Hendricks Family papers
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024
Contact information: phone number
001 (212) 873-3400
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
reference@nyhistory.org
Reference number
MS 295
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Hendricks Family papers
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Hendricks Family
Date(s)
1713/1976
Language(s)
eng
Extent
31 boxes, and 25 volumes
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises materials relating to the Hendricks family, pioneers in the American copper industry and prominent members of the Sephardic Jewish community in New York. The material spans over 250 years, beginning with the import trade of Uriah Hendricks (1737-1798) and his son Harmon (1771-1838), continuing with the manufacture of copper at the mill begun by Harmon at Belleville, New Jersey, and carried on by their descendants under the name Hendricks Brothers. It contains business and family papers, including loose correspondence and business records, ledgers and account books, letter books, indentures, mortgages, deeds, maps, blueprints, journals, scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia, and ephemera. Among later additions to the collection is the correspondence of Henry Solomon Hendricks (1892-1959), president (Parnas) of Congregation Shearith Israel, highlighting the day-to-day operations of the oldest synagogue in the United States from 1927 to 1951. Henry Solomon Hendricks married his cousin, Rosalie Gomez Nathan (1894-1986), and through her, the collection extends to papers of various interrelations, among them the Gomez (box 18, folders 4-7; box OS Small, folders Y-Hendricks 15-16), the Seixas (box 19, folder 7), and the Tobias (box 19, folder 8, box 20, folders 2-8) families.
The collection is structured into the following series:
I. Uriah Hendricks Papers (1758-1828)
II. Harmon Hendricks Papers (1794-1863)
III. Hendricks Family and Partnership Businesses (1794-1928)
IV. Hendricks Property Records (1794-1911)
V. Hendricks and Related Families' Papers (1713-1966)
VI. Related Families' Business Records (1821-1869)
VII. Printed Material (1796-1875)
VIII. Manuscript Copper for America, by Maxwell Whiteman (1971)
IX. Hendricks and Related Families Supplement (1790-1976)
The collection is structured into the following series:
I. Uriah Hendricks Papers (1758-1828)
II. Harmon Hendricks Papers (1794-1863)
III. Hendricks Family and Partnership Businesses (1794-1928)
IV. Hendricks Property Records (1794-1911)
V. Hendricks and Related Families' Papers (1713-1966)
VI. Related Families' Business Records (1821-1869)
VII. Printed Material (1796-1875)
VIII. Manuscript Copper for America, by Maxwell Whiteman (1971)
IX. Hendricks and Related Families Supplement (1790-1976)
Archival history
The collection was acquired by donation from Rosalie Nathan Hendricks (Mrs. Henry S. Hendricks) in 1965, other Hendricks family members, Maxwell Whiteman, and by purchase. The supplemental material in Series IX was donated by Ruth (Hendricks) Schulson, daughter of Rosalie Nathan Hendricks, circa 2001. The bills of lading in Sub-series III.B, Box 12, Folder 4, were the gift of Peter A. Rabinowitz in memory of Ruth Hendricks Schulson in December 2019.
Administrative / Biographical history
In 1755, Uriah Hendricks arrived in New York City from London to start a mercantile trade in dry goods. The business soon expanded to include metals and other materials for the carrying trade with the West Indies and the shipping trade with England. After he died in 1798, his son Harmon Hendricks took over the business. He discontinued the West Indian trade to focus exclusively on the trade with England and inland business, particularly in copper and other metals. Following the Napoleonic Wars and after the outbreak of the War of 1812, Hendricks became more interested in the manufacture of American copper and worked with other American merchants and manufacturers to find solutions for the shortage and produce quality copper. He bought the Soho Copper Works in Belleville, New Jersey, in 1814. He invited his brother-in-law and former apprentice and agent, Solomon I. Isaacs, to oversee mill operations as his partner. Renamed the Solomon I. Isaacs and Soho Copper Company, the mill began operation in October. After the war, Harmon recommenced trade with England and the Soho mill became involved primarily in supplying the booming maritime industry, particularly steamboats, engineering companies, merchant vessels, and the Navy, as well as providing for the general consumer. In 1827, Harmon's sons Uriah and Henry became full partners, and the mill name was shortened to Soho Copper Company. Three years later, Harmen retired, and Isaacs left the partnership to establish a new business as a copper broker. Uriah, Henry and their brother Washington Hendricks formed a new company: the Hendricks & Brothers. The reorganised firm found new success in supplying the growing railroad industry and added mining, banking, and brokerage to their business interests. After Washington's death (1841), their brother Montague Hendricks entered the partnership. In 1861, Henry Hendricks died, and Uriah's son Joshua became a partner. The company shortened its name to Hendricks Brothers. In the following years, the business boomed. In 1874, the Soho mill was renamed Belleville Copper Rolling Mills. Edison's invention of the lightbulb made copper a conductive metal, providing a new market for Hendricks Brothers in the 1880s. The Belleville Copper Rolling Mills closed in 1938.
Access points: locations
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
Materials are arranged chronologically unless otherwise noted in the individual series' notes. Oversized materials have been removed to two oversize (OS) boxes noted in the container lists below.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Linked resources
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| New-York Historical Society | Collections (official language of the state) |