The New Netherland Institute’s annual conference will take place on Saturday, 7 November and Sunday, 8 November 2026 at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York. They are seeking proposals that address this year’s theme, New Netherland and the World. Please note that the audience is a mix of academics and laypeople, so they ask for engaging presentations of about fifteen to twenty minutes.
The Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues famously described New Amsterdam as a place where eighteen different languages were spoken. Although his comment was meant to cast the colony as a chaotic, disorderly place, it also suggests the international nature of the colony. This conference seeks to investigate global connections in and around New Netherland. Broad topics may include (but are not limited to) New Netherland’s inter-imperial trade and correspondence, New Netherland’s connections with other Dutch colonies or forts in Africa, Asia, or Latin America, and presentations that examine Dutch-Indigenous relations. Work that situates New Netherland in a comparative perspective is also eligible. Papers that address slavery and the slave trade, the histories of soldiers and sailors, and women’s roles in connecting New Netherland to other parts of the Atlantic and the world are welcome.
They are interested in proposals from historians, art historians, literature scholars, archaeologists, and others in allied fields. Papers that deal with the 1609-1664 period are welcome, as are papers that deal with Dutch descended settlers in New York and surrounding areas in the English period.
All presenters will be provided with a three-night stay in the conference hotel. Travel funding is available upon request. Please note whether you are asking for travel funding in your proposal description.
Proposals are due 1 April 2026 and they will notify applicants of their decision by 1 May 2026. Papers and/or presentations will be due on 17 October to give moderators and the A/V team time to familiarize themselves with submissions.
To apply to present a paper, please submit a short CV and a one-page summary of the presentation, including a title to nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org. If you would like to submit an application for a complete panel (three papers) and a moderator, please submit short CVs for each presenter and the moderator as well as a one-page summary of each paper.