Welcome to the eMarcurius, the New Netherland Institute’s monthly e-newsletter and a source of information for New Netherland-related events, activities, conferences, and research. Something to share? You can reach us here.

With its 11th and final lecture on June 22 at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, we say goodbye to our 2019 Peter Gansevoort Ten Eyck Lecture Series. We learned a lot and hope you did too.

A big thanks goes to the speakers—Russell Shorto, Sam Huntington, Michael J. Douma, Wim Klooster, Ian Stewart, Bill Brandow, Maeve Kane, William A. Starna, Amy Ransford, Andrea Mosterman, Stephen McErleane, and Len Tantillo—the venues—Brooklyn Historical Society, Senate House State Historic Site, Albany Law School, University Club of Albany, the New York State Museum, Clermont State Historic Site, Mabee Farm Historic Site, Rough Draft Bar & Books, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, West End Collegiate Church, and St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery—and to the more than 700 people who took time out of their day to attend (at least) one of the lectures. We appreciate it.

Special thanks goes to our series partner, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, particularly Cordell Reaves, and, of course, the man who made it all possible: Peter G. Ten Eyck II.

 Until next year.

As Russell wrote in his latest piece for The Gray Lady, "One of the most beautiful parts of New York State was once the spine of the Dutch colony, and remnants of its history are everywhere, hiding in plain sight."

We look forward to seeing you on October 5th at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.

The annual dinner will be held on the evening of the conference (Oct. 5) at Copolla's in Hyde Park.

Six sure-to-be-excellent speakers are confirmed so far:

Ian Stewart, New Netherland Timber Framing, “Buildings as Belongings: Netherlandish Architecture as Seen through a Material Culture Lens"    

Julie van den Hout, San Francisco State University, "Voyages of New Netherland, A Digital Humanities Project"

Chelsea L. Teale, Humboldt State University, "Dutch Colonial Agriculture: A New Consideration"

Shaun Sayres, Clark University, "Masters of the Mid-Atlantic: The Susquehannocks and Anglo-Dutch Relations on the Periphery of Susquehanna"

Jaap Jacobs, University of St Andrews, "Competing Claims: International Law, Diplomacy, and Anglo-Dutch Rivalry in 17th Century North America"

Michael J. Douma, Georgetown University, "Dutch-speaking Runaway Slaves"

It's a mantra. It's also the name of our new print publication, which members will receive by mail or email, depending on preference.

The first issue drops in late summer.

In June of 1895, the Ulster County (NY) Clerk’s Office received a carefully-wrapped express package that contained a bundle of Dutch records that had disappeared from that office about four decades earlier. An investigation revealed that the package was shipped from Quogue on Long Island. The identity of the sender remained a mystery. A few years later, a Mr. Van Alstyne of Brooklyn shared the following:

"Years ago I, with a few others, became interested in these old Dutch records at Kingston. There was very little interest displayed in their preservation, and, being written more or less illegibly in the old Dutch of that early period, they were as a sealed book to most people. No translation had ever been attempted, officially or otherwise, and as there seemed to be no prospects of a translation, the records were removed to Brooklyn, where arrangements had been made for a complete translation by an old Dutch scholar. The work was scarcely started when the translator was taken ill and died. Owing to the press of other business, I lost track of the records, but it seems that when the effects of the deceased translator were disposed of, his executors, knowing nothing of the ownership of the records, but being satisfied that they were of a public character, had them packed in a box and removed to the old city hall, where they were left undisturbed for a long time. I was one of the commissioners having in charge the building of the new city hall, and when that edifice was completed and the work of transferring the books and papers was under way, this old box of Kingston records came to light. While the officials, to whom the records were as Greek, were discussing the advisability of consigning the box of ‘rubbish’ to the junk pile, I happened to come into the room, and at once recognized the records. I had them carefully boxed and shipped to the Ulster County Clerk’s office at Kingston. No word was sent with them, because those who had brought them to Brooklyn were unable to complete the work and thought they might be open to censure for removing them from Kingston and then allowing them to lay so long neglected and in danger of destruction. These are the facts of the disappearance and return of the Kingston records, and the mystery is a mystery no longer."

For (a bit) more, see the introduction to volume 1 of the Kingston Papers.

To those of you who can’t easily attend our public events, don’t despair, we’re launching a semiannual print publication called New Netherland Matters, devoted to articles and other features on the seventeenth-century Dutch colony. And, yes, there will be an article by Dr. Gehring in the first issue. Did you know, for instance, that “in 1625, a cloud hung over the Low Countries? It was a very bad year for the West India Company and the Netherlands in general and many people were discouraged from investing.” Charly will tell you why.   

I’m sure many of you who’ve been friends of New Netherland for some time might wonder “What is the status of the New Netherland Research Center translation project?” I want to bring you up to date. All twenty-one unique* Dutch-language volumes in the New York State Archives' New York Colonial Manuscripts have been transcribed and digitized. Of this number, sixteen volumes have been translated and published. Janny Venema has translated volumes thirteen and fourteen and reviewed these volumes with Dr. Gehring. She is currently working on a review of volume thirteen with assistant editor and NNI Director, Steve McErleane. Once this work is completed, the volume will be indexed by Francis Sypher and prepared for publication by Steve. We expect the publication of volume thirteen in early 2020 and volume fourteen later that year. Still to be translated are volumes nine and ten (volume ten has three parts).

Artyom Anikin, a former NNI Student Scholar and a PhD candidate in history at the University of Amsterdam, is translating the 650 Dutch pages of volume 23, the records of the Colve administration, 1673–1674. His work is funded by a generous grant from the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames. Finally, roughly 8,500 of the more than 12,000 pages in this corpus are now translated.

Marilyn Douglas, NNI Board VP

* One volume contains only duplicates.

Conference on Iroquois Research
Montreal, Canada. October 4-6, 2019

Lines on a Map: Crafting and Contesting Borders in the Early Modern Atlantic and Beyond
Institute of Historical Research, London/UL, 13–14 December 2019 (CFP deadline 1 August)

Indigenous Responses to Jesuit Ministries in Overseas Missions
Philadelphia, PA, 2–4 April 2020 (CFP deadline 15 August)

De Wind is Op! Climate, Culture and Innovation in Dutch Maritime Painting
Exhibit opened 2 July, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Massachusetts

Hudson Valley History Dinner: Dine Your Way from Dutch Colonial to Modern Times
18 July, Hyde Park, NY

2019 Dutch Cousins Gathering
September in Kentucky