Author Archives: michaeljdouma
A Forgotten Genre of Photography: The Family in Front of the House in late 19th century U.S.
Get the kids, the horses, the cats and dogs, buggies, tractors, and a painting of grandpa. The photographer is here, and it’s time to gather in front of the house for a family picture. I first encountered this genre of photograph when I was doing research for my first book, Veneklasen Brick, in 2004. In […]
An Almanac from Dutch New York
The year was 1759 and the English had just defeated the French on the plains of Abraham in the major battle of the French and Indian War. By the end of the year, an enterprising printer in New York City, James Parker, continued a tradition of publishing an almanac in Dutch for the New York […]
Dutch Bibles and Beaver Hats in 18th century NY Wills
From the takeover of New Netherland in 1664, through to the 1820s, New York collected inventories of the material possessions of the deceased. The records, now available for free on Ancestry.com, (search for “Estate Inventories and Accounts, 16661-822”) are far from complete, but might be useful to historians and genealogists. I’ve been using them, for […]
Why its OK that you don’t remember anything you were supposed to have learned in History Class
In homage to the Routledge “Why it’s OK” Series I present: “Why its OK that you don’t remember anything you were supposed to have learned in history class.” (1) There’s a good chance that much of what you were supposed to have learned was wrong. The best-known work on this issue is of course James […]
Book Review: Karin Sitalsing, Boeroes: Een Familiegeschiedens van Witte Surinamers (2016)
In 1845, a group of some 384 poor Dutch men and women arrived in Suriname. By year’s end, half of them had died, probably from typhus and tropical diseases. In the next few years, the survivors were joined by more migrants from Overijssel and Groningen. Now, 7 to 9 generations later, there have been an […]
An extensive list of books on history methods/ philosophy of history
This is by no means a complete list of all books on History Methods and the Philosophy of History, but it is a complete list of all such books that I own. A few years ago I may have owned only a dozen or so books in this field, but my collection grew as I […]
Environmental History of Dutch America
The North American Drought Index (http://drought.memphis.edu/NADA/Default.aspx) uses dendro-chronological data (tree-rings) to measure wet v. dry years over time and by region. The tool looks very impressive and I’ve only begun to figure out how it works. Essentially, you can select a custom area of the map of North America and a date range and then […]
The Longest Possible Dutch Name: Dutch Jokes in 19th Century Vermont
While looking for Dutch New York sources on newspapers.com, I’ve noticed a whole lot of Dutch jokes appearing in newspapers in Vermont in the 1820s through 1850s. There are a few reasons why I suppose this is the case. Vermont borders the Hudson Valley and so many Vermonters had crossed into New York State to […]
A Schepel of Wheat as Currency in Dutch New York
You might remember from history class that colonial Americans bought and sold things with Native Americans using wampum, that is beads made from shells. The Dutch in New Netherland used wampum too, but they called it “sewant.” This was an important but not the only form of money in the colony. In 17th century Virginia, […]
Was it really JKF? Why did Men Stop Wearing Hats?
An article by Adrian Wooldridge in the Economist’s 1843 magazine credits the 20th century decline in hat-wearing to two main causes: soldiers returning from World War Two bucking formality, and the influence of our President John “hatless Jack” Fitzgerald Kennedy. Both explanations are part of the story, to be sure, but they are far from […]
