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New York Historical Society | Highlights of the Long Island Collections
Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Library
Highlights of the Long Island Collections, a combination of manuscripts, maps, and broadsides, reflect Long Island’s rich history from present-day Brooklyn and Queens to the East End. Individually and in combination, this digital collection offers a vivid understanding of how the island went from being a sparsely populated stretch of land settled by farmers and fishermen to a mix of densely populated residential areas, business and industrial zones, highways and commuter train lines, and exclusive enclaves of beachfront property on the East End.
Included in this collection are the papers of some of the most influential families of Long Island—the Gardiners, Lloyds, Townsends, and Woodhulls; real estate, legal, and financial documents; business ledgers and accounts; notices of land for sale and the creation of towns and residential neighborhoods; and maps that document the new towns and neighborhoods, along with the new subways, Long Island Railroad lines, and highways.
The digitization of the Long Island collections was made possible by a generous grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
