Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections & Reading Rooms > Print Collection
I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection of
American Historical Prints
The I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection of American Historical
Prints, donated to the Library by Stokes in 1930, visually documents
a 400-year sweep of American history, beginning with the European discovery
of the Americas and tracing the transformation of the landscape into
an urbanized United States at the end of the nineteenth century. This
collection of more than 800 prints and drawings consists primarily of
town views and historical scenes, as well as some maps.
Highlights include Joost Hartgers view of the New Amsterdam Fort (ca. 1626-28),
possibly the first view of Manhattan; Amos Doolittle's engraving depicting
Federal Hall in Manhattan with the inauguration
of George Washington (1789); Augustus Fay's Croton Water Reservoir watercolor of 1850, the future site
of the NYPL; a significant group of color aquatint views by William
James Bennett and numerous views of cities across America, from Key
West to Portland, Maine, Hoboken to San Francisco and Honolulu.
For a complete, fully illustrated catalogue of the Stokes Collection,
consult Gloria Deák, Picturing America (1988, see below).
The richly annotated descriptions in this publication expand upon the
Library's first catalogue of the Stokes Collection, Stokes and Haskell's
American Historical Prints (1933). This earlier catalogue includes
an introductory essay on the subject as well as historical notes. Also
invaluable is Stokes's The Iconography of Manhattan Island,
a multi-volume compilation of images and documents relating to New York
City. While some of the material illustrated is from his own collection,
he also reproduced images from other public and private collections.
Bibliography
Deák, Gloria Gilda. Picturing America 1497-1899. Prints, Maps,
and Drawings bearing on the New World Discoveries and on the Development of
the Territory that is now the United States. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1988.
Deák, Gloria Gilda, et al. William James Bennett. Master of the
Aquatint View. New York: The New York Public Library, 1988.
Haskell, Daniel C. And I.N. Phelps Stokes. American Historical Prints.
Early Views of American Cities, etc.. New York: The New York Public Library,
1933.
Stokes, I.N. Phelps. The Iconography of Manhattan Island 1498-1909: Compiled
from Original Sources and Illustrated by Photo-intaglio Reproductions of Important
Maps, Plans, Views and Documents in Public and Private Collections. 6
vols. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1926.
R. Waddell, February 1998
