Translations and Transcriptions of New Netherland Documents
Translations and Transcriptions
The New Netherland Institute offers digitized translations and transcriptions of seventeenth-century documents—our most valuable records of the former Dutch colony—despite their age and damage from fire and water. This page features government records from the New York State Archives, private and corporate papers from the New York State Library, and selected materials from other collections. Scanned originals are also available on the Archives and Library websites.
Please consider making a donation to support NNI’s ongoing work to ensure these records remain accessible to researchers and the public.
Research Guides, Bibliographies and Indices
New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch / New Netherland Documents Series Introductions
A Guide to Dutch Manuscripts Relating to New Netherland identifies primary source materials on New Netherland held in repositories across the U.S., describing documents and their locations. Compiled by Dr. Charles Gehring in 1977–78 and updated in 2010–2012, it supports research into Dutch colonial history.
This compilation of introductions from the New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch / New Netherland Documents series, offers researchers a quick overview of these translations.
Documents Series Introductions - PDF's
The Annotated Bibliography of New Netherland Archeology in Rensselaer and Albany Counties, New York summarizes the contents of written resources concerning archeological finds related to Dutch...
The Annotated Bibliography of the Archaeology of the Delaware River Valley highlights archaeological research related to the Middle and Lower Delaware River Valley (at and below Trenton,...
The Simon Hart Chronology represents summaries of notarial records relating to New Netherland located in the Municipal Archives of Amsterdam. In the 1650s the notaries of Amsterdam were directed, upon retirement or for other reasons, to deposit their protocols in the municipal archives for safekeeping. Simon Hart, during his tenure as chief archivist, spent his free time in the “Depot” of the archives, searching through the protocols
The Engel Sluiter Collection at UC Berkeley contains research and transcriptions (1930–2001) on Dutch, Spanish, and colonial maritime history across the Americas, Africa, the Caribbean, and Arctic regions.
The Ulster County Archives Dutch Records Index is an index to the English translations of the Dutch court records of Wiltwyck 1661-1709. The index was first published...
The New Netherland Institute is grateful to the New York State Archives for allowing us to link to the images in their collection. We are also grateful to the Holland Society, which holds the copyright of the translations of New Netherland Documents at the New York State Archives, for permission to reproduce the translations here.
The New Netherland Institute is grateful to the New York State Archives for allowing us to link to the images in their collection. We are also grateful to the Holland Society, which holds the copyright of the translations of New Netherland Documents at the New York State Archives, for permission to reproduce the translations here.
The New Netherland Institute is grateful to the New York State Archives for allowing us to link to the images in their collection. We are also grateful to the Holland Society, which holds the copyright of the translations of New Netherland Documents at the New York State Archives, for permission to reproduce the translations here.
The New Netherland Institute is grateful to the New York State Archives for allowing us to link to the images in their collection. We are also grateful to the Holland Society, which holds the copyright of the translations of New Netherland Documents at the New York State Archives, for permission to reproduce the translations here.
The New Netherland Institute is grateful to the New York State Archives for allowing us to link to the images in their collection. We are also grateful to the Holland Society, which holds the copyright of the translations of New Netherland Documents at the New York State Archives, for permission to reproduce the translations here.
From the Collections of the New York State Archives
From the Collections of the Albany County Hall of Records
From the Collections of the New York State Library
Van Rensselaer Manor Papers. The court minutes of Rensselaerswijck along with the business and personal correspondence of patroon Jeremias van Rensselaer (1632–1674) and his wife Maria (1645–1688/89) chronicle social, economic, legal, and governmental aspects of life on the patroonship.
From the Collections of the New York City Muncipal Archives
These records, formerly known as the Kings County Records at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, contain valuable information about western Long Island. Dr. Gehring cautions that, like most 19th‑century translations, they should be used carefully and eventually reexamined.
From the Collections of the New-York Historical Society
From the Collections of the New York Public Library
From the Collections of the Scheepvaart Museum in Amsterdam
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts
This collection includes journals, deeds, leases, contracts, accounts, and cattle inventories, but its centerpiece is a volume of letters, memorials, and instructions (1630–1643) from Kiliaen van Rensselaer, founder of Rensselaerswyck, to colonists, West India Company officials, partners, and the States General. While focused on the colony’s founding and early growth, the papers also shed light on settlement elsewhere in New Netherland.
From the Collections of the National Archives of the United Kingdom - The Prize Papers Collection
The Prize Papers Project
is digitizing documents seized from ships declared prizes by the English between 1652–1815. Representing nineteen languages, the collection will total 3.5 million scans by 2037. Currently,the portal provides access to materials from 1793–1815. The Dutch National Archives, through Sailing Letters Project has scanned Prize Papers relating to the Dutch Republic and its empire. Among these are four letters from New Netherland, all from the Hoop van Middleburg, captured in 1665. Digital images of the ship’s surviving papers are available here. Dr. Charles Gehring has introduced and translated the four letters:
- Hendrick Meesz Vrooman, Oct. 5, 1664, to relatives in the Netherlands: translation here The original of this letter can be found here.
- Pieter Meesz Vrooman, Oct. 12, 1664, to relatives: translation here; here, and the original is here: page 1, page 2, and address .
- Gertruid Weckmans, Oct. 12, 1664, to her former employer: translation here The original letter is here: page 1, page 2, and the address.
- Pieter Jacopsen Borsboom, Oct. 10/20, 1664, to the Vroomans: translation here, and the second page is here.
Miscellaneous
Peter Stuyvesant’s 1665 certification of land grants to manumitted slaves (transcription with translation)
A compilation of other published primary sources available online can be found at the site New Netherland Genealogy.
New Netherland and Beyond.
Translator's Corner
In the inaugural Translator’s Corner in the March, 2025 e-Marcurius, Deborah Hamer translated Testimony Regarding Cornelis Pieters van Purmerent’s Labor from the City Archives in Amsterdam, Notarial Archive (5075), inventory number 1279, folio 59 (October 25, 1638). To see the original Dutch document, click here. To see the translation, Click here
01
Amsterdam City Archives https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/5075/54.2.1/start/100/limit/10/highlight/4
02
Meeting of the City Council of Amsterdam, November 3, 1649 https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/5025/1.19/start/40/limit/10/highlight/8 https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/5025/1.19/start/40/limit/10/highlight/9
03
In the inaugural Translator’s Corner in the March, 2025 e-Marcurius, Deborah Hamer translated Testimony Regarding Cornelis...
