Manuscript account books and documents which illustrate and document the history of accounting and business procedures from the 14th century into the 20th century. The earliest item is Ms. 18, a Papal bull relating to notaries and appointing Julius de Gentilibus as a notary; the latest is an invoice book from 1941. The types of volumes contained in this collection include instruction books, daybooks, waste books, journals, bank books, ledgers, receipt books, storage books, invoice books, registers, ships' logs, letter books, diaries, town books, tax roll books, articles of agreement, bills of sale, deeds, wills, and many other significant items. The material originated in many countries around the globe, and represents a range of business and occupations from household to trading company (e.g., English (East India Company) and French East Indian Company (Compagnie des Indes orientales) volumes), and from itinerant laborer to lawyer and physician. The majority of the manuscripts are English and American of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The earliest American account is Ms. 75, 1690-1730, Josiah Winslow, Plymouth, Mass.

The Plimpton Family Papers is primarily comprised of correspondence, personal and professional documents, writings and photographs generated by or for George Arthur Plimpton and Frances Taylor Pearsons Plimpton, their son, Francis T.P. Plimpton, and his wife Pauline Ames Plimpton. Also included are documents and photographs produced by or for other Plimpton, Pearsons and Ames family members, from seventeenth century ancestors to late-twentieth century descendants.

Five manuscripts, one map, and four books formerly belonging to various members of the Van Cortlandt family: New York (Colony) Laws, Statutes, etc. Lawes Establish'd by the Authority of his Majesties Letters Patents.. By virtue of a Commission from.. James Duke of Yorke.. 1664. This first set of laws for New York, commonly known as the "Duke's Laws" were promulgated by Governor Richard Nicolls, after a meeting with representatives in Hempstead, Long Island, on March 1, 1664. Bound with this code are nine additions most of which are "Orders made at the Generall Court of Assizes held in New York" 1664-1672. The texts are written in several different hands and signed variously by Richard Nicolls (1624-1672), first governor of New York, 1664-1668; Matthias Nicolls (1630?-1687), Richard's brother and secretary to the province during the period covered; and Francis Lovelace (1618?-1675?), brother of the poet Richard Lovelace and governor of New York, 1668-1673. Written copies of this code were prepared for all the towns on Long Island. Of these copies only four are apparently extant, including this one and one in the New York Historical Society.

Correspondence, typescripts, photocopies, microfilms, card files, and notes of the Alexander Hamilton Papers Publication Project, 1955-1981. The correspondence files of the editor, Harold C. Syrett, and his staff concerning the operations, activities, gathering of data, photocopies, and microfilm reproductions of letters, manuscripts, and documents by, to, and about Alexander Hamilton and selected and edited for publication by Columbia University Press as THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON (New York, 1961-1970). Also, the corrected typescript copies of texts to be published, photocopies of letters, manuscripts, and documents by, to, and about Alexander Hamilton; microfilms of manuscript materials in a variety of repositories; and photocopies of newspaper articles relating to Hamilton.

The correspondence consists of letters from Richard Harison to his wife, Frances, 1790-1794, from his trips to Albany and one to Philadelphia. There seem to be periodic meetings with various well-known legal figures including Egbert Benson, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Abraham Ten Broeck, Morgan Lewis, and William North, who are mentioned in the letters. Two letters from Princeton and Philadelphia, Jan.-Feb. 1794, have interesting reference to Citizen Genet. Of his wife's letters to him, from New York, sixteen were while he was in Poughkeepsie at the Constitutional Convention in 1788, and three letters, 1783-1784, were sent to him in New Jersey while she was attending to family affairs in New York during his exile from the city. The manuscripts include his commonplace book, entitled "Extracts from various authors, upon several subjects" [after 1763]-1781, and ten genealogical and biographical records from his family papers.

Correspondence and papers of Vroom, consisting chiefly of letters received by Vroom from a variety of individuals including J.H. Austin, Andrew Deutcher, Alfred Gale, P.B. Kennedy, James Parker, and John M. Wycoff. These letters deal with business, legal, and political affairs. There are a few personal letters, various legal papers and documents, and memoranda written by Vroom. The early material contains Vroom family letters and documents including letters to Vroom's father, Peter D. Vroom (1745-1831). Also of interest is Vroom's Latin-English vocabulary notebook kept during his junior year at Columbia College, 1807. The notebook contains a list of his classmates. In addition there is his 1808 Columbia College Commencement address.

Correspondence between William Samuel Johnson, 1727-1819, and his son Robert Charles Johnson, 1766-1806, concerning personal business in Connecticut and a father's advice to a young man entering his law career. Some of the father's letters of special interest were written during his term as U.S. Senator (1791), and some concern British-French trade relations, 1793. There are also copies of letters to Johnson from Cadwallader Colden, Silas Deane, James Duane, John Fitch, Jonathan Trumbull, and William Williams. Other letters have been added

Typescript and photographic copies of records and research materials assembled by Donovan and relating to his study of the intelligence service during the American Revolution. The file of materials, carefully organized and fully documented, draws together information gleaned from various archives in England, Canada, France, and the Vatican.

Legal papers, correspondence and other papers of Elijah Miller (1772-1851). Auburn lawyer and judge and father-in-law of William Henry Seward.

The Kent Family Papers contains letters, manuscripts, journals, and documents of the Kent family. The bulk of this material is the papers of James Kent and of William Kent. Also included are autographs, letters, and various ephemera collected by the Kent, Pinckney, and Webster families.