CONSERVATION OF DUTCH RECORDS
IN NEW YORK STATE ARCHIVES

Starting in April 2000 the Dutch records in the New York State Archives will be restored through professional conservation treatment. The treatment is being funded by the Save America's Treasures grant, with matching funds from the New York State Archives Partnership Trust. The original Dutch records will be unavailable for research for approximately one year. However, many of the records are available on microfilm at the New York State Archives. For further information on this microfilm, contact the State Archives at (518) 474-8955; e-mail [log in to unmask] In addition, many of the documents have also been translated in the "New Netherland Documents Series," edited by Dr. Charles Gehring of the New Netherland Project, New York State Library, and published by Syracuse University Press.

The twelve thousand pages of the official documents of New Netherland are the earliest records in the New York State Archives. The documents will be conserved as an official project of Save America's Treasures, a White House Millennium Council initiative. Spanning the years 1630-1664 and 1673-1674, the records document Dutch government and society in the middle-Atlantic region, particularly the modern states of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, as well as the Caribbean island of Curacao (which was administered by the governor of New Netherland).

The records of New Netherland include a dozen distinct series of records: minutes of the governor's council, laws and ordinances, administrative correspondence, land patents and deeds, other recorded documents (public and private), and documents relating to Fort Orange (later Albany), the Delaware River region, and Curacao. [SEE LIST BELOW.]  The documents were damaged in the fire of March 29, 1911, which swept through the State Library, then located in the State Capitol. Dried and lined with silk gauze after the fire, the Dutch records have been used frequently by scholars. The documents are generally legible. However, the well-intentioned conservation treatments of the early twentieth century are slowly degrading the paper.

For further information, contact:

New York State Archives
Cultural Education Center Room 11D40
Albany, NY 12230

Phone (518) 474-8955
E-mail [log in to unmask]






DUTCH RECORDS IN NEW YORK STATE ARCHIVES

[Citations in the list below provide New York State Archives record series number, series title, date span of records, and quantity of records in cubic feet.]

A0270  Register of provincial secretary, 1642-1660 (1.5 c.f.)

A1809  Council minutes, 1638-1664 (4.0 c.f.)

A1810  Administrative correspondence, 1646-1664 (2.3 c.f.)

A1875  Ordinances, 1647-1658 (0.5 c.f.)

A1876  Ft. Orange administrative records (0.5 c.f.)

A1877  Writs of appeal, 1658-1663 (0.5 c.f.)

A1878  Delaware River administrative records, 1646-1664 (1.5 c.f.)

A1879  Delaware River administrative records [British], 1664-1682 (2.0 c.f.)

A1880  Land patents, 1630-1651 (0.8 c.f.)

A1881  Administrative records, 1673-1674 (1.5 c.f.)

A1882  Land deeds, 1652-1664 (0.2 c.f.)

A1883  Curacao records, 1640-1665 (0.5 c.f.)