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LIBRARY

The collection consists of over 10,000 books, magazines, pamphlets and music titles, the majority from the late 18th through the mid 20th Century. The music collection of over 1,400 items contains sheet music, libretti, song books and hymnals from the early 19th through the mid 20th Century.

ARCHIVES

Personal & Business Papers: There are assorted papers related to 18th Century ancestors. The papers of George Suckley (1765 – 1845) from Sheffield, England, mark the beginning of family papers which continue through the life of his great-great granddaughter Margaret Lynch Suckley (1891 – 1991). Diaries, account books, ledgers, banking records, school records and scrapbooks related to travel and entertainment are associated with many individuals. Included as well are papers from extended family members including Anderson, Beekman, Bowne, Chew, Dows, Galatti, Garrettson, Hambley, Hunt, Livingston, Lynch, Montgomery, Olin, Philips, F. D. Roosevelt, Rutsen, Sands, Schuyler and Tillotson.

Business Papers relating to the Suckley, Montgomery and Sands families include ledgers, ships’ logs, bills and memorabilia from business ventures in Haiti (1802 – 1806), trade during the War of 1812; steamboats on Lake Maracaibo, SA and the Mississippi River in the 1820s and 1830s; real estate in Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhinebeck and Dutchess County, NY from the 18th through the late 20th Century.

Maps & Indentures: The flat map collection of over 500 items contains manuscript and printed maps of property holdings, travel and tourist maps and early New York and East Coast road maps. Over 500 indentures and deeds supplement the map collection and contain manuscript maps of properties purchased, sold or held as mortgages.

Architectural, Landscape Engineering Drawings: Over 100 architectural and landscape drawings include the 1852 Wilderstein house designed by architect John Warren Ritch; the 1888 renovations and plans for out buildings by Poughkeepsie architect Arnout Cannon, Jr.; as well as plans for the Gate Lodge and additions and changes to the Mansion by architect Downing Vaux and others. There are landscape drawings by Calvert and Downing Vaux as well as engineering drawings of carriage roads and the hydroelectric plant that provided Wilderstein with electricity late in 1888.

Photography: There are over 20,000 photographs in the collection, mounted in albums, loose and framed representing photographic processes from 1839 to 1991. All of the photographs are being scanned and entered into the Wilderstein database. About 5,000 photographic images are now available and more are added on a weekly basis.

RESEARCH AREAS

Farm and Land Holdings, Dutchess County, NY (18th, 19th, 20th Centuries); Wilderstein Estate Decorative Arts - Pottier Stymus, Herts Brothers, Joseph Burr Tiffany; Landscape and Architecture - Vaux & Company, Lord & Burnham, John Warren Ritch, Arnout Cannon Jr.; Methodist Church; Civil War; World War I; American Ambulance Field Service; Northern Railroad Route and Washington Territory; Trade with Haiti, South America, Europe and East Coast Merchants 1788 – 1830; Electricity.

ACCESS

Access to the Wilderstein Research Collection is available by appointment.

Email: curator@wilderstein.org, telephone: 845.876.5911

Postal address: Curator, Wilderstein Historic Site, PO Box 383, Rhinebeck NY 12572

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