Selected Long Island Business and Industry Materials

The Selected Long Island Business and Industry Materials digital collection, which spans from 1715-c.1950s, is composed of images of 340 items from Long Island Studies Institute (LISI) collections that contain business and industry-related materials, but which are not specifically considered "business collections." The majority of materials come from the collections of the Carman and Rushmore families, as well as from the Newspaper Collection.

The collection includes materials that document the operations of both the Birdsall and Garner (ancestors of the Carman family) farms and general store at Jerusalem (present-day Wantagh, N.Y.) and the Rushmore family farm at Roslyn Heights, N.Y. In addition, newspaper advertisements from the mid-nineteenth century through the early twentieth century document the services of a variety of types of businesses, including agricultural nurseries, brickmakers, carriage and wagon makers, drug stores, farm supply and feed stores, general stores, livery stable and stagecoach operators, plumbers, and sailmakers. Advertisements were taken from Nassau and Suffolk County newspapers, including the Hempstead Inquirer, Hempstead Inquirer and Long Island Advertiser, North-Hempstead Gazette, Riverhead Weekly, South Side Observer (Rockville Centre), and the Suffolk County Journal (Bay Shore and Northport editions). 

Included in the collection are advertising fliers and cards, broadsides, business papers (account books and statements, business notes, indentures, ledger pages, promise to pay notes, receipts, etc.), newspaper advertisements, and photographs.

While this collection is very useful in helping to identify the location of business and industry related materials housed at LISI, it is also a valuable resource for those looking to conduct online research. 

(For information concerning traditional LISI business collections, visit our Long Island Business and Industry Catalog.) 

The Selected Long Island Business and Industry Materials digital collection was created with a grant from the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation.