I BEGAN RESEARCHING THE STORY of Elizabeth Jennings about twenty years ago and have consulted many libraries, archives, and historical associations. In several cases—the New York Public Library, for example—I visited multiple times to follow up one lead or another. While I was working on other book projects, sometimes the Elizabeth Jennings story had to wait, but I always returned to it when I had the chance.
Doing research takes persistence, and sometimes it can be disappointing. I have a file folder called “Dead Ends” to prove it! Below, I’ve listed the places where I had success with researching either online, in person, or both. If you can’t visit these institutions, you can explore their websites, where you are bound to find topics that intrigue you. Who knows? You may start researching a mystery of your own.
The New York Public Library
www.nypl.org
This is one of my favorite places in the world. The librarians helped me locate obscure newspapers, kept deep in the vaults. I could not have written this book without the New York Public Library or its affiliate, the Schomburg, listed below.
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture/NYPL
www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg
Located in Harlem, the Schomburg is a library designed for research. I found many little gems of information here. The staff was enormously helpful and supportive of my project.
The New-York Historical Society
www.nyhistory.org/
An amazing repository of information about New York City and State. Always a fun place to visit.
The Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/
This is the largest library in the world. I ordered rare editions of old newspapers that couldn’t be located elsewhere.
Smithsonian Institution
www.si.edu
I did my research for this book before the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in September 2016, but I did find resources at other divisions of the Smithsonian, especially the National Portrait Gallery.
The National Archives and Records Administration
www.archives.gov/
A huge collection of Americana.
The United States Census of 1850 and the Census of the State of New York for 1855
www.ancestry.com/s61792/t30847/rd.ashx (for the 1850 census)
www.ancestry.com/t29419/rd.ashx (for the 1855 NYS census)
Online searches of census data helped me to locate the Jennings family, their address in Manhattan, and more. Note: Ancestry.com requires a subscription and password.
The Museum of the City of New York
www.mcny.org/
I’m always delighted by the special exhibits here. It’s a short walk from a wonderful art museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, so it’s easy to visit both in one afternoon.
The New York Transit Museum
www.nytransitmuseum.org/
Want to see what an old streetcar looks like? Visit this museum in Brooklyn, New York, where one dating to 1904 is part of the collection.
Brooklyn Public Library
www.bklynlibrary.org/
Love this library! I am impressed by its book collection but also by special projects, such as digitizing old copies of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper, which you can access online.
The Department of Records and Information Services, City of New York, and the New York City Department of Vital Statistics
www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/home/home.shtml
I filled out an application for Elizabeth Jennings’s official death certificate, providing the information I had at the time. Several weeks later a copy arrived in the mail.
Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York
www.cypresshillscemetery.org/
This is where Elizabeth Jennings is buried alongside her husband, Charles Graham, and her parents, Thomas L. and Elizabeth Jennings. The grounds are open to the public, and visitors are welcome.
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, University Libraries
www.libraries.rutgers.edu/
With the help of several librarians, I located several hard-to-find books here.
Fairleigh Dickinson University Library
www.view2.fdu.edu/about-fdu/fdu-libraries/
The librarians here kindly loaned microfilm of several editions of old newspapers for my review.
Kansas State Historical Society
www.kshs.org/
Through e-mail correspondence with several librarians and researchers, I located a hard-to-find magazine that published two stories about Elizabeth Jennings in 1895, along with the only known photograph of her.
Ossining, New York, Historical Society
www.ossininghistorical.org/wordpress/
I visited here many times when my husband and I lived in this town, on the Hudson River north of New York City. The photo of Chester A. Arthur’s “spooky” old house is in its collection.
Books include:
Anbinder, Tyler. Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World’s Most Notorious Slum. New York: Plume, 2002.
A detailed study of the Five Points neighborhood, this book was chosen as one of the New York Public Library’s “25 Books to Remember.”
Beatty, Barbara. Preschool Education in America: The Culture of Young Children from the Colonial Era to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
An academic book that was an important resource for me.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 1993.
