Although the Municipal Archives and Records Center (“MARC”) is a superb resource, it suffers from a lack of an online catalog to  easily search their holdings.  This is great inconvenience to researchers, but not insurmountable. Researchers in the NYC metro area  may visit the archives in person, depending on the status of the pandemic, or contact a researcher by e-mail for assistance  at research@records.nyc.gov.

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The holdings at MARC for primary archival materials are critical to draft riot research. Iver Bernstein points out these collections as especially helpful. He also acknowledges the depth and breadth of primary sources used by Adrian Cook in Cook’s The Armies of the Streets: the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. These are some of the series Bernstein found insightful:

Nineteenth Century Indictments, Proceedings of the Court of General Sessions (with Police Court Proceedings frequently attached)

Bernstein notes that ” The Indictments from mid-1863 to early 1864 are rich in eyewitness and participant discussion of riot-week events,” but cautions that testimony can be slanted and claims made in court without supporting affidavits are to be looked at skeptically.

Draft Riot Claims on the Comptroller’s Office

Coroners’ Reports

Mayors’ Papers

The papers of Civil War-era George Opdyke (Series XIV) who was in office during the riots, are of special interest.