The New Netherland Institute (NNI), the center of New Netherland scholarship for over four decades, and Cornell University Press will now work together to publish books on the seventeenth-century Dutch colony and its legacy.
Collaboration on potential projects is expected to begin in the spring of 2018.
According to an announcement sent to the press, the two institutions will collaborate in identifying promising book projects, will share expertise in the vetting and development of the works, and will pool financial resources.
Every book published under this new agreement is expected to bear the name and logo of both NNI and the Press, and each book appear as an e-book as well as in traditional print formats.
The agreement not only enhances the early American offerings of Cornell University Press but signals a new stage in NNI’s development.
NNI board president Jippe Hiemstra called the agreement “an excellent opportunity to advance the work we have been doing for decades and to strengthen our support of first-rate scholarship on the Dutch colonial presence in America and its lasting significance.”
Dr. Charles Gehring, Director of the New Netherland Research Center, NNI’s sister organization, said that the partnership “will not only give us quality control over future publications relating to New Netherland but also academic standing in the scholarly world.”
Director of Cornell University Press, Dean J. Smith, noted that such partnerships are crucial to the health of university presses. “It is about sharing resources at a time when book publishing is experiencing rapid change,” he remarked. “But it is also about building connections to our communities of readers, people who care deeply about great scholarship and want to see it disseminated widely.”
The agreement will also expected to create new opportunities for both emerging and established scholars. “In recent years Cornell University Press has published major books on the history and legacy of Dutch colonialism,” stated Michael J. McGandy, Senior Editor at the Press. “We expect that by working closely with NNI we will cultivate more book projects from a wider array of scholars, based in the U.S. and abroad. The connections that NNI has locally and internationally will be invaluable to seeking out the best scholarship.”
For more than four decades, the New Netherland Institute — an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization — and its affiliates have helped shed light on the long-neglected history of the settlements that laid the foundation for much of today’s mid-Atlantic region. NNI supports the New Netherland Research Center in partnership with the New York State Office of Cultural Education, the parent agency of the State Library and State Archives.
Photo of New Netherland Institute.
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