An overview of American history that is a great resource for teachers.
Burrows, Edwin G., and Mike Wallace. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
A Pulitzer Prize–winning book about New York City’s early years. Fun to browse.
Dickens, Charles. American Notes for Circulation in Two Volumes, vol. 1. London: Chapman and Hall, 1842.
The famous English novelist offended many Americans when he published his accounts, often unflattering, of his travels in the United States.
Duffy, John. A History of Public Health in New York City 1625–1866. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1968.
A fact-filled book that provided a treasure chest of facts.
Ernst, Robert. Immigrant Life in New York City 1825–1863. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1994.
An academic book that provided insight on the experiences of immigrants in New York City.
Foner, Eric. Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.
One of my favorite author-historians. This book, like others written by him, is a fascinating read.
Gellman, David N., and David Quigley, eds. Jim Crow New York: A Documentary History of Race and Citizenship 1777–1877. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
An academic book that was a helpful resource for me.
Harris, Leslie M. In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City 1626–1863. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
A carefully researched, scholarly book.
Hearth, Amy Hill. “Strong Medicine” Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say: An Oral History. New York: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, 2008.
I wrote this book about the mother of the chief of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation. They are related to the original people who lived on Manhattan Island for thousands of years.
Homberger, Eric, and Alice Hudson, cartographic consultant. The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City’s History. New York: Henry Holt, 1994.
If you love maps, you’ll enjoy this book. Studying it provides a good way to understand the growth of and changes in Manhattan.
Hood, Clifton. 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
The building of the NYC subway system is an incredible feat. This academic book explains how it was done.
Hoose, Phillip. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2009.
I was so inspired by this book, which tells the story of a teenager who took a stand on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, almost a year prior to Rosa Parks. A winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, this book is perfect for middle school readers and up.
Howe, George Frederick. Chester A. Arthur: A Quarter-Century of Machine Politics. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1935; republished 1957.
There aren’t many books on Arthur, so this biography was invaluable to me.
Kelley, Blair L. M. Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.
Dr. Kelley’s focus is on the struggles to fight segregation in New Orleans, La., Richmond, Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia. A fascinating scholarly book.
Kliebard, Herbert M. The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Purely academic and written for education professionals.
Koeppel, Gerard. Water for Gotham: A History. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.
You wouldn’t think an academic book about drinking water could be this fascinating, but it is. At the same time it offers terrific insight into the growth and challenges of early New York.
McCabe, James D. The Life of Gen. Chester A. Arthur, addendum to From the Farm to the Presidential Chair: The Life and Public Services of Gen. James A. Garfield. Philadelphia: National Publishing, 1880.
Biography of President Garfield, with an added section about Chester A. Arthur. This book was intended for historians and presidential scholars.
Meinig, D. W. The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, vol. 2, Continental America, 1800–1867. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993.
One of five volumes of interest to college-level students and researchers in the field of geography.
Merwick, Donna. The Shame and the Sorrow: The Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
Most people know very little about the Native people of New York and New Jersey. This book tells part of their tragic story.
Ovington, Mary White. Half a Man: The Status of the Negro in New York. London: Longmans, Green, 1911; reprinted New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969.
A groundbreaking book by a woman author. The book includes a brief account of Elizabeth Jennings’s story.
Reeves, Thomas C. Gentleman Boss: The Life and Times of Chester Alan Arthur. Newtown, Conn.: American Political Biography Press, 1975.
Like the book by George Frederick Howe listed earlier, this book is a rare look at the life of Arthur. I’m grateful that it was written.
Rury, John L. Education and Social Change: Contours in the History of American Schooling, 5th ed. New York: Routledge, 2016.
An academic book included in the curricula of many graduate schools of education in the United States.
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., gen. ed., and John S. Bowman, exec. ed. The Almanac of American History. New York: Barnes & Noble, by arrangement with the Putnam Grosset Group, 1993.
This book provides a year-by-year synopsis of historical events in America. A great resource for teachers.
Shi, David E., and George Brown Tindall. America, a Narrative History., 5th ed. New York: W. W. Norton. 1999.
