📚 PDF Library
A curated collection of full-text historical books, primary documents, and original sheet music about Croton-on-Hudson and the Hudson Valley. All public-domain, downloadable for offline research.
17 books and documents · 526.3 MB total
Indigenous & Archaeology (3 items)
Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis
Bolton's groundbreaking archaeological study of Native American trails through Manhattan and the lower Hudson Valley. Includes the famous photographic plates documenting rockshelters, burial sites, and wading places at Shorakapkok, Inwood, Spuyten Duyvil, the Bronx River, and Hutchinson River.
History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River
Ruttenber's classic study of the Hudson Valley's Native American peoples — Mahican, Mohawk, Lenape, Wappinger, and others. Covers tribal organizations, customs, wars, and treaties through European contact.
Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names
A definitive gazetteer of Native American place names in the Hudson, Mohawk, and Delaware valleys. Includes Kitch-a-wan (Croton), Senasqua (Croton Point), Shorakapkok, and dozens of other locations with linguistic analysis.
Westchester County History (5 items)
A History of the County of Westchester, Vol. I
The foundational 19th-century history of Westchester County. Volume I covers the towns including Cortlandt, with Native American history, colonial settlement, the Revolution, and family genealogies.
A History of the County of Westchester, Vol. II
Volume II of Bolton's Westchester history, covering remaining towns and detailed pedigrees of Westchester families. Essential for genealogical research.
History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
The most exhaustive 19th-century history of Westchester County, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms. Scharf's work updates Bolton with 40 more years of records, biographies, and statistics. Volume I focuses on the southern townships.
History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. II
Volume II covers northern Westchester townships including Cortlandt and Croton. Includes biographical sketches, business histories, church records, and detailed maps of the era.
History of Westchester County, New York from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900
A turn-of-the-century synthesis of Westchester history, written for general readers but well-cited. Strong on the Revolutionary War, the Croton Aqueduct, and 19th-century industrial development.
Croton Aqueduct (3 items)
A Memoir of the Construction, Cost, and Capacity of the Croton Aqueduct
The official 1843 memoir compiled from engineer reports, with a complete account of the October 14, 1842 civic celebration including the Croton Ode performance. The single most important primary source on the Old Croton Aqueduct.
Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct
Engineer Fayette Tower's illustrated record of the aqueduct's construction. Includes 21 full-page plates showing the dam, aqueduct line, ventilator towers, High Bridge, and the distributing reservoir at Murray Hill. Tower worked on the project from 1837 to 1842.
The Old Croton Aqueduct: Rural Resources Meet Urban Needs
Catalog from the 1992 Hudson River Museum exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of the Old Croton Aqueduct. Essays cover the political, engineering, social, and economic history of the project, with conflicts over land values and laborers along the aqueduct line.
Colonial New York (3 items)
The Documentary History of the State of New-York, Vol. I
O'Callaghan's foundational 1849 compilation of colonial New York records. Volume I includes early Dutch records, land patents, and Indigenous-Dutch interactions. Essential for understanding the Manor of Cortlandt's origins.
Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York, Vol. I
The first volume of the landmark 11-volume series Brodhead procured from the archives of Holland, England, and France. Covers Dutch colonial documents 1614-1664. Translated and edited by O'Callaghan.
Minutes of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New York, Vol. I
Records of the Albany County sessions of the Revolutionary War-era Commission, 1778-1781. Created on February 5, 1778 to investigate Loyalist conspirators after the British invasion of New York. Critical primary source for the Revolutionary War in the Hudson Valley.
Hudson Valley History (1 item)
The Hudson River from Ocean to Source: Historical, Legendary, Picturesque
Bacon's lavishly illustrated tour of the Hudson River from its mouth to its source in the Adirondacks. Includes detailed sections on Croton, Sing Sing, Tarrytown, and the Highlands, with historical anecdotes, legends, and contemporary observations from the turn of the 20th century.
Sheet Music (2 items)
The Celebrated Croton Ode (Sheet Music)
The official sheet music for the Croton Ode, performed at the Park Fountain on October 14, 1842 to mark the completion of the aqueduct. Music adapted from Rossini's opera Armida by Sidney Pearson, lyrics by George P. Morris.
Croton Jubilee, Quick Step (Sheet Music)
An original 1842 piano composition celebrating the Croton Water celebration, dedicated to Mrs. Doctor Porter of Washington Institute. A playful scherzoso quick step with tremulando introduction.
About this library: All PDFs are public domain and were originally digitized by the Internet Archive, Library of Congress, Johns Hopkins Levy Sheet Music Collection, or other public institutions. We've assembled them here as a single research collection focused on Croton-on-Hudson and Westchester history. Click the source link on each entry to view the original digitization with additional metadata, OCR text, or alternative formats.