Join us on Wednesday at 6pm for a talk by NNI director Stephen McErleane on the creation of the purchase of Manhattan myth. The talk will be followed by a conversation between McErleane and Skidmore College professor Dr. Gregory Pfitzer, the author of the book Picturing the Past: Illustrated Histories and the American Imagination, 1840–1900, on the influence of images in history books in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Link to join Webinar
https://zoom.us/j/99823243812

Talk summary: Though it is now known as a fundamental piece of the early history of the city, it was not until 217 years after the event that New Yorkers first learned of the now infamous 1626 purchase of the island of Manhattan by the Dutch from the Indians for twenty-four dollars. This talk follows the construction of that story from its first appearance in the 1840s and focuses on an important and overlooked piece: an 1853 painting of the purchase by the American artist William Ranney. Ranney has been dubbed a myth-maker for his influential depictions of the American Revolution and of life in the American West. His role in the creation of the Manhattan purchase myth, however, has gone largely ignored.