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March 2023
Vol. 39 No. 1

From the Director's Desk

As always, we are very busy at the New Netherland Institute!  Russell Shorto and I have had the pleasure of interviewing guests on a wide variety of subjects related to New Netherland in our new monthly “Live from New Amsterdam” Zoom webinar series. Janny Venema’s readable – and, of course, precise – translation of Volume 13 of the New Netherland Documents, Correspondence, 1659-1660, is now available via Syracuse University Press’s website. More information on both achievements can be found in this newsletter.

We are planning for our annual conference to focus on seventeenth-century music, and it will be held in Albany on Saturday, October 7. We will explore answers to the question: How did New Netherland sound?  We also continue to work on exciting new translation projects, including Jos van der Linde’s translation of the Alida and Robert Livingston Correspondence and the Colve Papers at the New York State Archives, which document New York’s brief return to Dutch rule in 1673-1674.

We can’t do all of this (and more!) without your financial support. If you are interested in helping advance the conference, fund translation projects, or establish fellowships to support the study of New Netherland and the Dutch in North America before 1800, please be in touch. You may also want to consider the New Netherland Institute in your estate planning, and we are happy to discuss ways that you might do that.

Between now and June 1, we have a special opportunity for donors:  if you donate seventy-five dollars to the New Netherland Institute, we will send you a free copy of Firth Fabend’s wonderful book, New Netherland in a Nutshell: A Concise History of the Dutch Colony in North America (2012). To take advantage of this offer, you must have a postal address in the United States. Simply mail your donation or use one of the links at the end of this newsletter to donate online, then send your preferred mailing address to nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org and we will put your book in the mail. We enjoy learning about New Netherland, and we know that you will, too.

Warmly,

Deborah Hamer, Executive Director
Upcoming Events and Announcements
Live from New Amsterdam
 

NNI and the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society are working together to produce a monthly series of conversations, entitled “Live from New Amsterdam.”  In the first interview in January, author Russell Shorto spoke with Kamau Ware of the Black Gotham Experience about the city’s early Black communities.  In February, Shorto talked with Duane Blue Spruce about indigenous experiences in seventeenth-century New Amsterdam.  This month’s guest was Melissa Morris of the University of Wyoming, and she and Deborah Hamer discussed the impact of Dutch colonialism in the Guianas on New Netherland.

On April 27, historical geographer Chelsea Teale is the guest, and the topic is climate and weather in New Netherland.  She will discuss events like assumptions and perceptions of climate, and noteworthy events like drought, flooding, and severe winters.

“Live from New Amsterdam” episodes are available under the Programs tab of the New-York Historical Society website.
Nationaal Archief Blog Series
 

The Nationaal Archief has posted this month’s blog, by Jeroen Dewulf, on Sojourner Truth. Previous blogs in the “400 Years of Dutch-American Stories” series are also available to read. December’s blog, by Jaap Jacobs, was about late-seventeenth-century efforts by Dutch immigrants to create a maple sugar industry in upstate New York. In January, Russell Shorto wrote about his personal evolution at the intersection of Dutch-American history, and last month’s entry explored Valerie van Kooten’s experience growing up Dutch in Iowa.
 
Click here to read the blogs
Slavery on Long Island
 

The Suffolk County Historical Society Museum is hosting the North Fork Project Team for a presentation of their work on enslaved people from the North Fork of Long Island.  The team has identified approximately 550 enslaved people, and the program will introduce them and their experiences.  The program is in person on April 29 at 1:30pm (Eastern).
 
Click here to register
New Sweden History Conference

The New Sweden History Conference is scheduled for November 4 in Philadelphia.  The theme is “Contested Spaces: Colonial and Indigenous Concepts of Landscape along the Delaware River Valley,” and papers will focus on land use by Swedish, Dutch, Finnish, British, Lenape, Susquehannock, and Haudenosaunee (Iroqouis).  If you are interested in presenting, contact Christopher Malone, Curator of the American Swedish Historical Museum at cmalone@americanswedish.org.
Recent Events and Announcements
Debating the Role of Women in the Dutch Golden Age
 

Deborah Hamer, together with Susanah Shaw Romney, discussed women’s lives in New Amsterdam and beyond in “Debating the Role of Women in the Dutch Golden Age” in a program hosted by the New Amsterdam History Center. The NAHC regularly offers programs on Dutch New York, including an upcoming guided tour of seventeenth-century Harlem and a talk on the Vrooman Papers (both in June). All programs are listed under the Events tab of the New Amsterdam History Center website.
 
Click here for more information
Culture and Connection in Early New York
 

Dennis Maika and Andrea Mosterman were among the participants in “Culture and Connection in Early New York” at Fordham University.  They talked about slavery, Dutch-indigenous relationships, Dutch-Caribbean connections, and the role of women in New Amsterdam.
 
Click here for more information
The End of Slavery in New York
 

The Schenectady County Historical Society hosted Michael Douma for a presentation on a portion of his upcoming book, “The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York.”
History Podcast

Russell Shorto was interviewed on the podcast “Conversations in World History,” covering his books Island at the Center of the World, Amsterdam, and Smalltime.  The recording is available on Spotify.
Click to listen
Historic Hudson Valley program

Dennis Maika and Nicole Maskiell discussed women in New Amsterdam and the legacies of New York’s early families during a Historic Hudson Valley event.  “A Colonial Trading Woman: Margaret Hardenbroeck Philipse” can be viewed on HHV’s YouTube channel.
Click to watch
Northern Slavery Collective Conference
 

The first Northern Slavery Collective (NorSC) conference was held at Philipse Manor Hall in February, with a keynote speech by culinary historian Lavada Nahon. NorSC is a group of museums and historic sites actively working to integrate the stories of enslaved and free people who lived and worked at those locations.

