This series contains administrative correspondence of Petrus Stuyvesant during his seventeen year term as director-general of the colony of New Netherland (1647-1664). The correspondence consists mainly of incoming letters from the directors of the West India Company in Amsterdam and the governors of neighboring colonies. The letters address matters relating to the defense, commercial interests, and prosperity of Dutch holdings in North America and the Caribbean. Colonial boundary disputes and competition for trade among the English, Swedes, and Dutch are among the topics discussed. Most of the outgoing correspondence, copied into separate books for future reference, is no longer extant. Therefore, this series generally represents a one-way correspondence from the directors to Stuyvesant.

For more on the arrangement and publication of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts, see the compilation of the introductions to the New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch / New Netherland Documents Series.

Manuscript images in the New York State Archives’s Digital Collections

Volume 11, Correspondence, 1647-1653 translation (published book images)
Purchase the published book of Volume 11 from Syracuse University Press here

Volume 12, Correspondence, 1654-1658 translation (published book images)
Purchase the published book of Volume 12 from Syracuse University Press here

Volume 13: Correspondence, 1659-1660 (translation completed)
Purchase the published book of Volume 13 from Syracuse University Press here

Volume 14: Correspondence, 1661-1662 (translation in process)

Volume 15: Correspondence, 1663-1664 (translation in process)