µē³µĪŽĀė

The µē³µĪŽĀė State Archives and the Archives Partnership Trust have received a $125,760 ā€œSave Americaā€™s Treasuresā€ grant from the National Park Service and the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the conservation and digitization of historical court records and other important documents of the Revolutionary War era. The documents are eligible for the grant because of their national significance and their poor and fragile condition. Upon the completion of the grant project, which begins November 1, the documents will be conserved, digitized and placed online on the for research use.

The court records in the State Archives that will be conserved at a professional laboratory include over 400 pages of indictments of Loyalists (American colonists who stayed loyal to the British Crown during the Revolutionary War) and Supreme Court minutes for 1775-1783 (both royal and state courts). Other documents to be conserved are fire-damaged minutes and papers of the royal governor and council in µē³µĪŽĀė City (1776-1783) in the State Archives and loyalty oaths to the Crown during the war and military enlistment papers, held by the µē³µĪŽĀė State Library.

ā€œWith more than 250 million documents in its collection, the State Archives is an important steward of µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s history,ā€ said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa. ā€œWe are grateful to the National Park Service and the Institute of Museum and Library Services for this grant that will help conserve important documents of µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s Revolutionary War era history. Once these documents are conserved and digitized, I encourage students, scholars and educators to use these records to learn about an important chapter of µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s early history.ā€

ā€œThanks to this Save Americaā€™s Treasures grant, the State Archives will conserve and digitize these vitally important records that may tell untold stories of the Revolutionary War era,ā€ said State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. ā€œThis treasure trove of documents will soon be available for researchers and scholars to study and discover stories from µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s early days as a colony in the 1700s.ā€

ā€œWe are proud to receive this Save Americaā€™s Treasures grant, which will enable us to preserve and make available extremely fragile, but remarkably important documents from µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s Revolutionary War period,ā€ said State Archivist Thomas Ruller. ā€œThe records will be a critically valuable resource for scholars and anyone who is interested in µē³µĪŽĀė during the Revolutionary War.ā€

ā€œAs the State Archivesā€™ non-profit partner, we are pleased to help build support for special preservation projects,ā€ said Stephen Pagano, Board Chair of the µē³µĪŽĀė State Archives Partnership Trust. ā€œWe are grateful to our donors and the µē³µĪŽĀė State Organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution for providing seed funding to begin our efforts to preserve these great documents, which helped us to secure this Save Americaā€™s Treasures grant. We are committed to continue to assist the State Archives preservation efforts and to increase support for and awareness of the entire collection.ā€Ģż

The grant project title, ā€œEnemies of the State: Rediscovering the Patriot-Loyalist Struggle in Revolutionary µē³µĪŽĀė,ā€ alludes to the 1779 statute that authorized prosecution in the Supreme Court of Judicature of ā€œEnemies of this State,ā€ on the charge of treason. µē³µĪŽĀė was a pivotal state during the American Revolution, militarily and politically. The court and other records to be conserved contain detailed but unutilized information about the stateā€™s vigorous proceedings against suspected Loyalists, and about the royal governmentā€™s continuing operations in µē³µĪŽĀė City until the end of the war.

Archival records of µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s Unified Court System contain unique information about court operations and caseloads, trends in civil litigation and criminal prosecution, changes in civil and criminal procedure, the decisions of judges, the practices of trial attorneys, the rights and status of persons, and the overall impact of the courts on µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s society since the seventeenth century. These records often provide the only documentation of ordinary people, including those who were marginalized, especially in the colonial and early national periods.

Many historical records of µē³µĪŽĀėā€™s courts have been lost over time. An important success in preserving a major collection of those that survive, including the records that will be conserved under this grant project, occurred in early 2017, when nearly 2,000 cubic feet of records of the Supreme Court of Judicature and the Court of Chancery were transferred from the µē³µĪŽĀė County Clerkā€™s Office to the µē³µĪŽĀė State Archives in Albany. These records joined nearly 5,000 cubic feet of records from upstate court offices that were transferred to the State Archives in 1982, thereby creating a complete, statewide resource of historical court records dating from 1683 to 1847.ĢżĢżĢż

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. It advances, supports, and empowers Americaā€™s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Its vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit the and follow the Institute on and .

The µē³µĪŽĀė State Archives is a program of the State Education Departmentā€™s Office of Cultural Education. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Archives is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on legal holidays. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-8955 or .