Chocolate in colonial New York 

Culinary historian Peter G. Rose (author of History on Our Plate: Recipes from America’s Dutch Past for Today’s Cook) gave two presentations on the history of chocolate in the Hudson Valley: one at the Hudson Area Library (co-hosted by the Jacob Leisler Institute) and another at the Katonah Village Library.
Rijksmuseum exhibit

The Rijksmuseum had an exhibit on slavery at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City until the end of March. A virtual exhibit on the same topic is also available, which uses graphics and artifacts to tell the stories of 10 people: those who were enslaved, those who profited from the system, and those who opposed it.
Click to view the online exhibit
The Little Ice Age in the Dutch North Atlantic

In January, the New Amsterdam History Center hosted a conversation with Chelsea Teale and Dagomar Degroot about climate and weather in the Dutch Republic and New Netherland.  “The Little Ice Age in the Dutch North Atlantic” covered topics ranging from Arctic whaling to a dry well at Rensselaerswijck, and the recording is now available to watch.
Click to view the recording
Kiliaen van Rensselaer birthplace

Kiliaen van Rensselaer’s birthplace in Hasselt will soon be open to the public. The Vanneau Foundation plans to create a permanent exhibit about Van Rensselaer, with attention to his youth in Hasselt, an adulthood doing business in Amsterdam, and running a patroonship in New Netherland.
Click to watch their progress!
The Palmwood Wreck

A new exhibit on a seventeenth-century Dutch shipwreck is now online. Called the Palmwood Wreck for the wood she carried, the vessel sank off the Dutch coast around 1650 carrying luxury items illustrating the wealth of the Republic during the Golden Age. Included are two dresses – a rare discovery of intact textiles from a wreck.

Click to view the exhibit
In memoriam

Contributed by David Voorhees

Francis Jacques Sypher, Jr., translator, editor, and author of works on New Netherland and early New York, died peacefully at home on December 20, 2022, at the age of eighty-one. Dr. Sypher was the author of nearly 270 scholarly articles, book reviews, and books. He was a frequent contributor to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record and served as the editor of and wrote the introduction to William J. Hoffman, An Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent (New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 2010). Perhaps his most noteworthy publications are the two-volume translations Liber A of the Collegiate Churches of New York, 1628–1700 (part 1 in 2009, part 2 in 2015). Dr. Sypher attended Trinity School in Manhattan from1947 to 1959 and Columbia University, from which he received a B.A. in 1963, an M.A. in 1964, and a Ph.D. in 1968. He was a longtime member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C., as sell as of many patriotic and genealogical societies in New York including the Society of the Cincinnati, the Society of the War of 1812, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Saint Nicholas Society, and The Holland Society of New York. Dr. Sypher is survived by his longtime companion Carol F. Humstone. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at 11:00 am at the Church of the Heavenly Rest at Fifth Avenue and 90th Street, in Manhattan.
Recent Publications and Resources
Correspondence, 1659-1660

The newest volume of translated Dutch colonial documents is now available. Edited by Janny Venema, Correspondence, 1659-1660 can be found here. 
Survey of Dutch Heritage Resources

In collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Hartgen Archaeological Associates has completed a survey of built structures related to New Netherland. The report and list are available here.
Tulip Fever: 1636-1637, Myth and Reality

Henk Looijesteijn, in collaboration with Annemarie Vels Heijn, has published Tulip Fever.  The book explores how tulips transitioned from a collector’s item, to a commodity, to an object of speculation ultimately leading to a market crash in 1637.  The book is available here.
Help Support NNI

Thanks to the generosity and commitment to this organization of people like you, NNI has been around since 1986. We believe you share an interest in exploring and preserving the history and legacy of the seventeenth-century Dutch colony of New Netherland. Your support and encouragement will enable us to continue to reveal and publicize this often-overlooked chapter of the American story. We encourage you to keep us in mind as you consider your donations so that NNI’s work can continue, including:

   ·    increasing public awareness of our Dutch heritage by helping to fund translation projects that will make thousands of pages of Dutch records available to scholars and researchers;

   ·    disseminating this information to teachers, historians, archaeologists, and museum curators;

   ·    directing genealogists and all who are interested in exploring their Dutch ancestry to appropriate resources;

   ·    funding awards, research grants, and internships in the study of America’s Dutch colonial period;

   ·    sponsoring conferences and other outreach opportunities for developing and sharing new research in this field;

   ·    partnering with academic, research, and educational organizations to further New Netherland studies, such as the Dutch American Group and the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames;

   ·    traveling to areas within the old New Netherland boundaries and elsewhere to give talks and bring information about Dutch America; and

   ·    maintaining a website, a clearinghouse of New Netherland resources, and an ever-increasing online database of translated documents.

We have also embarked on a new effort to identify, transcribe, translate, and publish (in print, online, or both) post-1664 Dutch-language material held in private collections. Our first project in this effort is the translation of the Alida Livingston Papers, which was funded by a $50,000 grant from the Holland Dames. We hope to find individuals, institutes, societies, and other organizations that would be willing to endow, underwrite, or leave a bequest to build a fund to support similar translation projects.  

There’s a lot waiting to be uncovered! We rely on your help to continue this valuable multi-year work. Any amount is gratefully received.

There are several ways to donate:

Through the NNI website or through PayPal

Write a check made out to the New Netherland Institute, and mail it to NNI at P.O. Box 2536, Empire State Plaza Station, Albany NY 12220-0536.

For information, email us at info@newnetherlandinstitute.org or call 518-992-3274.

 I thank you now for your willingness to help us fulfill our unique and important historical work.

Sincerely,

Marilyn E. Douglas, President

Back issues of the eMarcurius can be found here.

Donate here!

New Netherland Institute
518-992-3274
nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org