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June 2023
Vol. 39 No. 2

From the Director's Desk

Dear friends,

I’ve just returned from a week-long trip to Amsterdam, and I’m buzzing with new ideas for the New Netherland Institute. Organized by the Dutch Consulate in New York and Dutch Culture USA, a group of museum and history professionals from New York visited archives and museums in the Netherlands to compare and discuss American and Dutch approaches to cultural heritage. In particular, we focused on the upcoming 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Dutch settlers in New Netherland in 2024 and how to mark that occasion. We at the New Netherland Institute have plans, and – though I can’t reveal details – I can share with you that there will be a broader slate of events all over the state organized by different institutions that will commemorate this moment from a wide variety of perspectives.

We are also deeply involved in preparations for NNI’s 2023 annual conference. “The Sounds of New Netherland” will be on Saturday October 7, 2023 and will include a performance by the Camerata Trajectina (a Dutch musical ensemble that focuses on 17th-Century music) with interpretation by renowned New Netherland expert Dr. Jaap Jacobs. I look forward to seeing many of you there. If you are interested in sponsoring this conference (or future events), please be in touch with us at nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org.

Warmly,

Deborah Hamer, Executive Director
Upcoming Events and Announcements
NNI Annual Conference
 

Mark your calendars for October 7!  NNI’s annual conference will focus on “The Sounds of New Netherland,” and Jaap Jacobs will interpret a live performance by a group dedicated to Dutch music ranging from sea shanties to opera.  Location, time, and registration information will be available later this summer, but information on the group can be found here.
McNeil Center conference
 

From July 10 through 12, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies is hosting a conference on “Facing the Future of Early American Studies” both in-person and online.  Topics include new approaches to studying race, ethnicity, violence, and language, and two presentations relate to New Netherland: Deborah Hamer will speak on women at sea, and Andrea Mosterman on slavery.
 
Click here for more information
Dutch for reading course

The University of Amsterdam is offering a three-week online course in how to read Dutch (July 10-28).
Click here for more information
Recent Events and Announcements
Live from New Amsterdam

Russell Shorto spoke with journalist Debra Bruno on the June 29 episode of Live from New Amsterdam.  While researching family history, Debra learned that her Dutch ancestors in New Netherland once owned slaves.  She wrote about the experience in a 2020 article in the Washington Post Magazine, and discussed it further during the interview.

During last month’s Live from New Amsterdam, Russell Shorto interviewed culinary historian Lavada Nahon.  they discuss the variety of foodways in New Netherland, including indigenous, African, and European.

The program is now on a brief summer hiatus, and will resume in September.
New York Harbor tour

NNI historian Dennis Maika provided commentary during a boat tour of lower Manhattan earlier this month.  Dennis worked with Classic Harbor Lines and Ariel Viera (of the website The Urbanist) on the program, which aimed to make people aware of New York City’s harbor, history, and future.  The National Maritime Historical Society sponsored the event.
Women in the Dutch Golden Age

In April, historians Deborah Hamer, Susanah Shaw Romney, and Valerie Paley explored the role of women in the Dutch Golden Age in a program hosted by the New-York Historical Society and the New Amsterdam History Center.
View the recording here
Nationaal Archief blog series
 

The fifteenth blog in the “400 Years of Dutch-American Stories” series by the Nationaal Archief is now available.  The topic is the remarkable career of Pilgrim Edward Winslow, and it was written by Pilgrim expert Jeremy D. Bangs.  April’s blog, by Minke Bosch, focused on the friendship between feminists and peace activists Jane Addams and Aletta Jacobs.  Joske Meerdink contributed May’s blog on the steamship Phoenix, which sank in 1847 while carrying Dutch immigrants to the United States.
 
Click here for the blogs
Fort Good Hope
 

Len Tantillo has unveiled his recent painting of Fort Good Hope, a Dutch fortification on the Connecticut River at what is now Hartford.  Commissioned by the Connecticut River Museum, the painting is based on the few contemporary descriptions of the fort, historical maps showing topography and waterways, and known building styles of the time.  To view his other works, visit the artist's website.
Netherlandic Studies conference
 

The American Association for Netherlandic Studies hosted an Interdisciplinary Conference for Netherlandic Studies on June 9 and 10.  The theme was “The Future of Dutch Studies: A Broader Perspective of Language, Image, and Culture” and three presentations were made related to New Netherland and the West India Company.
Recent Publications and Resources
Yearbook

The Dutch Settlers Society of Albany is making available digitized copies of several early volumes of its Yearbook (between 1924 and 1950, Volumes 1 through 26).  Some of these early editions contain translations of seventeenth-century Dutch-language documents by A. J. F. van Laer that are not available elsewhere, such as records from the Deacon’s Account Book, 1652-1664, and notarial records from 1666 to 1687.

The current Yearbook, earlier volumes, and/or reprints of individual articles are available.  For more information, contact the Registrar: Cheryle Webber, 504 7th Avenue, Watervliet, NY 12189 (cherylem29@aol.com).
Click for more information
Dutch Textile Trade Project I

The Dutch Textile Trade Project has been launched, and provides a data-driven visual textile glossary that examines Dutch East and West India Company economic information alongside the visual and material record of historic trade textiles.  The website provides downloadable data, interactive web applications, and short essays that interpret these data in the context of contemporary images and extant textile samples.  Check back often for updates as the site expands.
Click to explore the Project
Dutch Textile Trade Project II

Deborah Hamer contributed an article on the Dutch Textile Trade Project in the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art.  In “New Netherland Documents and the Dutch Textile Trade Project,” she discusses digital humanities projects, methods, and resources.
Click to view the article
Grants and Awards
 

The NNI Student Scholar in Residence Research Grant covers up to three months in residence and $5,000 for a student conducting research using New Netherland records in the New Netherland Research Center, New York State Library, or the New York State Archives.  Applications are due July 15.
 
Click for more information
Fulbright-NNRC Student Scholar Research Grant

NNI partners with the Fulbright Center to provide a $5,000 grant to a Dutch student university who plans to conduct research using New Netherland records in the New Netherland Research Center, New York State Library, or the New York State Archives.  The application deadline is November 1.
Click for more information
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 nni@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