Emmet Collection of Manuscripts Etc. Relating to American History

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Emmet Collection of Manuscripts Etc. Relating to American History

Collection History

The images in this digital presentation offer an extensive array of visual documentation-in portraits, scenes, and views-of the people, places, and events that shaped the new American nation. They represent a holding of 10,240 visual items that is part of even larger collection of some 30,000 items assembled by the New York physician Thomas Addis Emmet (1828-1919), and donated to the Library in 1896 by trustee John Stewart Kennedy. Emmet developed a passionate interest in American history after a boyhood visit to Philadelphia, when he first saw the original Declaration of Independence, and went on to collect, for some fifty years, drawings, engravings, maps, and manuscripts relating to the American Revolution and the early history of the United States.

Background

Like other 19th-century collectors, Emmet presented his pictorial Americana as "extra-illustrations," binding them, in his case, into classic American history texts to illustrate relevant passages and to enrich the texts visually and intellectually. In the same way, he also assembled images and manuscripts to document the published proceedings of the Albany Congress and the Continental Congress.

Other portions of the Emmet Collection not offered in this digital presentation are manuscripts, in the Manuscripts and Archives Division, and maps, in the Map Division.

Related Resources

Emmet, Thomas Addis. Incidents of My Life; Professional--Literary--Social, with Services in the Cause of Ireland. (1911)

Goffe, James Riddle. "In memoriam, Thomas Addis Emmet ... 1828-1919." Transac. of the Amer. Gynecological Soc. v.44 (1919)

NYPL. Calendar of the Emmet Collection of Manuscripts etc. Relating to American History (1900)

Collection Data

Description: These images offer an extensive array of visual documentation-in portraits, scenes, and views-of the people, places, and events that shaped the new American nation. They represent a holding of 10,240 visual items that is part of even larger collection of some 30,000 items assembled by the New York physician Thomas Addis Emmet (1828-1919), and donated to the Library in 1896 by trustee John Stewart Kennedy. Like other 19th-century collectors, Emmet presented his pictorial Americana as "extra-illustrations," binding them, in his case, into classic American history texts to illustrate relevant passages and to enrich the texts visually and intellectually. In the same way, he also assembled images and manuscripts to document the published proceedings of the Albany Congress and the Continental Congress. Emmet developed a passionate interest in American history after a boyhood visit to Philadelphia, when he first saw the original Declaration of Independence, and went on to collect, for some fifty years, drawings, engravings, maps, and manuscripts relating to the American Revolution and the early history of the United States. Other portions of the Emmet Collection not represented in this collection are manuscripts, in the Manuscripts and Archives Division, and Maps in The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division.
Names: Emmet, Thomas Addis, 1828-1919 (Creator)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1765 - 1896 (Approximate)
Library locations: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection; Shelf locator: MEZP
Topics: United States -- History
Genres: Prints; Documents; Portraits
Notes: Content: Relief shown by hachures.; Content: COLLECTION HISTORY: The images in this digital presentation offer an extensive array of visual documentation-in portraits, scenes, and views-of the people, places, and events that shaped the new American nation. They represent a holding of 10,240 visual items that is part of even larger collection of some 30,000 items assembled by the New York physician Thomas Addis Emmet (1828-1919), and donated to the Library in 1896 by trustee John Stewart Kennedy. Emmet developed a passionate interest in American history after a boyhood visit to Philadelphia, when he first saw the original Declaration of Independence, and went on to collect, for some fifty years, drawings, engravings, maps, and manuscripts relating to the American Revolution and the early history of the United States. (Source: NYPL Digital Gallery); Biographical/historical: BACKGROUND: Like other 19th-century collectors, Emmet presented his pictorial Americana as "extra-illustrations," binding them, in his case, into classic American history texts to illustrate relevant passages and to enrich the texts visually and intellectually. In the same way, he also assembled images and manuscripts to document the published proceedings of the Albany Congress and the Continental Congress. Other portions of the Emmet Collection not offered in this digital presentation are manuscripts, in the Manuscripts and Archives Division, and maps, in the Map Division. (Source: NYPL Digital Gallery); Citation/reference: RELATED RESOURCES: Emmet, Thomas Addis. _Incidents of My Life; Professional--Literary--Social, with Services in the Cause of Ireland_. (1911); Goffe, James Riddle. "In memoriam, Thomas Addis Emmet ... 1828-1919." _Transac. of the Amer. Gynecological Soc_. v.44 (1919); NYPL. _Calendar of the Emmet Collection of Manuscripts etc. Relating to American History_ (1900) (Source: NYPL Digital Gallery)
Type of Resource: Text; Still image
Identifiers: NYPL Digital Gallery Description: 4743; Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 491273d0-c605-012f-4af6-58d385a7bc34