The New Amsterdam Project
The New Amsterdam Project explores New York's origins and connects critical themes from that formative period—tolerance, free trade, and water—to our world today.
New York has always been the engine of American ideas and innovation. Before the skyscrapers, before Seinfeld and Central Park, was the Dutch city of New Amsterdam. The Dutch brought capitalism in its early form and a groundbreaking policy of tolerance, laying the foundation for the world’s most dynamic metropolis. They also brought slavery, and in other ways failed to live up to their own ideals. Eventually, those ideals—and failures—became ours. At the same time, the Dutch were pioneers of water management, engineering dikes to stop flooding and canals that became waterways and later streets.
Today, we face crises in these same areas: of intolerance, inequality, and climate upheaval. Exploring New York’s roots reminds us of our values as well as our shortcomings. The aim of the New Amsterdam Project, under the direction of author and historian Russell Shorto, is to connect the past to the present, and point the way forward.
Events and Resources
The Climate Lab offers talks, walks, and ideas, and connects New York's climate history to today's solutions.
A monthly series of conversations with scholars investigating what life was like in the Dutch city that predated New York.
On October 1, 2022, the New Amsterdam Project, in collaboration with the New Netherland Institute and the Center for Women’s History, presented the groundbreaking conference "Alida Livingston's World: Women in New Netherland and Early New York."
A guide for teachers and students that explores the interactions between New York’s Native American and earliest Dutch, African, and British inhabitants.
Our acclaimed online curriculum site includes two chapters on women's roles in early New York
Many of New-York Historical's founders and early members had deep roots in New York. Explore an online catalog of some of the earliest treasures in our collections.
Since 2013, Rebuild By Design has incubated more than $3.9 billion in projects to address climate resilience. They donated their archive to New-York Historical in 2022.
This guide highlights eight objects currently on view at New-York Historical that directly and indirectly explore the connection between humanity and the environment.
The New Amsterdam Project is grateful for the partnership of the New Netherland Institute and the support of the Consulate-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York, the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation, U.S. Amb. (Ret.) Fay Hartog-Levin, and the Netherland-America Foundation.
Advisory Board
Joy Bivins (Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
Deborah Hamer (Executive Director, New Netherland Institute)
Willemijn Keizer (Executive Director, Netherland-America Foundation)
Elbrun Kimmelman (Elbrun and Peter Kimmelman Family Foundation)
Dennis Maika (Senior Historian, New Netherland Institute)
Mark Schaming (Director, New York State Museum)
Greg Tucker (Principal, The Tucker Group)
Kamau Ware (Principal, Black Gotham Experience)
