Leisler Coat of Arms Ceremony

May 16, 2002


On Thursday, May 16, 2002, at 3 PM, a ceremony dedicating a painting of the
coat of arms of Jacob Leisler (1640-1691), commissioned by the Colonial
Lords of the Manors for the Papers of Jacob Leisler Project and painted by
America's premiere armorial painter, Claire McVickar Ward, will be unveiled
at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.  The painting is
being presented to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society to
become the centerpiece in their armorial collection. Keynote speaker will
by Edwin G. Burrows, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize winning history of New
York City, Gotham.  David William Voorhees, director of the Papers of Jacob
Leisler Project at New York University, will present the coat of arms to
the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. In addition, there will
be an exhibition relating to the Leisler coat of arms and their importance
as a political symbol in late seventeenth-century New York.  This will be
the first time that Leisler's coat of arms will be publicly displayed since
the burning of the Garden Street Dutch Reformed Church at the beginning of
the nineteenth century, where they had hung since 1698.

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society is located at 122 East
58th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues, New York City.  For
information contact Teresa Prendes: 212-755-8532.