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Dyckman Farmhouse presents Lectures on Shared History

Image: courtesy of of Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance

Wed, Feb 5 - Wed, Feb 26  2025

Virtual: Zoom

About Dyckman House

The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, built around 1785, is Manhattan’s oldest remaining farmhouse and a rare example of Dutch Colonial architecture. Once part of a 250-acre farm, it now sits at Broadway and 204th Street in Inwood, Manhattan. Restored in 1915 by Dyckman descendants, the house opened as a museum in 1916, showcasing Dutch and Colonial life with original family furnishings. It is the only 18th-century farmhouse in Manhattan and has been a National Historic Landmark since 1967. Today, the museum preserves and shares the history of early New York, including the lives of enslaved individuals who worked on the farm.

As part of our FUTURE 400 program, Dyckman Farmhouse created the Discovered Lecture Series, highlighting the importance of presenting a complete history of the site, including its history as a location of enslavement. In these lectures you can join the conversation.

 

New Research on Enslavement in Upper Manhattan: A DyckmanDISCOVERED Update

5 February, 12 PM

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    Since 2015, the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum has emphasized the importance of telling a complete history of our site, including the farmhouse’s history as a site of enslavement. In 2023, the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum hired a research consultant, Ramin Ganeshram, to dive deeper into this history. Ramin searched through archives to continue our research on enslavement, with a primary focus on culinary history, colonial kitchens, and Lenape influences on cooking in the 18th century. In this talk, attendees will hear about the discoveries made during this project. In addition, attendees will hear from the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum’s Executive Director, Melissa Kiewiet, about how the museum plans to use this research. Melissa will discuss the museum’s reinterpretation plans, beginning with a new exhibition in the basement kitchen that uses Ramin’s new research.

 

The Harlem African Burial Ground: History Beneath Our Feet

12 February, 12 PM

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    As a cemetery for free and enslaved Africans from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s, the Harlem African Burial Ground is a sacred site of New York City’s early history, and yet for decades the site was forgotten and disrespected. Through tireless research and advocacy, community advocates brought this history to light, and now the New York City Economic Development Corporation is leading efforts to properly memorialize and honor the people buried there. Join the Harlem African Burial Ground Initiative and NYCEDC in conversation to learn about this crucial history, the role of urban planning in historic preservation, and the vision for the future memorial, cultural education center, and mixed-use project planned for the site.

Envisioning Seneca Village

26 February, 12 PM

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    Seneca Village was a community established by African American landowners in 1825 and destroyed by the City of New York in 1857 for the construction of Central Park. Research beginning in the 1990s has shed light on the once-forgotten village: a stable, successful, rural home to dozens of families. Much is still unknown, however, and no images or above-ground traces remain, making imagining the village challenging. This talk presents Envisioning Seneca Village, an interactive 3D model of what the village might have looked like in 1855. The project’s coauthors will discuss how they combined ongoing research in archaeology, history, historical geographic information systems (GIS), and architectural rendering to build the model; their plans for future improvements; and their aims for the project to both catalyze new research and keep the memory of Seneca Village alive in the present.

 

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