Jacob Leisler Institute

Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History

An independent, not-for-profit study and research center devoted to collecting, preserving, and disseminating information relating to colonial New York under British rule.

learn more

Recent News Posts

Exhibit Opening Night & Details on Open Hours

On August 17, 2024 the Jacob Leisler Institute had an opening night for its first exhibition, “Becoming a New People: New Netherland Under British Rule, 1664-1773,” host by the Circle 46 Gallery located in Hudson, New York. The exhibit features a curated selection of the Jacob Leisler Institute’s collection of original documents, manuscripts, transcriptions, prints, […]

Jacob Leisler Institute Exhibition Starting August 17 at Circle 46 Gallery – “Becoming a New People: New Netherland Under British Rule, 1664-1773”

We are pleased to announce that the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History plans to hold its first Exhibition August 17-September 29, 2024, at Circle 46 Gallery in Hudson, New York. Titled Becoming a New People: New Netherland Under British Rule, 1664-1773, the exhibit will showcase the Institute’s historical manuscripts, […]

Lecture – “Impressions of a New World: Jacob Leisler, Nicasius de Sille, and the promised Eden of 1660s New Amsterdam”

On Thursday, June 27, 6-7:30pm, the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library and the Columbia County Libraries Association, hosts a presentation by Toya Dubin about New Amsterdam at the time of Jacob Leisler’s presence in the settlement. Her presentation includes an introduction to […]

Welcome Our New Librarian/Archivist, Samantha (“Sam”) Aviles

Samantha (“Sam”) Aviles began her employment position as of June 4, 2024 as Librarian/Archivist of the Jacob Leisler Institute. Sam oversees organizing, cataloging, and maintaining the Institute’s collections and finding aids, and helping researchers. Pictured above, she is aiding noted University of Melbourne, Australia, criminologist and historian Dr. Adrian Howe in researching Jacob Leisler for […]

Latest YouTube Lectures

Jacob Leisler Institute

Jacob Leisler Institute
A virtual lecture from Toya Dubin, hosted by the Jacob Leisler Institute, Hudson Area Library, and with support from the Columbia County Libraries Association. Impressions of a New World: Jacob Leisler, Nicasius de Sille, & the promised Eden of 1660s New Amsterdam
Impressions of a New World: Jacob Leisler, Nicasius de Sille, & the promised Eden of New Amsterdam
A lecture from Dr. Owen Stanwood. In 1700 a Canadian mariner arrived in France and started telling stories. Mathieu Sagean told of his discovery of a vast Native American kingdom in the far west, of his adventures across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and of the controversial administration of a certain New York governor, one “Linsselear,” who conspired with a pirate to steal Sagean’s treasure. His lengthy narrative provides a valuable primary account of Leisler’s administration. The problem, however, is that Sagean was an inveterate liar. Much of his account was obviously invented, making it difficult to know how to treat it as a historical source. Even if it was not true, Sagean’s report is important in that it reveals the kinds of stories about Leisler’s New York that circulated in the late-seventeenth-century Atlantic, and how they related to a wider imagined world that stretched from the interior of North America to the Far East.
A French Fabulist in Leisler’s New York: The Extraordinary Adventures of Mathieu Sagean
"Hoe woest de werelt" ["How Savage the World"]: The Role of Women in Leisler's Rebellion Numerous instances of female violence are found in the records of the 1689-1691 New York uprising against King James II’s government popularly known as “Leisler’s Rebellion.” Indeed, historians have noted that women played a prominent role in the uprising. This presentation will explore the causes of this outburst of female violence in New York a generation after the English takeover of New Netherland in both the local and broader Atlantic World contexts. Dr. Voorhees is director of the Jacob Leisler Papers Project, formerly located at New York University, as well as the Jacob Leisler Institute headquartered in Hudson. He’s also managing editor of de Halve Maen (The Half Moon), a quarterly scholarly journal published by The Holland Society of New York. An NYU research scientist, he is a former managing reference history editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons and has published numerous historical works and articles, and been a consultant on historical exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York and the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan among others.
How Savage the World: The Role of Women in Leisler's Rebellion
The Jacob Leisler Institute’s Spring collaboration with the Hudson Area Library is a talk by Kate Mulry. In the late seventeenth century the English sought to bring political order to the empire through projects of environmental improvement. Kate Mulry explores why drainage orders were often among the first projects initiated by new English officials in colonial New York. By ordering swamp and marshland drainage, officials sought to remake places they worried were unhealthy, unruly, and unproductive. At the same time, they expected to transform the residents of those places. This presentation will highlight changing ideas about nature, governance, and public health in the early modern Atlantic World. Kate Mulry is an associate professor of history at California State University, Bakersfield. She is the author of An Empire Transformed: Remolding Bodies and Landscapes in the Restoration Atlantic (New York University Press, 2021). Her current project has also been awarded a “Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures” fellowship from the Folger Shakespeare Library, an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship at The British Library, and a research fellowship at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. The Jacob Leisler Library Lectures are made partially possible through the generous support of the Van Dyke Family Foundation and Hudson River Bank and Trust.
Draining the Swampish Ground
In our fourth 2022 Leisler Institute and Hudson Area Library collaboration, Patricia Bonomi discusses Colonial New York as a Model for our Nation. New York contributed vital elements to the formation of the United States and this talk highlights the special significance of New York’s religious and racial diversity, its unique geography, and its tumultuous politics. Patricia U. Bonomi is Professor Emerita at New York University, where she taught American history for 27 years, specializing in the colonial and early national periods. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the Seminar on Early American History & Culture at Columbia University, where she earned her Ph.D. in 1970. Her books include A Factious People: Politics and Society in Colonial New York; Under the Cope of Heaven: Religion, Society, and Politics in Colonial America; and The Lord Cornbury Scandal: The Politics of Reputation in British America. The Jacob Leisler Library Lectures are made partially possible through the generous support of the Van Dyke Family Foundation and Hudson River Bank and Trust.
Colonial New York as a Model for Our Nation
Load More… Subscribe