What many people believe to be the Dutch’s role in forming the America of today might fall short of the full story.
A bigger part of that tale is now on display, as the Schenectady County Historical Society is hosting the “Light on New Netherlands” traveling exhibit at the George E. Franchere Education Center at Mabee Farm in Rotterdam Junction from now through Feb. 28.
The exhibit is produced by the New Netherland Institute and consists of 26 panels aimed at introducing important but little known aspects of what role the Dutch played in the settlement and development of colonial America, most specifically the development of New Netherland, the Dutch colony that stretched from Albany to Delaware in the 17th century.
Some of the subjects presented include exploration, the fur trade, establishing government and the interaction between Dutch settlers and Native Americans.
“It really touches on a lot of topics of Dutch culture and life here that’s often glossed over,” said Ryan Mahoney, curator of the Historical Society. “You learn about Dutch history and the new colony … as just a brief blip. It is like, ‘All right, the Dutch showed up and then the American Revolution happened.’ Really, there was so much more going on.”
The New Netherland Institute works to enhance awareness of Dutch history in colonial America and it supports the translation of early Dutch documents through the New Netherland Project.
“This is a part of history that a lot of people are not aware of, even people living right in this area,” Mahoney said. “All of the information here is actually taken from the original documents that are on file at the New York State Archives and are being translated even today.”
There is also a 17-minute video included in the exhibit, “Illuminating New York’s Dutch Past.” In the video, researchers Charles Gehring and Janny Venmea provide background information about New Netherland and explain the importance of using document-based evidence. It also tells the journey of the Dutch documents and how they survived through the years.
In 1974, Gehring, a former University at Albany professor, began the translating into English the documents written in 17th century Dutch. There are approximately 12,000 surviving handwritten documents. According to the video, the Dutch settlement in New York is often referred to as “the forgotten colony.”
“I became so intrigued with this information knowing that people didn’t know about this at all,” Gehring said in the video. “For me … what better combination could you have translating Dutch documents of a historical period that few people knew about?”
The New Netherland colony was short lived, lasting just over 60 years, and came to an end on Aug. 27, 1664, when English warships entered the harbor and focused canons at a small fort at Manhattan Island’s southern tip, demanding the colony be turned over to England.
“There is always this simple painted version of what was going on here and really it was a much more complex society,” Mahoney said.
One the panels Mahoney said is unique and possibly less known details slavery in New Netherland.
“A lot of people never think of this area as being a slave holding area, but even here on the farm we had up to five slaves working,” Mahoney said. “Slavery basically happened here right off the bat in 1625.”
There is also a panel exclusively dedicated to Schenectady heritage.
Mahoney said the current exhibit also is a nice follow up to the previous exhibit featured at the education center, which was a collection of Len Tantillo’s paintings focusing on historical images of New Netherland. Tantillo’s artwork is also featured on some of the panels in the current exhibit.
“It is a great follow up to the Len Tantillo exhibit, because a lot of his paintings depicts what’s told in here,” Mahoney said. “This is the information behind it, what is going on here … and that’s why his artwork plays such an integral role in this exhibit as well.”
The education center is located at 1100 Main St., Rotterdam Junction, and is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday. The cost is $5 to the general public, with historical society members entering free of charge. For more information on the Schenectady County Historical Society or the featured exhibit, visit www.SchenectadyHistory.net or call Curator Ryan Mahoney at 374-0263.