New York Genealogical and Biographical Society - History

History

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society was organized on the evening of February 27, 1869, by seven gentlemen meeting at the home of Dr. David Parsons Holton in New York City. On March 26 a certificate of incorporation was filed in the office of the Secretary of State of New York, stating that "the particular business and objects of the Society are to discover, procure, preserve and perpetuate whatever may relate to Genealogy and Biography, and more particularly to the genealogies and biographies of families, persons and citizens associated and identified with the State of New York." In April the By-Laws were adopted and officers elected, the first president being the historian Dr. Henry R. Stiles. The seal of the Society was adopted on May 8, 1869.

In establishing the Society the founders were inspired by the example of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845. In at least one respect, however, they differed from the New England model. While women would not be admitted to membership in the Boston society until 1898, the New York society on May 1, 1869 elected Mrs. Frances K. Forward Holton a member, followed by many others.

The Society immediately established a library, and in December 1869 published an eight-page Bulletin. The reception of this publication encouraged the Trustees to launch a quarterly journal, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, the first issue of which was dated January 1870. Thus were established two of the oldest institutions in American genealogy. Today the Society is the second oldest genealogical society and library in the United States, and the Record the second-oldest genealogical periodical in continuous publication in the English-speaking world.

The Society's first permanent home was at Mott Memorial Hall, a house at 64 Madison Avenue. In 1888 the Society obtained space in the Berkeley Lyceum Building at 19 West 41st Street, and two years later moved to the new Berkeley Lyceum building at 23 West 44th Street. In 1891 Mrs. Elizabeth Underhill Coles died, leaving the Society a bequest of $20,000. With this money the Society was able to purchase in 1896 a four-story brownstone at 226 West 58th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. This became Genealogical Hall, the home of the Society for the next 33 years.

The Society's former building held many mementos of Genealogical Hall. There was a plaque in the lobby commemorating Mrs. Coles' gift, and the library was graced by a beautiful stained-glass window which was presented to the Society by the Record Committee in 1898. The window was installed in the Library until 1929 and then languished in storage until 1992, when it was carefully restored and installed in a north window of the library, largely due to the generosity of then president Henry S. Middendorf.

One of the Society’s most ambitious early projects was the erection of a statue of Christopher Columbus on the Mall in New York’s Central Park. The statue was unveiled in 1894 as part of the Columbus quadricentennial, and it can still be seen in the Park today.

By 1912 Genealogical Hall was already inadequate to hold the library, and the Trustees decided to try to raise $65,000 to acquire the adjacent building lot for expansion. J. Pierpont Morgan contributed $10,000 on the condition that the Society raise the remainder, and this was accomplished by the end of 1913, mainly through the efforts of president Clarence Winthrop Bowen. Various factors intervened to prevent the proposed expansion, and Mr. Bowen was still president 16 years later when the Society moved across town into its former building at 122-124-126 East 58th Street.

The new facility, erected at a cost of $300,000, replaced three brownstone houses on the site. It was designed by the noted New York architectural firm of La Farge, Warren and Clark. The formal dedication on December 11, 1929, was attended by an impressive list of dignitaries, headed by former President of the United States Calvin Coolidge and former Governor of New York and Secretary of State (and future Chief Justice of the United States) Charles Evans Hughes.

The new building provided impressive and ample space for the growth of the library. Over the years the Society had also expanded its publications program. By 1929 each issue of the Record ran over 100 pages, and it had become recognized as one of the leading scholarly journals of genealogy. Since 1890 the Society had also published several volumes of its Collections, starting with the marriage and baptismal registers of New York State's oldest church, the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam and New York City.

The Great Depression and World War II slowed the Society's progress — the Record, for example, became greatly reduced in size. In this period, and the years after the war, interest in genealogy was low and some may have questioned whether the Society could survive. But amazing changes were in the offing.

At the Society's 100th annual meeting in March 1969, the new flag of the organization, designed by Henry S. Middendorf, was unveiled. The Society’s membership was 734, one-sixth of the total in 2005. The budget was $92,000, less than one-tenth of the 2005 budget (not accounting for inflation). In 1969 the library reported it had 78,000 titles, while in 2005 the total is almost 130,000.

When the Society was founded in 1869, the only New Yorkers who had an interest in tracing their roots, or the time to do so, were those whose lineages stretched back to the colonial period, and the Society for its first hundred years catered almost exclusively to that part of the population. Even among those with colonial ancestry, however, there were relatively few who had more than a passing interest in their family history. Genealogy remained a rather obscure hobby and its status as a profession was even more tenuous.

