Annals of public education in the state of New York, from 1626 to 1746

Front matter

I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.!

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Preface

This volume is a collection of the official acts and historical records relating to public education within this State during the Dutch and a part of the English colonial periods, from 1626 to 1746, with such editorial statements as have been deemed appropriate, and, to some extent, necessary, to connect and explain the often fragmentary original records. If hereafter practicable, this work will be continued to about the year 1800.

Much of the material of these Annals has been preserved only in manuscript in the State archives ; other printed fragments are widely scattered, and are not readily accessible in the absence of any catalogue or digest of authorities referring to this subject.

The results of the few attempts hitherto made in any portion of this field have been carefully sought and freely used, with due acknowledgment. Dunshee's " History of the School of the Reformed Dutch Church in New York " has been of greater service than any other single printed collection. That school having been the first, and for some time the only public one within the colony, its history is almost co-extensive with that of public education for a number of years. The pre-eminence of this little work in its special field is attested by the fact that it is almost the sole authority quoted, for the colonial period, in Boese's " History of Education in the City of New York." Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of New York, for 1863, contains a sketch of " Schools and Schoolmasters in the time of the Dutch," which includes some items not mentioned by other authors. Occasional allusions to the subject of education occur in O'Callaghan's History of New Netherland, Brodhead's History of New York, and other works of like general character. A " Special report on the present state of education in the United States and other countries," by the late Superintendent of Public Instruction of this State, published in 1867, devotes two pages to a cursory sketch of its educational history during the colonial era.

The principal official source of information for the earlier portion of the period included in the volume, is the " New York iv Preface.

Historical Manuscripts," Dutch and English, in the office of the Secretary of State, of which there are about 100 folio volumes. The Dutch manuscripts were translated some fifty years since, under State authority, by Francis Adrian Yan der Kemp, and are now being re-translated by the eminent archivist, Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, under the title of " Records of New Netherland." Of Van der Kemp's translation there are twenty-four volumes, which are known among antiquarians as the "Albany Records." We regret that most of the passages which we have had occasion to quote, not having been reached by the new translator, must exhibit the marked imperfections of style which characterize the Albany Records. Dr. O'Callaghan has also prepared a full calendar and index of the original manuscripts, a small edition of which has been published. By the aid of this invaluable work, any special subject of colonial history contained therein may be readily investigated. The Documentary and the Colonial Histories of the State — the former in four and the latter in eleven quarto volumes, large editions of which have been published — contain copies of some of these manuscripts, including a few referring to educational affairs, especially among the Indians. The corporation archives of New York city include a collection known as the "New Amsterdam Records," an unpublished translation of which, in seven volumes, was made some years since by Dr. O'Callaghan. These records contain a few items in regard to the schools of that city during the period of the Dutch administration. The manuscript " Correspondence of the Classis of Amsterdam," procured in Holland, some years since, by Mr. Bijodhead, to which occasional reference is made by historians, throws additional light upon this special subject.

Among other sources of information, for the period included in the present volume (1626-1740), may be mentioned the printed journals of the Legislative Council and Assembly, from 1691 onward ; the colonial laws, most of which are found in the extant compilations, though a number of obsolete ones of special historical interest have been preserved only in their original manuscript form, in the office of the Secretary of State ; O'Callaghan's " Register of New Netherland " and " Laws of New Netherland ;" Yalentine's Corporation Manual of N. Y. City for a series of years ; the annual reports of the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ;" miscellaneous works of research, including local histories, prominent among which are Munsell's " Annals of Albany ;" facts communicated in writing by several well-informed investigators, who have kindly

Preface. v

aided us in our researches ; and lastly, old newspapers, especially the files of the New York Gazette, etc., as preserved in the Library of the New York Historical Society. Specific references to these sources of information will be made in connection with each quotation, it being an important part of the present design to verify every statement, and thus facilitate further investigation, in the hope that the materials for a tolerably full history of education in the State may finally be secured. If this work, with its proposed continuation, shall contribute to a better understanding of the origin and growth of the present system of education in the Empire State, the chief design of the undertaking will be accomplished.

It is proper to add, that the greater part of the material embraced in this volume was first published in the " Proceedings of the University Convocation of the State of New York", for the years 1868 and 1869.

The plates from which these " Annals " were first printed, were destroyed by the great fire which occurred at Weed, Parsons & Co.'s printing establishment, in April, 1871. It thus became necessary, in carrying out the foregoing order of the Senate, to reset the entire work. A few errors and considerable new material having, meanwhile, come under the author's notice, he has availed himself of this opportunity, at the cost of no little time and labor, to supply a revised and enlarged edition of the original work ordered by the Senate.

The author cannot forbear here to express, in a general way, his indebtedness to the several gentlemen mentioned by name in the body of the volume, who have aided in the collection of these historical facts ; as well as to all those who have, in any way, encouraged him in this undertaking. Further information relative to either the general or local history of education in this State, prior to 1800, for any future editions of this work, and for its intended continuation from 1746, will be thankfully received and duly acknowledged.

Contents

Page.

Preface ; *

Chapter I

First Period.— Public Education in the Dutch (or Holland) Colony of New Netherland, 1626-1664 1

Chapter II

Second Period.— Public Education in the Colony op New York, 1664-1784. part I.

From the Capitulation by the Dutch to the first legislative act for founding a

Catalogue of Schoolmasters mentioned in this volume 149

part n.

The founding of King's (afterwards Columbia) College [to be published hereafter].

part in, etc. [To be published hereafter]

Chapter III

The Founding op the University op the State op New York, under the Acts of 1784 and 1787, and the further History of Education in the State to the Year 1800 [to be published hereafter].

ANNALS

or

PUBLIC EDUCATION

IN THE

STATE OF NEW YORK:,

INCLUDING THE C O L. O N I V!l L, ERA.