{"value"=>"<p>Contain a variety of business-related documents including stock certificates, apprenticeship agreements, partnership agreements, contracts, loan papers, I. O. U.'s, powers of attorney and petitions to the Legislature made by the Townsends and their business associates. There are some documents relating to the North River Steamboat Company, the Lake Champlain Steamboat Company and the Utica & Schenectady Railroad. One file of biographical information includes notes made by a Library employee and a copy of a \"Memorial of John Townsend... \", dated 1854.</p> <p>An account of the making of an iron chain, placed across the Hudson during the American Revolution, may be the earliest document in the collection. It is undated but is estimated to date from 1778. The chain is said to have been made by Peter Townsend who owned an iron works at Sterling, New York. He may have been the grandfather of Hannah Townsend. The author of the account is unknown.</p> <p>One oversize folder contains mechanical drawings, mostly from the publication The Engineer.</p>"}