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Collection Data
- Description
- The James Riker Papers document the literary activity and family background of the New York historian and genealogist. The collection consists of original documents from colonial-era New York in Dutch and English, extracts and transcripts from New York and New Jersey historical records, genealogical notes, correspondence, writings, notebooks, printed matter and photographs. Also included are Civil War correspondence and military records of James Riker's brother, Colonel John Lafayette Riker of the New York 62nd Regiment Volunteer Infantry.
- Names
- Riker, James, 1822-1889 (Creator)
- Lamb, John, 1735-1800 (Author)
- United States. Army. New York Infantry Regiment, 62nd (1861-1865) (Author)
- Riker, James, 1822-1889 (Author)
- Riker, James, 1822-1889 (Addressee)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1660 - 1989
- Library locations
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Shelf locator: MssCol 2581
- Topics
- Church buildings -- New York (State) -- New York
- Land tenure -- New York (State) -- New York
- Historians
- New York (N.Y.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- New York (N.Y.) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
- New York (N.Y.) -- Religion -- 17th century
- Van Arsdale, John, 1756-1836
- Ricker family
- United States. Army. New York Infantry Regiment, 62nd (1861-1865)
- Genres
- Correspondence
- Manuscripts
- Notebooks
- Clippings
- Maps
- Notes
- Biographical/historical: The historian James Riker was born on May 11, 1822 in New York City. His father was a merchant and landowner descended from early Dutch settlers. Riker left school at the age of sixteen to work in his father's business. During the late 1830s and early 1840s he lived intermittently in Goshen, New York, where he ran a store. By the mid-1840s he had settled at the family home on Delancey Street in Manhattan. There Riker studied informally for the Presbyterian ministry and began the genealogical and historical research that would occupy him for much of his life. He collected original documents from the colonial era, copied extracts from documents in state and local archives and corresponded extensively with historians, relatives and old family friends. In 1848 Riker moved with his father to Harlem. Two years later, having given up his plans for a religious career, he began work as a teacher in New York's Ward School 24. James Riker's first publication, a pamphlet genealogy that traced the Riker family to their early Dutch origins, appeared in 1851. He followed it with a substantial volume of local history, The Annals of Newtown (1852). Riker married Vashti Wood Horton in 1853, and the couple had several children. Vashti died in 1864, and Riker was re-married in 1867 to Anna C. Clute. Several years later Riker moved to Waverly, New York where he established the Waverly Library and Museum, and wrote two additional historical works, Harlem (city of New York): its origin and early annals (1881) and Evacuation Day, 1783, with Recollections of Capt. John Van Arsdale, of the Veteran Corps of Artillery (1883). In his later years Riker struggled financially and was forced to auction off a substantial portion of his library. James Riker died in 1889.
- Content: The James Riker Papers are a valuable source of information on colonial New York, the early settlement of Harlem and the history of the Riker family and their ancestors. The collection also provides insights on historical scholarship and family life during the nineteenth century. The papers consist of original documents from colonial New York, transcripts and translations of documents, genealogical notes, research notes and memoranda, personal and financial records, correspondence, writings by James Riker and printed matter pertaining to his writings. Highlights include Dutch manuscript records of the town of Harlem (New York City), 1662-1674, in Dutch; Kingston, N.Y., church accounts, 1681-1684, in Dutch; original papers relating to the Harlem Commons; transcripts and extracts of early records concerning Harlem, Newtown, Long Island, Brooklyn and other early communities in New York; maps of Holland and New York; Civil War correspondence and military records of James Riker's brother John Lafayette Riker, who was Colonel of the United States Army New York Volunteer Infantry 62nd Regiment ("Anderson Zouaves"); and photographs of the Riker family and their descendants.
- Acquisition: Donated by Title Guarantee and Trust Company, 1918; Nancy Hillegas, via Kroch Library, Cornell University, March 5, 1997.
- Additional physical form: New Harlem (v. 9-17), Kingstown (b. 5, f. 1), Memoria (v. 23-29) available on ten microfilm reels; New York Public Library. Van Arsdale book (from box 17) available on microfilm. *ZZ-38515
- Physical Description
- Extent: 16 linear ft. (24 boxes, 39 volumes)
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Cartographic
- Identifiers
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b11985413
- MSS Unit ID: 2581
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): f0c2f8c0-7ac0-0139-6904-0242ac110002
