The Jacob Leisler Papers Project contains over 4,000 document photocopies, original manuscripts, genealogical records, microfilms, rare books, prints, maps, and other visual materials relating to New York merchant and rebel governor Jacob Leisler (1640-1691) and the Leisler family genealogy. While the project’s collection concentrates on Jacob Leisler and his role in the Atlantic World from 1660-1691 (with special emphasis on his 1689-1691 administration of New York), the collection is rapidly expanding to become a major repository of late-seventeenth- and early-eighteenth-century New York and Atlantic World materials. In addition, the collection hosts pamphlets, books, biographies, plays, and assorted visual materials created during the past three centuries about Jacob Leisler, the 1689 New York rebellion, and Leisler’s immediate family.
The Jacob Leisler Papers Project also contains the correspondence of the following: Leisler’s grandfather Dr. Jacob Leisler (1569-1618), chief councilor to the Counts of Oettingen and civil prosecutor for Prince Christian of Anhalt; Leisler’s father, the Reverend Jacob Victorian Leisler (1606-1653), Frankfurt-am-Main French Reformed minister; Leisler’s brothers Johann Heinrich Leisler (1642-1694), Frantz Leisler (1644-1712) and Johann Adam Leisler (1651-1704); and Leisler’s brother-in-law Abraham Siess. In addition, the project holds papers of Leisler’s sons-in-law Abraham Gouverneur, Robert Walter, Joachim Staats, Barent Rynders, Jacob Milborne, and Thomas Lewis, as well as materials pertaining to the related Bayard, Bogardus, Van Brugh, Van Cortlandt, Cuyler, Kierstede, Loockermans, Milborne, Provoost, Richards, Schaats, Schuyler, Vaughton, and Wendell families.
