Re-Reading New Netherland Documents Through a Lenape Lens Fellowship

Supported by Dutch Culture USA, the Lenape Center and the New Netherland Institute announce a new fellowship to fund research on New Netherland documents through a Lenape lens. Advanced graduate students, PhD holders in history and allied fields, and independent scholars are invited to apply.

The fellow will read documents from the archives of New Netherland—either in the original Dutch or in English translation—from a Lenape perspective. The goal is to tell a new history of the Lenape people in the seventeenth century and/or of early colonial interactions and the Dutch dispossession of the Lenape that followed. Although Dutch-produced documents paint an incomplete and biased picture of the Lenape, we believe that revisiting these documents from a Lenape perspective will illuminate Lenape resistance and resilience. We may also find unintentionally recorded Lenape voices.

Applicants who read only English may use sources including, but not limited to, the Dutch West India Company’s records at the New York State Archives in Albany and the Records of New Amsterdam at the New York City Municipal Archives. Published travel accounts, such as Robert Juet’s account of Henry Hudson’s voyage or J. Franklin Jameson’s compilation of early accounts of New Netherland, may also be consulted.

Applicants who know seventeenth-century Dutch may also consult the Dutch West India Company’s records at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague and the Amsterdam City Archives. Applicants are welcome to propose other documents from archives, repositories, and libraries if their experience suggests that relevant material is available.

Requirements

• This is an eight-month fellowship, and fellowship research should be the grantee’s primary commitment during the term. The fellow may begin anytime between February 2027 and April 2027. Please indicate your projected start date in your application.
• Total fellowship compensation is $55,000. All research is expected to take place remotely from the applicant’s home. Additional funds may be available for a research trip to the Netherlands.
• The fellow will work closely with the Lenape Center throughout the fellowship to develop and ground the research in a culturally accurate, Lenape-specific perspective.
• Dutch-language knowledge is not required, but it will be considered an asset.
• To apply, submit a CV and a project proposal of no more than five double-spaced pages describing the proposed research and its intended outcome, such as an academic article or chapter, an exhibition, or a digital resource.
• Two letters of recommendation are also required and must be sent separately.
• Applicants and recommenders should use the subject line “New Netherland Documents Through a Lenape Lens” for their submissions.
• Applications must be submitted simultaneously to the Lenape Center at lenapecenter@gmail.com and the New Netherland Institute at nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org.
• Candidates who advance to the interview stage will be asked to provide a writing sample.
• Applications are due on or before December 18, 2026.

Questions? Email lenapecenter@gmail.com.