Anti-Rent Wars & The End of the Patroonships
Vulgarity & Vice: Times Square in the 1920s
The 1920s was a decade of change and upheaval. While Europe was recovering from the First World War, the United States saw a period of economic growth and prosperity in which the country’s focus shifted from rural areas to the cities. It was also a time of great creativity in art and entertainment. New York City set the pace. [Read more…] about Vulgarity & Vice: Times Square in the 1920s
Hudson River Steamboats & Gibbons v. Ogden: 200 Years of the Commerce Clause
One of the world’s first steamboats successfully completed a maiden voyage on the river Clyde in Scotland in 1798. That same year, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston proposed to the New York Legislature that he would develop a new form of public transportation, the steamboat ferry, in return for a monopoly on steam navigation in New York waters. Despite the Legislature’s skepticism that steamboat technology was viable, legislation granting Livingston the monopoly was enacted. [Read more…] about Hudson River Steamboats & Gibbons v. Ogden: 200 Years of the Commerce Clause
The Seligmans, Philip Payton & Harlem’s Black-Jewish Alliance
Around the time of the Civil War Joseph and Jesse Seligman were the most prominent Jewish businessmen on Wall Street – financiers of the Northern effort in the Civil War and close associates of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.
Every summer in the 1870s they would bring their families with a retinue of servants to stay at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY among the most prominent resorts in the United States. In 1879 however, the new manager of the hotel, Judge Henry Hitlon, announced a new policy — henceforth no Jewish people would be allowed to stay there. [Read more…] about The Seligmans, Philip Payton & Harlem’s Black-Jewish Alliance
Not Until 1937 Could Women Serve On Juries in New York
Women’s inexorable march toward equality in politics and government in this country has been one of small steps, and there have been many obstacles to overcome. Sometimes in looking back, it is difficult to believe that certain milestones along the journey took so long to achieve. For example, it wasn’t until 1937 that women were eligible to serve on juries in New York State. [Read more…] about Not Until 1937 Could Women Serve On Juries in New York
The Sewing Girl’s Tale: Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, John Wood Sweet, a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America (Henry Holt & Co., 2022), winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins Liz Covart to investigate the first published rape trial in the United States and how one woman, Lanah Sawyer, bravely confronted the man who raped her by bringing him to court for his crime. [Read more…] about The Sewing Girl’s Tale: Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America
Recent Archaeology at the Joseph Yates House in Schenectady County
Daniel Mazeau and Aaron Gore, archaeologists with Beverwyck Archaeology, recently completed field investigations and research for the Yates house and property in Glenville, Schenectady County, NY, once home to the family of Joseph Yates (1707-1748). Yates was the grandfather of Joseph Christopher Yates (1768-1837), a lawyer, politician, statesman, founding trustee of Union College and longtime Schenectady Mayor who also served as the 7th Governor of New York in 1823-1824. [Read more…] about Recent Archaeology at the Joseph Yates House in Schenectady County