Scope and arrangement
The Adolph Philipse estate records, dated 1749 to 1767, consist of a bound notebook maintained by Joseph Reade as administrator of the estate of Adolph Philipse, from January 24, 1749 (1750 New Style) to August 19, 1763, comprising a detailed inventory of his personal estate at properties in Manhattan and at Philipsburg Manor in Westchester County, with related accounts. The inventory lists cash and other valuables, outstanding debts, household belongings, and other property. Individual slaves at both locations are identified. Reade attested the records in 1767.
The inventory of the goods, rights, chattel and credits of the estate begins at New York, dated January 24, 1749 (1750 New Style). It lists cash and other valuables, outstanding debts, slaves, and household belongings and other goods pertaining to a house, its yard, and a storehouse in New Street. The inventory continues February 12, 1749 "on the manour of Philipsburgh." A list of slaves and livestock is followed by the belongings and goods in each room of a working residence, the mill, and other buildings at the Upper Mills. The inventory was signed by Joseph Reade at New York two months later, on April 24, 1750. The accounts identify expenditures and receipts from January 25, 1749 (1750 New Style) to settlement of the accounts on April 19, 1763. Items include estate expenses, debt payments, transactions with tenants, and the sale of many of the items listed in the inventory. These include silverware, furnishings, cloth and clothing, working equipment, farm produce and livestock, and wampum, reflecting Philipse's mercantile and farming endeavors, and associated wealth. The sale of slaves and expenses for their livelihood are also recorded. Enslaved persons at both locations are listed by name, gender and sometimes age.