It felt like summer in Albany last week, but we aren't quite there yet. When we are, our new podcast will be in your ears.

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Speaking of the weather, the heat and humidity of a northeastern summer are upon us, which means a change of wardrobe. In New Netherland for a Van Rensselaer, however, that did not mean sacrificing fashion for comfort. Jeremias wrote to his mother in July 1648 asking for six new shirts, half of which were to have sleeves that were “somewhat finer than the body and somewhat wider than they are usually made.” He planned to wear them on a daily basis “as half-shirts for the sake of coolness, for in the summer one always goes about here with open sleeves.” A half shirt hit at the hip instead of further down the leg, but what is meant by “open sleeves” (open mouwen) is unclear. It could refer to a common slashed-sleeved doublet, a snugly fitted jacket with sleeves cut so that a contrasting undershirt was visible. However, doublets had fallen out of fashion by the time he wrote the letter, so Jeremias may instead have planned to leave the sleeves uncovered while wearing a new invention: the waistcoat.

Painting by Paulus Moreelse (Utrecht, 1571–1638) 

Chelsea Teale

In memory of our late president, the New Netherland Institute has established the R. J. Jippe Hiemstra Annual Conference Travel Fund to support the travel of a select group of students to our annual conference each fall. Jippe believed strongly in the importance of NNI’s engagement with the next generation of New Netherland scholars. Donations to the fund established in his name will help those scholars engage with the latest scholarship on New Netherland and make lasting connections with others in the field of New Netherland studies. Please consider a donation today to remember Jippe and support the future of New Netherland scholarship.

If you are wondering about the status of our October 24 conference above the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City, we will likely have some solid answers for you next month.

It's a season of change at the NNI. Janny Venema announced her retirement in 2020, after 36 years of transcribing and translating the records of the Dutch colony, thus bringing to an end the long partnership between her and Charles Gehring that constituted the NNI's core business. At the same time, we were beginning a new initiative: to take Manhattan. While Albany is and will always be the home of the NNI, because the original Dutch records are here, New York City is not only the epicenter of global fashion and finance, but the logical epicenter of New Netherland studies. New Amsterdam begat New York, after all, and New York begat—well, what didn't it beget? It only stands to reason that the NNI should have an outpost in the Big Apple. Steve McErleane, Russell Shorto and Dennis Maika were hard at work on plans to make that happen when the coronavirus descended on the world—and most of all on New York City. That put a bit of a damper on things, but the project is still very much alive. We are puzzling out the outline of the project: what it would look like, who its partner organizations would be, what work it would take on. We are convinced that "the NNI-in-NYC," as we refer to it at the moment, should include a permanent base, either in an existing institution in the city or on its own. From there, it could engage the vast and history-hungry public in the city and beyond. New York would also serve as a base for fundraising and for scholarly activities. We have had fruitful discussion with many parties in the city—museums, universities, and others. Interest is high. Stay tuned!

Jackie is a historian at Historical Research Associates, Inc. in Albany. She joined HRA in 2016, after completing her PhD in environmental history at the University at Albany. Her dissertation, “Coastal Parks for a Metropolitan Nation: How Postwar Politics and Urban Growth Shaped America’s Shores,” examined the politics and legacy of federal coastal conservation initiatives. Before joining HRA, Jackie worked for the National Park Service as an interpretive employee at Cape Cod National Seashore, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, and Manzanar National Historic Site, and for several environmental policy organizations in Albany, New York.

William J. (Bill) DeWitt, III, PhD, is Professor of the Practice of Transportation at the University of Denver. He has over 50-years of experience in transportation. Following active duty as a lieutenant in the US Navy, his 23-year experience with Burlington Northern Railroad included train operations, strategic planning, president of Winona Bridge Railroad, and vice president Marketing and Sales for Intermodal, Automotive/Machinery, and Forest Products. After his professional career, DeWitt earned a PhD at the University of Tennessee, where he taught and established the Supply Chain Forum. Bill subsequently taught at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business where he received the Krowe/Legg Mason Award for Teaching Excellence and was director of an executive program for Black & Decker. He was Dean of the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics at Maine Maritime Academy before taking on his role at the Transportation Institute at the University of Denver (DTI).

Like many cities, Albany has several possible birthdates: the 1614 establishment of Fort Nassau (which was *not* built on the foundation of a French chateau), the 1624 establishment of Fort Orange, the 1652 (as seen on this sign outside the Cultural Education Center in Albany) establishment of Beverwijck.

And two others we don’t particularly support: the 1664 establishment of “Albany,” and its 1686 incorporation as a city via the Dongan Charter.

2024 seems like a good time to commemorate 400 years. Don’t you think? Maybe by then we will have kicked this covid thing. #Albany400

Some may wish to extend their genealogical research from New Netherland into the (old) Netherlands. To this end, NNI offers the following pages of resources related to genealogical research in the Netherlands. This exhibit was created by NNI trustee Ellen Zunon.

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