DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS
In NNI’s Digital Exhibitions you can meet the people who made New Netherland home, wander the places they roamed, open a window into their lives through artifacts they left behind, and learn more about their world through the letters they wrote, the maps they drew, and more.
Genealogical Resources in the Netherlands
Some may wish to extend their research from New Netherland into the (old) Netherlands. To this end, NNI offers the following pages of resources related to genealogical research in the Netherlands.
When the English acquired political control over New Netherland in 1664 and carved out the provinces of New York, East and West New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the Dutch colonial inhabitants did not disappear. Rather they remained entrenched, rapidly multiplied, expanded, and prospered. This exhibit takes a look at the enduring presence of New Netherland in the mid-Atlantic region and its lasting impact on the development of modern American society, politics, and culture.
The vignettes in this exhibit reflect something of the shared experiences that took place between the Dutch and the original inhabitants of the region that would be called New Netherland. The intent of the Dutch to control the lucrative trade in furs forced a partnership with Indians that, for the most part, presented advantages for both parties, although it sometimes lost its way.
Charting New Netherland, 1597–1684
Ever since man took charcoal to a cave wall, maps have existed. They inform the mind, record the way, and delight the eye. In this exhibit, the maps of Europe’s Age of Discovery mark the path from speculation to knowledge of the contours of New Netherland and Northeast America.
The administrative records of New Netherland are an unparalleled source for family historians, with vivid glimpses into the lives of the colony’s residents. This exhibit uses excerpts from selected documents to demonstrate the kinds of evidence researchers can gather from those records.
Welcome to New Netherland. If you are a first-time visitor, you are about to enter a lost world. Then again, you may soon discover that you've been here before. In fact, you may live here. This exhibit takes the reader through this lost world from the House of Hope on the Fresh River, today's Connecticut, to Fort Casimir on the South River, known today as the Delaware.
Excavations in lower Manhattan have unearthed how early settlers cooked and ate their daily repast. These excavations of lots once inhabited by the first settlers revealed the shards of cookware, tableware, bottles and drinking vessels displayed in this exhibit.
This exhibit displays and describes three centuries of maps collected by a Dutchman who immigrated to the United States during World War II. Launching a business career after winning a scholarship to Fordham University, Mr. Twaalfhoven donated the maps to his alma mater.
Combining history, archaeology & art, this exhibit explores the life of Arent van Curler, grand-nephew of the patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer, and the farm he built in the upper Hudson Valley.
Slavery in New York changed considerably over the course of its more than two hundred years. The lives of New Netherland’s enslaved population looked nothing like those of the men, women, and children who would be traded at the Wall Street slave market a century later. This exhibit explores the often forgotten history of the institution's origins.
A database and digital exhibit of ship voyages to New Netherland
