Suckley Family Papers

Summary

The Suckleys and their ancestors were among the early families to settle in Rhinebeck and the Hudson Valley, establishing large land holdings through the English King in 1697 and 1703. "Wilderstein," the family estate established in 1852, became the repository for the Suckleys and their extended family over the 140 years it was continuously occupied. The Suckley Family Papers, 1704-1991, encompass a wide range of materials and topics of interest to scholars of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Approximately 500 cubic feet of material is included in this proposal. Among the formats found in the collection are manuscripts, ledgers, deeds, photographs and photograph albums, scrapbooks, newspapers, magazines, clippings from magazines and other printed sources, etchings, engravings and other works of art on paper, oral histories and video tapes. Late 18th- and early 19th-century trade and commerce between the U.S. and the Caribbean, South America, and England; exploration of the American Northwest and its natural history; the participation in voluntary organizations during World War I; the history of architecture, landscape, and interior design during the second half of the 19th century; domestic life in the 19th and 20th centuries; all these themes and more are richly represented in this largely unknown and underused collection.