Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the Jacob Leisler Institute office will continue to operate though in remote mode. We will remain accessible through email (info@jacobleislerinstitute.org) and phone (518-567-6490). As such pandemics were commonplace in the early modern era, let's remember that this one too will pass just as they did. In the meantime, remain careful and healthy, and take care of those around you. …
Spring Interns
The Jacob Leisler Institute is delighted to have two interns join the team this semester. Welcome to Columbia-Greene Community College student Vincent DeMarco and SUNY New-Paltz student Eric Knapp. …
Ruth Piwonka Honored
Municipal historian for the village and town of Kinderhook, and treasurer of the Jacob Leisler Institute, Ruth Piwonka is this year’s recipient of the Martha Washington Woman of History Award. The award, given by the Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site, honors a woman who has made significant contributions to the history of the Hudson Valley. The award presentation will be on March 22, at the site in Newburgh. …
Karlijn Waterman Visits
The Jacob Leisler Institute was delighted yesterday to host Karlijn Waterman, wife of late trustee Kees-Jan Waterman, who donated to the Institute her husband's extensive collection of materials relating to colonial European-Algonquian and Iroquoian relations in New York and New Jersey. Ms. Waterman, Coordinator of Dutch as a Foreign Language at Nederlandse Taalunie, brought with her several more of her late husband's files to be added to the Institute's collections. …
Collaboration with Basel University
"Sandgrube," built in Basel, Switzerland, in 1746 as the home of Achilles Leissler (1723-1784), became this month the new location of the European Global Studies Institute in Basel. Achilles Leisler was a grandson of Jacob Leisler's brother Franz Leisler. The Jacob Leisler Institute and the Europainstitut of Basel University are now collaborating in recovering the global connections of the Leisler family. …
Mary Collins joins the Institute
The Leisler Institute is pleased to announce that Mary Collins has joined the Institute as our Librarian. Ms. Collins has a Master of Library and Information Science with a concentration in rare books and special collections, a nearly completed Master of Arts from the City University of New York Graduate Center, and holds the Certified Genealogist credential. She is former librarian at the Holland Society of New York. We are delighted to have her join us as a colleague. …