Charles W. Wendell Research Grant
Charles W. Wendell Research Grant – February 15, 2027
The New Netherland Institute is pleased to offer research grants with financial support from the estate of Charles W. Wendell. These annual grants honor the memory of Dr. Charles W. Wendell, a valued trustee, vice-president, and president of the New Netherland Institute’s Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2015. The grant covers a period of one week up to six months, part of which may be devoted to residency at the New Netherland Research Center(NNRC), and provides a stipend of $1,000 – $ 5,000, depending upon the scope of the project. A time frame for fulfilling the grant requirements will be established in consultation with the Director of the NNRC. No housing, travel funds, or health insurance are provided. Applications are due February 15, 2017.
The research project must deal with the Dutch experience in North America and the Dutch Atlantic World, and is expected to result in a publishable article or a component of a larger work. Researchers in any discipline, including family history or biography, are encouraged to apply. There are no eligibility requirements for this grant. Everyone is eligible. The research should draw attention to the rich collection of primary and secondary sources relating to the Dutch colonial experience in America at the New Netherland Research Center, the New York State Archives, the New York State Library, or other repositories, including online New Netherland manuscript translations. A working knowledge of contemporary and seventeenth-century Dutch and a period of residency at the NNRC may be required, depending upon the requirements of the research topic.
The stipend is payable in equal installments upon acceptance by the director of the NNRC of a progress report, to be submitted at regular intervals determined in consultation with the director. At the conclusion of the grant period, the grant recipient must submit a satisfactory work product prior to receipt of the final installment.
Applications must consist of a curriculum vita and a cover letter outlining the research topic and a work plan. Recommendations will be accepted. Applications may be sent to nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org. Please use Charles W. Wendell Research Grant as subject! Or they may be submitted to the Grants Committee, New Netherland Institute, P.O. Box 2536, ESP Station, Albany, NY 12220-0536
Past Recipients of the Charles W. Wendell Research Grant
2025
Sander Rooijakkers, Independent Scholar. Project Title: Dutch Investment in the Port Complex of Boston, New York and Philadelphia: The Case of the Hodshon-De Vries Firm of Amsterdam, 1690s-1770s.
2024
Carin van Bodegraven, Independent Scholar. Project: Education in New Netherland and Colonial New York.
Kyle Dieleman, Associate Professor, Dordt University. Project: Navigating Slavery in New Netherland: Theological and Religious Approaches in Dutch Reformed Consistories.
Sonja Livingston, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University. Project: The Midwife of Wiltwyck.
2023
Esther Baakman, Lecturer, Radboud University. Project: Atlantic Advices: Representing the Atlantic World in the Dutch Periodical Press, ca. 1635–1795.
Neal Dugre, Associate Professor, University of Houston–Clear Lake. Project: Inventing New England: Confederation and Commonwealth in the Atlantic Northeast.
Elizabeth Hines, Ph.D. candidate, University of Chicago. Project: Anglo-Dutch Commerce, Religion, and War, 1634–1651.
2022
Evan Haefeli, Associate Professor, Texas A&M — $1,000. Project: One Great Family: The Iroquois League and the Pacification of the Eastern Woodlands.
BJ Lillis, Ph.D. candidate, Princeton University — $3,000. Project: A Valley between Worlds: Slavery, Dispossession, and the Creation of a Settler-Colonial Society in the Hudson Valley, 1659–1766.
Aagje Lybeer, Ph.D. Candidate, St. Andrews — $1,000. Project: The Power of Body Language: Posture in Dutch Seventeenth-Century Portraiture.
2021
Debra Bruno — $5,000. Project: “Slavery’s Hidden History” — Investigating Dutch-American slave owners in the Hudson Valley.
2020
W.Z. (Rias) van den Doel — $2,000. Project: Englishes used by Dutch speakers globally.
Yda Schreuder — $1,000. Project: Amsterdam merchants in early 17th-century Caribbean tobacco trade.
Malte Brix — $1,000. Project: Maritime arbitration from colonial New Netherland to modern-day New York.
Chelsea Teale — $1,000. Project: Settlers’ responses to extreme weather and climate change in New Netherland.
2019
Yda Schreuder — $3,000. Project: The tobacco trade in the early 17th-century Caribbean region.
Marian Leech — $1,000. Project: Indian-Dutch landscape of the 17th-century Delaware River Valley.
Chelsea Teale — $1,000. Project: Dutch experience during the Little Ice Age in North America.
2018
Michael Douma — $1,750. Project: Dutch-speaking slaves in 18th–19th century New York and New Jersey.
Sabine Go — $3,250. Project: Marine Insurance in New Amsterdam and its legacy in the American insurance market.
2017
Julie van den Hout — $5,000. Project: Voyages of New Netherland — A database of ship movements (1609–1664).
