State Archives staff are aware that 19th century documents addressed to and filed by the New York State Comptroller's Office have been offered for sale at various times and in various venues. There are two likely sources of such documents:

1) The first statute authorizing and regulating the disposition of state government agency records was enacted in 1950. Prior to that time agencies generally accumulated records and stored them in warehouses, cellars, and other places where environmental conditions were poor, access was difficult, and security lax. A survey of state agency records management practices in 1946 found generally execrable storage conditions. Because of those conditions, it is very possible that significant numbers of Comptroller's documents (and other agency records) were alienated from state custody. A satisfactory storage facility became available to state agencies on the opening of the state records center on the State Office Building Campus in Albany in the early 1960s. (At that time many historical records later transferred to the State Archives were transferred to the records center from agency warehouses.)

2) In the early 1950s staff members of the former Office of State History reviewed 150 years of bundled documents (vouchers and receipts) from the Comptroller's Office. The total volume of documents reviewed was approximately 10,000 cubic feet, dating back to 1797. The Office of State History identified less than two percent of those documents as being "historical" and designated them for preservation. Those documents were transferred to the State Library, and from there to the State Archives when the Archives commenced operations in 1978. I have no information about the process of disposition of the other 98%+ of the Comptroller's documents. Though the disposable documents were designated to be destroyed, I strongly suspect that individuals may have retrieved some of those documents, perhaps from trash bins or loading docks. It seems likely that those documents are the ones that have been occasionally offered for sale.

On several occasions in recent years the State Archives has taken measures to recover state and local government archival records that have been alienated from official custody and offered for sale.

Jim Folts
Head, Reference Services
New York State Archives

>>> [log in to unmask] 06/08/02 10:04PM >>>
    The recent query about stampless covers and material collected by stamp
collectors raises a question that I have meant to ask.  Why are so many
documents from the New York State Controller's Office dating from the first
half of the 19th century for sale by dealers at antique shows, and on
eBay,etc.?.  There are thousands of interesting letters addressed to the
Comptroller of New York State for sale.  I have been curious why all these
documents are not State records and are not in the State Archives.

Paul Huey