Along the Hudson and Mohawk: The 1790 Journey of Count Paolo Andreani
Cesare Marino and Karim M. Tiro, Editors and Translators
University of Pennsylvania Press

In the summer of 1790 the Italian explorer Count Paolo Andreani embarked on a journey that would take him through New York State and eastern Iroquoia. Traveling along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, Andreani kept a meticulous record of his observations and experiences in the New World. Published complete for the first time in English, the diary is of major importance to those interested in life after the American Revolution, political affairs in the New Republic, and Native American peoples.

Through Andreani's writings, we glimpse a world in cultural, economic, and political transition. An active participant in Enlightenment science, Andreani provides detailed observations of the landscape and natural history of his route. He also documents the manners and customs of the Iroquois, Shakers, and German, Dutch, and Anglo New Yorkers. Andreani was particularly interested in the Oneida and Onondaga Indians he visited, and his description of an Oneida lacrosse match accompanies the earliest known depiction of a lacrosse stick. Andreani's American letters, included here, relate his sometimes difficult but always revealing personal relationships with Washington, Jefferson, and Adams.

Prefaced by an illuminating historical and biographical introduction, Along the Hudson and Mohawk is a fascinating look at the New Republic as seen through the eyes of an observant and curious explorer.

Cesare Marino is an anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institution. His books include The Sioux Vocabulary of 1823, Dal Piave at Little Bighorn, and The Remarkable Carlo Gentile, Pioneer Italian Photographer of the West. Karim M. Tiro teaches history at Xavier University.
(from UPenn Press' description)

The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America

The Dutch involvement in North America started after Henry Hudson, sailing under a Dutch flag in 1609, traveled up the river that would later bear his name. The Dutch control of the region was short-lived, but had profound effects on the Hudson Valley region. In The Colony of New Netherland, Jaap Jacobs offers a comprehensive history of the Dutch colony on the Hudson from the first trading voyages in the 1610s to 1674, when the Dutch ceded the colony to the English.

As Jacobs shows, New Netherland offers a distinctive example of economic colonization and in its social and religious profile represents a noteworthy divergence from the English colonization in North America. Centered around New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan, the colony extended north to present-day Schenectady, New York, east to central Connecticut, and south to the border shared by Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, leaving an indelible imprint on the culture, political geography, and language of the early modern mid-Atlantic region. Dutch colonists' vivid accounts of the land and people of the area shaped European perceptions of this bountiful land; their own activities had a lasting effect on land use and the flora and fauna of New York State, in particular, as well as on relations with the Native people with whom they traded.

Sure to become readers' first reference to this crucial phase of American early colonial history, The Colony of New Netherland is a multifaceted and detailed depiction of life in the colony, from exploration and settlement through governance, trade, and agriculture. Jacobs gives a keen sense of the built environment and social relations of the Dutch colonists and closely examines the influence of the church and the social system adapted from that of the Dutch Republic. Although Jacobs focuses his narrative on the realities of quotidian existence in the colony, he considers that way of life in the broader context of the Dutch Atlantic and in comparison to other European settlements in North America.
(From Cornell University Press)

Sir William Johnson Papers Digital Edition

The second digital edition of the Papers of Sir William Johnson is now available on CD from the New York State Library for $20.

The CD has over 16,000 pages in 20 hyperlinked volumes. Every word is searchable and documents may be accessed in chronological order. Illustrations newly scanned from Manuscripts and Special Collections.

To purchase a copy, contact Aimee Pelton in Documents and Digital Collections via phone at (518) 474-7492 or email at apelton@mail.nysed.gov.

French and Indian War Commemoration - 250 years

What is now New York State was a frontier between two world empires battling for supremacy in North America.  
The French claimed and occupied all the waterways flowing into the St. Lawrence River, including Lakes George and Champlain as well as all of the Great Lakes, building forts at Niagara, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and other places. The British empire expanding from the Hudson-Mohawk watershed built Fort William Henry on Lake George and Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario which challenged the French claims. 
The New York State French and Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission was established to raise awareness of this significant and fascinating period of world history.

Drums Along the Mohawk is Greg Ketcham's research on the Revolutionary War in the Mohawk Valley. A true labor of love. Now hosted by New York History Net.