1. public programming
1.1. podcasts
1.1.1. “Dutch New York Stories” is our podcast about the stories behind the people and places of Dutch New York. The first episode, my interview with Debra Bruno, will be released shortly.
1.1.2. With the popularity of podcasts, I think there are many opportunities for a more produced show (and not just a conversation), like "Amended" from Humanities New York.
1.2. Publications
1.2.1. New Netherland Matters is our richly-illustrated bi-annual magazine of pithy articles (under 1500 words) on the history and legacy of New Netherland.
1.2.2. Our website's Digital Exhibitions are short, illustrated exhibits that can easily be read in under 30 minutes. The current exhibits include "A Tour of New Netherland" by Russell Shorto, "New Netherland's Legacy" by David Voorhees, "The Dutch Among the Natives" by Bill Starna, and "Slavery in New Netherland" by Andrea Mosterman.
1.2.3. The eMarcurius is our monthly e-newsletter on all things New Netherland that about a year ago took the place of our quarterly paper newsletter.
1.3. Public lectures
1.3.1. The Peter Gansevoort Ten Eyck Lecture Series debuted in 2019 with 11 talks from New Netherland experts from Albany to New York City. The 2020 series is funded but is of course indefinitely postponed.
1.3.2. We will be doing some sort of Zoom series, but the details are TBD. We do know that the first event will be a presentation by Julie van den Hout on her ships database, which will be followed by a 3-way conversation between Julie, Charly, and Steve. This will be presented in partnership with NYG&B. This event will be on November 17.
1.4. Virtual
1.4.1. We will create an ArcGIS StoryMap—an immersive web experience that combines text, interactive maps, and other multimedia content—of Dutch-American heritage sites throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States. These sites include those with and without physical remains, such as surviving Dutch-American architecture, “natural” sites like Papscanee Island and Governors Island, and the former sites of long-lost structures like Fort Orange and Fort Nassau.
1.5. sites
1.5.1. This isn't the first time I have thought of this, but as I was driving up the Thruway a few weeks ago I thought about the possibility of tapping into NYS tourism. That the Capital Region Welcome Center building mimics Dutch architecture is an indication that such a thing could be welcome. Unfortunately there is very little (if any) Dutch-New York material to be found inside.
1.5.2. The Pomeroy Foundation's "Legends & Lore" series struck me as an opportunity to create more of a physical presence for New Netherland. Surely there is no shortage of Dutch legends & lores. We should (as I did in the last eMarcurius) encourage people to come forward with them.
2. scholarship
2.1. grants
2.1.1. Fulbright-NNI Student Scholar In conjunction with the Fulbright Center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we offer a 3-month residency in New York and a grant of $5,000 for research in the field of New Netherland history and the Dutch Atlantic world.
2.1.2. Student-Scholar-in-Residence Grant. Scholars beyond the undergraduate level and actively working on a thesis, dissertation, or scholarly article are invited to apply. Research must be conducted at the New Netherland Research Center, New York State Library, and the New York State Archives, Albany, NY, in the field of New Netherland history and the Dutch Atlantic world, using the records of New Netherland.
2.1.3. Charles W. Wendell Research Grant. The research project must deal with the Dutch experience in North America and the Dutch Atlantic World, and is expected to result in a publishable article or a component of a larger work. Researchers in any discipline, including family history or biography, are encouraged to apply. There are no eligibility requirements for this grant. Everyone is eligible.
2.1.4. We could offer a grant for what we can call for now "visual arts" or maybe "multimedia." It would be for someone making a video or podcast etc.
2.1.5. We could offer grants for presentations at so-called high-impact events. I thought of this as I was browsing for the talks for New York City's "Archtober" event, a month devoted to architecture. I figured it would be good to have some sort of Dutch-New York angle and then realized that we could offer funds as an incentive for someone else to step up. Another good thing here is that we could be funding a product. It might not be a completely finished work, but it also isn't the early stages of research, which might not go anywhere. We could pay more money depending on how many people the event reaches.