In the 1970s there were the first signs of change. The 19th century was now more distant than the 18th had been in 1869, and there was increasing interest in its records, which were also now becoming more accessible. Descendants of 19th century immigrants, and Americans of African descent, discovered that they too could delve into genealogy. The telecast of Alex Haley's book Roots and the 1976 Bicentennial were catalysts that precipitated this new wave of interest. The increased mobility of the population, leaving so many Americans far removed from their roots, and an increase in leisure time, especially among older Americans, were other factors in the expansion. All over the country new genealogical societies, publications, and activities developed, and the older institutions began to experience unprecedented growth as well.

The Society was affected by this growth, although it came slowly. In the late 1980s computers began to be used in administration, publishing, and the library. The library began to significantly expand its microform holdings to facilitate research in late 19th century and early 20th century sources, while also expanding its colonial collection. In 1990, The NYG&B Newsletter was launched and became an instant success; in 2004 it was renamed The New York Researcher. At first an eight-page publication, each issue now contains an average of 20 pages. In 1995, after the Society celebrated its 125th anniversary, the Record passed the same milestone, and in 2003 the Society began publication of all past issues of the Record on CD-ROM. The Society also continues to publish books dealing with New York genealogy. The Society’s formal education programs began in 1977 with a fall lecture series. Today each year’s local calendar is filled with a variety of lectures as well as book signings and walking tours. In 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 groups of out-of-town members came to the city for a week of guided research. Beginning in 1992 the Society has also conducted many out of town programs, at such locations as Albany, Saratoga Springs, Buffalo, Tarrytown, and Elizabeth, N.J., often in cooperation with other genealogical societies. The Society has also established a presence at national, regional and local genealogical conferences sponsored by other organizations.

In the mid-1990s genealogy began to undergo a "sea change" with the advent of the Internet. The numbers of people who were pursuing genealogy skyrocketed as a result. The Society joined this new world in December 1998 when it launched its own website, nygbs.org (now newyorkfamilyhistory.org). It has been immensely popular and has brought many new members to the organization, particularly after the Society contracted with ProQuest to give members home access to The New York Times and HeritageQuest Online. The site has been completely redesigned twice since its inauguration, and will continue to be updated and expanded.

By the late 1990s the Society's record growth had led to unprecedented crowding in both the library and offices, and major changes had to be made to the facilities. The firm of Macrae-Gibson, Architects, was employed to develop a master plan for the building. To implement the changes, the Society was faced, for the first time in many decades, with the need for a major capital fund drive. In 1999 it was possible to begin the first stage of the plan, which converted the former custodian's apartment into new office space, freeing up former office space for library expansion. Creation of the new library space, the Technology Center for micro form and computer media, was completed in 2001. Future stages of the plan would have included cleaning of the building facade, remodeling of the lobby and reception area, and replacement of the elevator.

The Technology Center proved to be extremely popular for several years, but the internet “sea change” had an unforeseen impact on inhouse usage as more and more members spent less and less time at the library, preferring instead to make use of the online offerings from home. As a result foot traffic slowed down and it was again time to reassess the mission of the Society.

The building was showing its age and in need of major rehabilitation and upgrades. This reality, combined with the change in control, brought the Board of Trustees to the decision to sell the building and combine our wonderful library collection with that of the New York Public Library. The building was sold to one of our tenants in November 2007 and in September 2008 the bulk of our collection was transferred to the Public Library’s Irma & Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History, and Genealogy, thus instantly transforming that collection into the premiere repository for New York genealogical research. Much of the G&B collection is already available and the entire collection should be fully cataloged and available for inspection by fall 2010.

With the transfer of our collection to NYPL the G&B began a new partnership with that venerable organization. Several co-sponsored programs have already been held and plans for several more, both large and small, are in the works. This arrangement is already proving to be an excellent move for the Society and its membership. With the sale of our long-time home came the necessity of finding another. In November 2008 the Society purchased a commercial condominium at 36 West 44th Street in the landmark Bar Building and created entirely new offices on the 7th floor. The well-known New York architect Peter Pennoyer, his associate Sean Blackwell, and designer John Claflin put the finishing touches on the plans. The space has been completely cleared and brand new, extremely beautiful, G&B offices, library, and meeting room were constructed. At 140 years of age, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society is one of New York's oldest institutions. It has had a remarkable history, and from all indications an even more remarkable future lies ahead.

The 58th street building experienced brief infamy in 1991 as being the unfortunate site where musician Eric Clapton's son Conor died, having fallen onto the roof from the 53rd floor of the Galleria condominium complex on East 57th street.