Collection consists chiefly of papers of the Gansevoort, Lansing and Melville families and reflects the social, business and political interaction between family members and friends and associates of the families. Also included are some papers of members of the Sanford, Van Schaick and other related families. Gansevoort-Lansing papers contain correspondence, land deeds, financial documents, maps and surveys, notebooks, cookbooks, diaries, architectural drawings, photographs, and artifacts. The social, economic and political life of upstate New York over a period of more than 250 years is covered in the collection. Also, materials pertaining to military service in the American Revolution and the U.S. Civil War. Gansevoort family members represented in the collection include Peter Gansevoort (1749-1812), military leader in the American Revolution, Peter Gansevoort (1788-1876), New York political figure, Henry Sanford Gansevoort (1835-1871), Union officer in the Civil War, and Catherine Gansevoort Lansing (1839-1918), benefactress. Photographs (tintypes, daguerreotypes, cyanotypes, and black and white prints) show individuals, family portraits, house interiors and exteriors, historic occasions, and family holdings. Among Lansing family members represented in the collection are Barent Bleecker Lansing (1801-1876) attorney and landowner, and Abraham Lansing (1835-1899).
Acquisition: 1919 Gansevoort-Lansing, Catherine; Ann P. Hays; John and Carolyn De Marco (Lyrical Ballad Bookstore); etc. Gift and purchase
Biographical/historical: The Gansevoorts and the Lansings were two of the original Dutch families to settle in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys of New York State. Other families who intermarried with the Gansevoorts and the Lansings were the Melvilles, Sanfords and Van Schaicks. Members of these families were prominent in politics, the military, literature, law, politics, medicine, and economics.