A college-level textbook assigned to students in many high school advanced placement U.S. history classes.
Stansell, Christine. City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1789–1860. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987.
Academic book about women in New York City during the time Elizabeth Jennings lived.
Thornton, J. Mills, III. Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2002.
An extremely thorough, scholarly account of the modern civil rights movement in three southern cities.
Tocqueville de, Alexis. Democracy in America; first printing 1835.
A fascinating lens on the United States in its early days.
Tomes, Nancy: The Gospel of Germs: Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.
A creepy but unforgettable academic-level book.
White, Shane: Stories of Freedom in Black New York. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Valuable information about segregation in NYC, including the city’s theatrical culture.
Newspapers: An Invaluable and Fascinating Source
The Liberator (antislavery newspaper published in Boston by a white man named William Lloyd Garrison)
The Colored American (black-owned newspaper published in New York)
New-York Daily Tribune (general-interest newspaper published by Horace Greeley, a white man who was progressive about equal rights for blacks)
The North Star (Frederick Douglass’s first newspaper)
Frederick Douglass’ Paper (The North Star renamed)
Douglass’ Monthly (a supplement to Frederick Douglass’ Paper, and then an independent paper)
National Anti-Slavery Standard (weekly newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society)
The Anglo-African Magazine (black-owned newspaper published in New York)
New York Age (black-owned newspaper)
New York Times (general-interest newspaper still published)
Brooklyn Daily Eagle (general-interest newspaper published in Brooklyn, N.Y.)
New York World (general-interest newspaper published in New York)
(New Orleans) Picayune (general-interest newspaper still published)
The Pacific Appeal (black-owned newspaper published in San Francisco)
Municipal Reports
The Brooklyn City and Kings County Record: A Budget of General Information
Annual Report of the City Inspector of the City of New York
Journals and Magazines
John H. Hewitt, “The Search for Elizabeth Jennings, Heroine of a Sunday Afternoon in New York City,” New York History: the Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Society (October 1990).
Leo H. Hirsch, Jr., “The Free Negro in New York,” Journal of Negro History, vol. 16, issue 4 (October 1931).
Daniel Perlman, “Organizations of the Free Negro in New York City, 1800–1860,” Journal of Negro History, vol. 56, issue 3, (July 1971).
H. Cordelia Ray, “The Story of an Old Wrong,” The American Woman’s Journal (July 1895).
H. Cordelia Ray, “The First Free Kindergarten for Colored Children,” ibid.
Websites
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation regarding Mannahatta Park: www.nycgovparks.org/parks/manahatta-park/highlights/19696
This is a small park near what was once the New York Municipal Slave Market.
National Humanities Center, TeacherServe (registered trademark) on segregation: www.nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/segregation.htm
Teachers will want to take a look at “Freedom’s Story: Segregation” on p. 1 by Steven F. Lawson, National Humanities Center fellow, Department of History, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey.
The main web address TeacherServe (registered trademark), a curriculum research service from the National Humanities Center, is www.nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/tsaboutus.htm
For information about the African Burial Ground National Monument, see website of the National Park Service at www.nps.gov/afbg/index.htm.
If you visit Manhattan, be sure to plan on spending time here.
The New-York Historical Society’s website, which provides information about African Free Schools. The link is www.nyhistory.org/web/africanfreeschool/history/context.html.
The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University, at www.rare.library.cornell.edu/, provided details about William Lloyd Garrison. The same was true of Lehigh University’s “The Vault at Pfaff’s: An Archive of Art and Literature by the Bohemians of Antebellum New York,” at www.pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu/, which I accessed for information on Horace Greeley.
For a source on Joseph Doherty, I came across a March 13, 2015, article titled “Joe Doherty Corner: The Troubles in America,” by Rachel Aileen Searcy, published in Archives of Irish America, The Back Table: Archives and Special Collections at New York University. The direct link is www.wp.nyu.edu/specialcollections/2015/03/13/joe-doherty-corner-the-troubles-in-america/.