Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York, Vol. I — Passage 1 (part 2)
[E.B. O'Callaghan (ed.) (1856)] After the surrender of New Netherland, in 1664, the records of the Province of New-York were kept in English, and were preserved in much better condition than the fragmentary archives of the Dutch period. Those relating to lands and local transactions, however, are generally far more perfect than those affecting the political history of the Province. This was, no doubt, owing to the practice which prevailed, to a great extent, with the British Colonial Governors, of retaining in their own personal custody the correspondence between themselves and their superiors in vi GENERAL INTRODUCTION. England. But the chief cause of the deficiencies in the public records of New -York may be traced to the vicissitudes which marked its annals in the transfer of sovereignty