2.2. awards
2.2.1. Annual Hendricks Award: Endowed by Dr. Andrew Hendricks, this award of $5,000 is given annually for the best book or book-length manuscript relating to the Dutch colonial experience in North America before the American Revolution.
2.2.2. Clague and Carole Van Slyke Article Prize: The New Netherland Institute offers an annual $1,000 prize for the best published article relating to the Dutch colonial experience in the Atlantic world, with a special sensitivity to New Netherland or its legacy. The Clague and Carol Van Slyke Article Prize is named in their memory, and given in honor of their New Netherland ancestry.
2.3. publications
2.3.1. partnerships
2.3.1.1. Cornell University Press series
2.3.1.1.1. Enslaved Spaces by Andrea Mosterman
2.3.1.1.2. Heaven's Wrath by Danny Noorlander
2.3.1.2. New York History
2.3.1.2.1. 2021 special issue on race and slavery in North America's Dutch communities
2.3.2. New Stories
2.3.3. Opportunities for some sort of collaboration with De Halve Maen remain on the table.
2.4. connecting scholars
2.4.1. Emerging Scholars
2.4.2. Annual Conference
2.4.2.1. -
2.4.2.2. R. J. Jippe Hiemstra Annual Conference Travel Fund: In memory of our late president, the New Netherland Institute has established this 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.
2.4.3. symposia and colloquia
3. research
3.1. research guides
3.1.1. We received a grant for $5,000 from the Dutch Consulate last year to produce a video introduction to New Netherland research. I was unsure how to go about it (though it was my idea) until I came across the site linked here. The plan now is to make a page that combines text, images, audio, and video to present an introduction to New Netherland research. This is also an ArcGIS StoryMap, which gives us an out-of-the-box format that clearly works well.
3.1.2. A Guide to Dutch Manuscripts Relating to New Netherland is a catalog of primary source material located in repositories throughout the United States. The purposes of the Guide are to 1) describe relevant documents and collections and 2) provide researchers with their location. Originally compiled in 1977 and 1978 by Dr. Charles Gehring, the Guide was updated in 2010–2012. This is the type of guide that should be improved often with new content and layout.
3.1.3. I have often heard talk about a collaborative website that would serve as the hub of New Netherland research. In order for this to be most effective, it would have to be a partnership between the repositories that hold the key New Netherland collections. It would make sense to combine this with the above Guide to Dutch Manuscripts.
3.2. translations & transcriptions
3.2.1. Volume 13 of the New York Colonial Manuscripts (NYCM) at the New York State Archives is currently in the final stages of production with Syracuse University Press, Artyom Anikin is maybe halfway through volume 23 (Colve Papers), and we hear that Janny is still working on volume 14. Volumes 15, 9, and 10 of the NYCM and transcribed but still need to be translated.
3.2.2. Amsterdam Correspondence Project: The project—a collaboration between the New Netherland Institute in Albany, N.Y. and the Archives of the Reformed Church in America in New Brunswick, N.J—will digitize and create a calendar for the manuscripts in The Amsterdam Correspondence, a collection held by the Reformed Church Archives that consists of nearly 400 documents (approximately 1,000 page-sides), almost exclusively in the Dutch language, written in places now within the bounds of the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania from the 1640s to the early 1800s. The digitized manuscripts will be hosted on the website of the New Netherland Institute along with a calendar similar to the one created by E. B. O’Callaghan in the nineteenth century, which can be found here. While this venture will bring great value to researchers when completed, it will also set us up nicely for a future transcription and translation project.
3.3. The Online Publications page on our website contains dozens of translations that are not available elsewhere online. There are always opportunities to improve the functionality of this page.
3.4. Our recently-overhauled bibliography is currently in a Zotero library. I add new things to it whenever I come across them.
3.5. conservation & preservation
3.5.1. It seems that there is much work that can be done with the Van Rensselaer Manor Papers. My sense is that the contents of the collection is still not fully understood.