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3-Day New Netherland Conference in Albany
From 17 September until 19 September the New Netherland Institute hosts a conference on the Dutch in America across the centuries.
Thu, Sep 17 - Sat, Sep 19 2015
Carole F. Huxley Theater, Cultural Education Center
The Dutch experience in North America, from the voyage of Henry Hudson to the recent migrations of dairy farmers, stretches across four centuries and started with Henry Hudson’s discovery of Manhattan in 1609. The 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland covered an area from present day Albany through New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
Conference
“The Dutch in America Across the Centuries: Connections and Comparisons” brings together two major scholarly traditions that have had relatively limited contact –one focusing on New Netherland and the other on the 19th- and 20th-century immigration, settlement, and culture in the Midwest and beyond. The conference and its corresponding events will take place over three days, from Thursday, 17 September until Saturday, 19 September.
In addition to the two-day conference’s six sessions and fifteen speakers, there will be a tour of the Upper Hudson Valley’s Dutch heritage sites, an opening reception at the Fort Orange Club in Albany, and a dinner following Friday’s conference. The conference will be held at the Carole F. Huxley Theater at the Cultural Education Center in Albany. Paid parking will be available next to the museum on Friday. On Saturday free parking will be available next to the museum and on nearby streets. For those traveling from the Midwest, arrangements have been made for a bus to Albany leaving at 7 a.m. from Calvin College in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, September 16.
Online registration closes at midnight on September 14th. Registration is available on the day of the conference. For more information about the conference and its sessions visit: www.newnetherlandinstitute.org or email nyslfnn@nysed.gov.
About the New Netherland Institute
Due to the focus on English colonization, the Dutch impact on American history was long overlooked. This changed in 1974 when the New Netherland Project was founded. For a quarter of a century this project, with its accompanying New Netherland Institute (NNI), has helped cast light on America’s long-neglected Dutch roots. The NNI has supported the transcription, translation, and publication of the 17th-century Dutch colonial records held by the New York State Library and State Archives. These records constitute the world’s largest collection of original documentation of the Dutch West India Company and its New World Colonies. They represent an irreplaceable resource for researchers exploring this important chapter in American history, its legacy of cultural traditions, and its qualities of tolerance, diversity and entrepreneurship. In 2010, the New Netherland Research Center opened to the public with support from the Dutch Consulate of the Netherlands in New York. The center provides a place where all can study the fascinating story of the Dutch global reach in the 17th century and its lasting impact on today’s world.
Conference Time-Table
Thursday, September 17
8:30-6:00: Field Trip: Dutch Heritage Sites
5:00: Fort Orange Club tour
6:00-7:30: Opening Reception at the Fort Orange Club (Cash Bar)
Friday, September 18 (Morning)
8:30: Registration and coffee
9:00-9:30: Welcome and Introductions
9:30-10:30: Session 1
11:00-12:30: Session 2
12:30-2:00: Box Lunch Provided
Friday, September 18 (Afternoon)
2:00-3:30: Session 3
4:00-5:00: Session 4
6:00: Cocktail Hour at Yono’s (Cash Bar)
7:00: Banquet & Awards at Yono’s in the Hampton Inn; Russell Shorto talk entitled “Two ‘Dutchmen’ in the American Revolution.”
Saturday, September 19 (Morning)
8:30: Registration and coffee
9:00-10:30: Session 5
11:00-12:00: Session 6
12:00: Box Lunch Provided
Organizational Meeting for Dutch-American Group (DAG)