The majority of the papers relate to business activities of the DuBois family who owned and/or lived in the DuBois Fort on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Bulk dates for the collection are 1733-1833. Papers include estate and legal papers such as deeds, wills, bonds, court papers, estate inventories, quit-claims and other documents pertaining to properties in the towns of New Paltz and Shawagunk in Ulster county from 1722 to 1828; as well as receipts and agreements concerning domestic goods, property, building supplies, household items, etc. dating from 1685 to 1820. The records from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, some of which are in French and Dutch, primarily relate to financial transactions of Louis and Isaac DuBois, both patentees of New Paltz.

Of particular interest are the probate records of several DuBois family members, such as the wills of Daniel DuBois (1747); Simon DuBois (1756); Solomon DuBois (1756), which was probated 1759 and covered with the front page of the New York Revived Weekly Gazette (July 20, 1747); Simon DuBois (1787), probated 1799; Daniel DuBois (1810), probated 1825; an undated estate inventory of Jonathan A. Lattin (ca. 1825); and an auction list of Daniel DuBois (1832). Other items of note include a letter from Johannes M. Goetschius to Simon DuBois (1760); a receipt describing the medical condition of a slave (1770), an agreement that Goetchius will take care of Evert Roos, son of Peter Roos (1782); slave purchase by Daniel DuBois (1794); memoranda to the trustees of State School Districts (1833); and an undated Indian deed concerning a tract of land near the town of Marbletown in Ulster County, New York. There are also advertisements and the Caldwell & Pearson store at Albany, NY (1792), and “Everett’s Grand Triple Combination Polyorama…” (undated, late 19th century).

The overall condition of the papers is good and the handwriting legible. This collection was formerly known as the DuBois Family Papers.