ABSTRACT

In nineteenth-century New York, the collection, translation, and republication of documents related to colonial Dutch history was about more than antiquarianism or the ethno-centrism of Dutch-descended Americans. With the unprecedented support of the state of New York and U.S. ministers in Europe, the New York Historical Society (NYHS) orchestrated a much more ambitious project to reinscribe Dutch imperialism within a grander narrative of the state. This, they hoped, would situate New York at the centre of national history, and its archive as the nation’s most important historical record. In doing so, the stewards of the state’s archives and history worked to displace the burlesque rendition of New York’s past popularized by Washington Irving, in favor of a unified, progressive, celebratory narrative.

摘要

在19世纪的纽约，与荷兰殖民历史相关的文献的收集，翻译和重新出版不仅仅局限于古董主义或荷兰裔美国人的民族中心主义。在纽约州和美国欧洲部长的空前支持下，纽约历史学会（NYHS）精心策划了一个雄心勃勃的计划，将荷兰帝国主义重新纳入该州的宏大叙事中。他们希望，这将把纽约置于国家历史的中心，并将其存档作为美国最重要的历史记录。在这样做的过程中，国家档案和历史的管理者努力取代了华盛顿·欧文（Washington Irving）推广的纽约过去的滑稽表演，转而采用统一的，渐进的，庆祝性的叙事。