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.

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Recent News Posts

Lecture – “Freedom of Speech in New York: The John Peter Zenger Trial” Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 6PM

Lecture:Freedom of Speech in New York: The John Peter Zenger Trial, by Albert M. RosenblattDate/Time:Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 6PMLocation:Hudson Area Library, 51 N 5th Street, Hudson, NY 12534 The Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library, hosts this in-person presentation with Professor Rosenblatt […]

Lecture – “Waterways, Footpaths & Wagon Ways: Hudson River Trade Prior to the Founding of Hudson” October 2, 2025 at 6PM

Lecture:Waterways, Footpaths & Wagon Ways: Hudson River Trade Prior to the Founding of Hudson, by Justin Wexler and David William VoorheesDate/Time:Thursday, October 2, at 6PMLocation:Hudson Area Library The Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library, hosts this in-person presentation with Justin Wexler, a local researcher […]

Student Intern Clementine Ho

Beginning on July 1, the Jacob Leisler Institute welcomed Clementine Ho as our second summer 2025 student intern. Clementine is a senior at Nightingale Bamford School in Manhattan. She is  interested in the political and cultural dynamics of Europe with a particular focus on the evolution of fashion.

Student Intern Ella Greene

The Jacob Leisler Institute welcomes Ella Greene as a student intern. Ms. Greene is a senior majoring in history at Oberlin College. We are delighted to have her join our team.

Latest YouTube Lectures

Jacob Leisler Institute

Jacob Leisler Institute
The Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library, hosted a presentation with Germantown Historian Thomas Shannon on the Palatine Germans who settled in our area. All across Columbia and surrounding counties are traces of the 1709 Palatine Migration to New York. This history has not always been so clear causing one writer, in 1878, to claim “that to study their history seems like looking for a lost age and a lost people, a romance of the past,”. The finest historical narrative of the Palatines to date, Becoming German by Philip Otterness, follows those who left for Schoharie in 1712. By contrast, this talk will cover the local aftermath of the Palatine Migration, the persistence of many family names, more than a century of co-existence with Livingston Manor, and the factors that eventually swept away much of the outwardly obvious Germanness of southern Columbia County, with an emphasis on those traces that have survived. The Jacob Leisler Library Lectures are made partially possible through the generous support of the Van Dyke Family Foundation, HRBT Foundation, and Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation. Recording by Karl Frederick Mattson, 542films.
The Enduring Impact of the Palatine Migration on Columbia County
When Independence Led to Chaos: Authority in the Early Eighteenth Century Dutch Reformed Church, by Dr. Kenneth P. Shefsiek Dr. Kenneth P. Shefsiek, associate professor of Early American and Public History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, tells how authority in the North American Dutch Reformed church in the eighteenth century was determined. In the mid-18th century, the church was wracked by conflict about whether the Dutch church in America would remain subordinate to the Classis of Amsterdam or whether the American Dutch would become independent. Regardless of which side they stood, all believed that the American church had been subordinate to Amsterdam since the early days of New Netherland. They had, however, misremembered their past. The Dutch church in America became subordinate to Amsterdam in the early years of the 18th century, and only at the request of a group of American ministers who sought to tie themselves closer to Amsterdam in response to the chaos created in New York by one troublesome minister, Rev. Bernardus Freeman, who had destabilized the church from Schenectady to Long Island. This presentation is the fourth in a series of Leisler Lectures for 2024 in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library. The Jacob Leisler Library Lectures are made partially possible through the generous support of the Van Dyke Family Foundation, HRBT Foundation, and Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation.
When Independence Led to Chaos: Authority in the Early Eighteenth Century Dutch Reformed Church
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
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