Fantastic Find: New Netherland Institute

Ever since the Working on Wednesday post that focused on my maternal ninth great grandfather Dirick Areson, I've realized how little I know about the Dutch in North America.

[Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae, Map by N.J. Visscher 1650/51 based on a manuscript map compiled by Adriaen van der Donck in 1648. This is the second state (1652) which added Fort Kasimier. New Netherland Institute]

That's why I was delighted to find the New Netherland Institute. Here's what they have to say about themselves:

"For a quarter of a century, the New Netherland Institute (NNI) has helped cast light on America’s long-neglected Dutch roots. Created in 1986 as the Friends of the New Netherland Project, it 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."

Now I'm off to check out their online publications which includes The Guide to Dutch Manuscripts Relating to New Netherland, a catalog of primary source material located in repositories throughout the United States.

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