Council Minutes, 1652–1654

The council minutes document civil and criminal cases, as well as executive and legislative matters over which the Director General and Council of New Netherland had jurisdiction. The minutes constitute a record of ordinances, orders, judgments, writs of appeal, writs of inhibition, appointments, proclamations, instructions, oaths of office, orders on petitions, protests, powers of attorney, proceedings in appeal, summonses, indictments, interrogations, recommendations, sentences, opinions, notices, resolutions, and charters. The minutes also include executive decisions relating to the defense and prosperity of New Netherland, as well as to private cases brought before the director-general and council on appeal from the court decisions of New Amsterdam.

This is the fifth volume of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts at the New York State Archives and the second of seven volumes in the series Council Minutes. The first volume covers the years 1638-1649, leaving a gap from August of 1649 to January of 1652 between it and the present volume. In the 19th century, E. B. O'Callaghan reorganized the original 49 record books of New Netherland into this series based on document type and time period. The minutes in this volume were translated by Charles Gehring and published in the series New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch in 1983.

For more on the contents of this volume, see its introduction. For more on the arrangement and publication of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts, see the compilation of introductions to the New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch / New Netherland Documents Series.

About the New Netherland Institute

For over three decades, NNI has helped cast light on America's Dutch roots. In 2010, it partnered with the New York State Office of Cultural Education to establish the New Netherland Research Center, with matching funds from the State of the Netherlands. NNI is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. More

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Housed in the New York State Library, the NNRC offers students, educators, scholars and researchers a vast collection of early documents and reference works on America's Dutch era. More

 

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