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City Publishes Centuries-Old Manuscripts Online

By Sybile Penhirin | November 27, 2014 3:38pm
 Pages of Records of New Amsterdam, Ordinances from 1647 to 1661, published on the city’s Department of Records and Information Services.
Pages of Records of New Amsterdam, Ordinances from 1647 to 1661, published on the city’s Department of Records and Information Services.
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NYC Department of Records and Information Services

NEW YORK – Photos of centuries-old city documents recounting New York history were published for the first time on Thursday on the city’s Department of Records and Information Services website.

The manuscripts date mainly from 1647 to 1661 and are the first documents to be digitalized as the city moves to make its municipal archives available online. 

The 17th century documents are mostly ordinances drawn from the Records of New Amsterdam, as Manhattan was known at the time, and from Common Council minutes.

“These ordinances show how New Amsterdam officials tried to maintain order in a fractious and rowdy City, and shed a light on our City’s early development,” said DoRIS Commissioner Pauline Toole in a statement.

Several ordinances were written by Peter Stuyvesant who was appointed Director-General of the New Netherland colonial province, which once encompassed New York City, in 1647.

One of Stuyvesant’s first official edicts was made to ban the sale of alcohol on Sunday before 2 p.m. and everyday after 8 p.m., according to DoRis website.

Stuyvesant noticed that “one full fourth of the City of New Amsterdam has been turned into taverns and urged bar owners to “engage in some other honest business,” according to the documents. 

The manuscripts, which were translated from Dutch in the 19th century, also include laws regulating the price of bread and prohibiting pigs and goats from climbing on Fort Amsterdam walls, then located on the southern tip of Manhattan.

The website also includes images of maps and illustrations of the early Dutch settlements and a photo of New Amsterdam first seal, which featured a beaver.

The city aims to publish more documents in the coming year.

History lovers who cannot wait for all the documents to be published online, can see more of the municipal archives collection at the agency’s visitor center at 31 Chamber St. (Room 103). The center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, except Friday when it closes at 1 p.m.