In the spring of 1613, a sailor named Jan Rodrigues arrived at the shore of the Hudson River from a Dutch trading ship, likely the Jonge Tobias. Identifying himself as a free individual, he became the earliest documented Black man in New Netherland. Jan Rodrigues is the subject of one of 25 new, peer-reviewed biographical sketches published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society in August, part of the NYG&B’s New Netherland Settlers initiative. [Read more…] about 25 New Netherland Biographies Published
Dutch History
Medical History: Vaccination Science & The Transatlantic Bridge
Second President of the United States John Adams held the post of envoy to the Netherlands from 1780 to 1782. He secured the States General’s recognition of American independence in April 1782, the second country in the world to do so, after France; obtained a five million guilders loan (carrying an interest rate of five percent) from a consortium of Amsterdam bankers; and signed a “Treaty of Amity and Commerce” between the two nations. While his wife Abigail remained in America, he had brought his sons John Quincy and Charles with him, living in the heart of Amsterdam at Keizersgracht 529. [Read more…] about Medical History: Vaccination Science & The Transatlantic Bridge
Small & Scarce: Early New York Paper Making History
About 1768, New York’s first paper mill was established, but throughout the 1700s New Yorkers suffered from a lack of paper, no more so than during the American Revolution. The industry grew from the need for paper and owes its early history to the rise of printing in America. [Read more…] about Small & Scarce: Early New York Paper Making History
The Road to Independence: The Model Treaty
In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress faced a question every new nation must answer: how do you make other countries take you seriously?
Declaring independence was one thing. Convincing France, Spain, or the Netherlands to risk war on your behalf was another. [Read more…] about The Road to Independence: The Model Treaty
Sauerkraut Boulevard & NYC’s German-American Enclave
New York’s vibrant immigrant history created a diversity of ethnic enclaves in the city. When over time demographics changed or newcomers assimilated deeper into metropolitan culture, the identity of such areas diminished. Little Poland, Little Syria, Little Africa, Little Vienna, and the French Quarter (Little Paris) were once lively parts of Lower Manhattan but have long since disappeared (Little Italy and Chinatown being notable exceptions).
They contributed to the city’s rich tapestry of food. Many dishes that are considered today as quintessentially American have an immigrant origin. [Read more…] about Sauerkraut Boulevard & NYC’s German-American Enclave
Coffee History: Enlightenment, Industry, Slavery & War
We brew it at home, we drink it at work, we socialize over a cup, or stop in at a café for its energy boost—never once reflecting on how the popularization of coffee literally changed the world.
It all began in Ethiopia, where coffee plants (Coffea) grew wild. It was discovered that the seeds of the coffee plant could be roasted and ground to yield a robust beverage with an unexpected effect. It seems to have become popular in the late-1400s and spread to Yemen quickly thereafter. [Read more…] about Coffee History: Enlightenment, Industry, Slavery & War
Women & The Hidden History of Delftware
Delftware is a renowned type of tin-glazed earthenware, predominantly featuring white pottery with blue cobalt designs, originating in The Netherlands during the 17th century to mimic Chinese porcelain.
When over seventy-five pieces of 17th and 18th century Delftware were rediscovered in an historic Manhattan townhouse, decorative art advisor and writer Genevieve Wheeler Brown recognized the pieces could tell an amazing story. [Read more…] about Women & The Hidden History of Delftware
Beer, Hops, Reformation & Prohibition
Christianity banned beer from the sacred domain as the Roman clergy continued the Latin habit of drinking wine. The opposition: Christian wine versus pagan beer, was upheld even in the north of Europe. Believers accepted wine’s sacramental role, whatever their climates, social habits, or drinking customs.
The Catholic Church was, at the same time, actively involved in the lucrative business of beer making. The Reformation was not just a schism that breached the unity of the Church, it was also a revolt against clergy-imposed customs that brought about a drastic change – from herbs to hops – in beer production and consumption. [Read more…] about Beer, Hops, Reformation & Prohibition
Pineapple Mania & Manhattan Architecture
Pineapples originate from the Orinoco River basin from where indigenous peoples spread specimens across parts of South America and towards the Caribbean and Bahamas. The early history of pineapple cultivation was a European, post-Columbus affair. The American passion for pineapple evolved from the eighteenth century when colonists began importing the fruit from the Caribbean.
Rare and restricted to the elite for some time, imports increased rapidly and the fruit became widely available. Such was its popularity that the pineapple became a feature of America’s cultural identity.
Flavor memories linger to this day (in craft beers for example), despite Donald Trump’s sworn deposition (October 2022) in which he labeled the fruit (as well as tomatoes and bananas) “dangerous stuff,” expressing anxiety that the pineapple had been weaponized by protesters. [Read more…] about Pineapple Mania & Manhattan Architecture
Dutch Arms Dealers & Military Engineers in the Revolutionary War
Modern international law prohibits a neutral nation from supplying arms, ammunition, or equipment to any warring party, either directly or indirectly.
Eighteenth-century Dutch legal minds argued the opposite case. They stuck to the principle of “free ships make free goods,” dictating that a vessel under a neutral flag cannot be captured or confiscated.
Neutrality was driven by self-interest, a desire to achieve economic advantage without being involved in hostilities. [Read more…] about Dutch Arms Dealers & Military Engineers in the Revolutionary War
Common Carp and Christmas
Novelist Hedwig “Vicki” Baum was born in January 1888 in Vienna into a Jewish family. She attracted international attention in 1929 with her novel Menschen im Hotel which started off a vogue for the “hotel novel.” It was staged as a play in Berlin by the great director Max Reinhardt that same year.
Translated into English as Grand Hotel, the story was turned into an Academy Award winning film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1932, starring Greta Garbo. The author had moved to Los Angeles whilst writing the screenplay, but the rise of fascism stopped her from returning to Europe. By 1935 the Nazis had banned her work. She became an American citizen three years later and began writing in English rather than in German. [Read more…] about Common Carp and Christmas
Art Dealer William Schaus, Sugar Baron Henry Havemeyer & America’s First Rembrandt
The “Gilded Age,” a term coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 novel of that title, indicates a period in American history from the 1870s to the early 1900s in which rapid industrialization and growing prosperity contrasted with extreme poverty and social deprivation.
The era encountered an evolving cultural landscape. Tycoons like Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, J. P. Morgan and others used their fortunes to collect art, build museums or sponsor libraries. Critics argued that these “robber barons” masked the exploitation of the workforce by acts of cultural philanthropy. [Read more…] about Art Dealer William Schaus, Sugar Baron Henry Havemeyer & America’s First Rembrandt
Dutch Doors in Colonial New York
The term “Low Countries” is a political and historic concept rather than a geographic one. Prior to modern nation-building, it referred to an area of northern Europe roughly stretching from Pas-de-Calais in France to the area of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, including French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders.
Born in Ghent in 1500 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ruled over the vast Habsburg Empire that included the Low Countries. Flanders was crucial to its economy. [Read more…] about Dutch Doors in Colonial New York
The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York
Original and deeply researched, The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700–1827 (Cambridge University Press, 2025) provides a new interpretation of Dutch American slavery which challenges many of the traditional assumptions about slavery in New York.
With an emphasis on demography and economics, Michael J. Douma shows that slavery in eighteenth-century New York was mostly rural, heavily Dutch, and generally profitable through the cultivation of wheat. [Read more…] about The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York
King William’s War: First Contest for North America, 1689–1697
While much has been written on the French and Indian War of 1754–1763, the colonial conflicts that preceded it have received comparatively little attention.
Yet in King William’s War (1689-1697), the first clash between England and France for control of North America, the patterns of conflict for the next seventy years were laid, as were the goals and objectives of both sides, as well as the realization that the colonies of the two nations could not coexist. [Read more…] about King William’s War: First Contest for North America, 1689–1697
The Beaver Quest: Pelts & Testicles
In 1609, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) sent navigator Henry Hudson westward to discover a short route to Asia. Instead, he reached the river that today bears his name, finding a biologically rich and diverse ecosystem.
On his report (published in 1611) of timber rich lands and an abundance of furs, Dutch traders were keen to finance further exploration. [Read more…] about The Beaver Quest: Pelts & Testicles
Ulster County, NY, Colonial Dutch Archive Now Online in English
In 1652, the first Anglo-Dutch colonists began arriving in the fertile lowlands of the Esopus River Valley in what is now Ulster County, NY, where the valley passes close to the confluence of the Hudson River and Rondout Creek at modern-day Kingston.
Their earliest colonial records, written in an archaic form of Dutch by colonial secretaries not known for their gifted penmanship, are now freely available online in their entirety in English for the first time. [Read more…] about Ulster County, NY, Colonial Dutch Archive Now Online in English
Sugar, Slave Labor & Art Galleries
Sugarbaker is a relatively common name that began to appear in American censuses from the 1830s onward. As an occupational surname, it derives from the German Zuckerbäcker. Originally, this compound noun referred to the highly rated skill of a confectioner. By the mid-nineteenth century, the word pointed at all those who worked in the sugar refining industry.
Sugar was mega business. First produced in India, it spread to Europe by way of Persia. Venetians played a crucial role as intermediates. A hub of commerce between Europe and the East, its merchants dominated the trade until around 1500 when other regions became involved. The “mystery” skill of sugar refining was brought to America by various groups of European immigrants. [Read more…] about Sugar, Slave Labor & Art Galleries
New Netherland Settlers’ Biographies Go Online
The first set of individual sketches under the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society‘s New Netherland Settlers initiative has now been completed and published online in an interactive, interlinked format.
These initial 50 biographical sketches reflect the full range of the New Netherland Settlers initiative, which aims to document all people who resided within the boundaries of the colony prior to 1664. Individual sketches are being published online as they become available. [Read more…] about New Netherland Settlers’ Biographies Go Online
The Dutch World of Washington Irving
In December of 1809, before finding fame with “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Washington Irving (1783-1859) published his satirical A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker.
In her book The Dutch World of Washington Irving (Cornell Univeristy Press, 2025) Elisabeth Paling Funk explains that the History of New York and the Hudson Valley folktales that followed were part of an early trend of responding to the national desire for a historical record. [Read more…] about The Dutch World of Washington Irving