Records of the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland
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Abstract
Records of the still-active Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland, a lineage organization open to qualified women who descend from Dutch settlers present in New Netherlands 1674 and earlier. The Daughters of Holland Dames' objectives are to perpetuate the memory and promote the virtues of the Dutch settlers by collecting and preserving historical and genealogical documents, encouraging historical research and erecting durable memorials in lasting tribute to the early Dutch settlers. Examples are: stained glass windows to Peter Stuyvesant at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (1903), and to Henry Hudson at the New-York Historical Society (1908). Includes board minutes, financial records, correspondence, ephemera, and membership applications.
Historical Note
The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland (DHD), was organized on 8 May 1895 and incorporated 9 December 1895 "to perpetuate the memory and promote the principles and virtues of the Dutch ancestors of its members" by collecting and preserving "genealogical and historical documents relating to the Dutch in America," encouraging "excellence in historical research," and establishing "commemorative and durable memorials in lasting tribute to the early Dutch settlers." Similar in aim to the males-only Holland Society of New York (established 1885), the DHD is open solely to women over the age of eighteen who can prove descent from an ancestor, male or female, who was born in the Netherlands or New Netherland prior to the 1674 Treaty of Westminster (when the Dutch ceded control of the region to the English), or whose ancestor resided in New Netherland prior to the Treaty of Westminster, or whose ancestor held some official capacity in New Netherland (e.g., a Director General; a member of the Director General's council; a member of a governmental or religious body; a patroon or freeholder; a commissioner of Indian Affairs, boundaries, or treaties; or a commissioned officer, soldier, or sailor who served in defense of New Netherland).
In fulfillment of its goals the DHD has placed Dutch-specific monuments around New York City, most notably at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, where a stained glass window to Peter Stuyvesant (1610-1672), last Director General of New Netherland, was installed above his burial vault in 1903, and at the New-York Historical Society, where a stained glass window entitled "Memorial to Henry Hudson: The Arrival of the Halve Maen, 1609," was installed in the library in 1908. (The DHD later funded the restoration of both windows.)
From 1915 through the 1990s the DHD provided partial scholarships to American college students of Dutch ancestry. They have supported Dutch historic sites in New York City, such as the 18th-century Hendrick I. Lott House in Marine Park, Brooklyn, and the Brinckerhoff Cemetery, a colonial-era burial ground in Fresh Meadows, Queens. The DHD has hosted visits of the Dutch royal family (by tradition its female members have been honorary Holland Dames), and participated in anniversary celebrations, such as the 2009 Henry Hudson Quadricentennial/NY400, in recognition of their Dutch ancestors.
The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland governing board is headed by its Directress General. The following women have held that position through 2020 (their membership numbers appear after their names):
Directresses General, 1895-2020
- 1895-1898
- Mrs. William Gihon (Caroline Remsen) [3]
- 1899-1902
- Miss Margaret Sophia Remsen [14]
- 1903-1906
- Mrs. Eugene A. Hoffman (Mary Crooke Elmendorf) [10]
- 1907-1909
- Mrs. Frederick Hasbrouck (Melinda Harriet Van Voorst) [39]
- 1910-1912
- Mrs. D. Phoenix Ingraham (Frances Adelaide Leverich) [80]
- 1913-1916
- Mrs. William Tod Helmuth (Fannie Ida Pritchard) [103]
- 1917-1920
- Mrs. James Allan MacDonald (Cara Crooke) [169]
- 1921-1924
- Mrs. Wright Prescott Edgerton (Fannie Helmuth) [153]
- 1925-1928
- Miss Margaret Augusta Jackson [78]
- 1929-1932
- Miss Louise Capron Rapalje [170]
- 1933-1935
- Mrs. Russell Evans Tucker (Clara deRussy Nichols) [255]
- 1936-1937
- Mrs. John Henry MacCracken (Edith Constable) [362]
- 1938-1941
- Mrs. William Henry Sage (Amelia Whitney) [317]
- 1942-1945
- Mrs. John Henry MacCracken (Edith Constable) [362]
- 1946-1950
- Mrs. Irving L. Cabot (Ida Livingston Hagedorn) [418]
- 1951-1952
- Mrs. C. Herbert Appleby (Leila Alice Varet) [466]
- 1952-1957
- Mrs. Quinto Maganini (Margaretta Mason Kingsbury) [460]
- 1958-1961
- Mrs. Robert Leighton Crawford (Leila Alice Varet) [466]
- 1962-1965
- Mrs. John Kean (Mary-Alice Barney) [472]
- 1966-1969
- Mrs. Hoyte Joyce (Anne Hoyte Hicks) [507]
- 1970-1973
- Mrs. Franklin Bache Satterthwaite (Emily Vaux Cresson) [494]
- 1974-1977
- Mrs. William Halsted Savage (Carolyn Bleecker Mackie) [545]
- 1978-1981
- Miss Catherine Cary [588]
- 1982-1987
- Mrs. William Jay Brennan Jr. (Lucy Curley Joyce) [530]
- 1988-1991
- Mrs. Charles James Irwin (Jane Remsen Darlington) [589]
- 1992-1995
- Mrs. Dennis Daughtry McCrary (Eugenia Potts Lester) [606]
- 1996-2001
- Mrs. Alexander O. Vietor (Anna Glen Butler) [597]
- 2002-2008
- Mrs. Ernest P. Brinkley (Barbara Alice Andrews) [673]
- 2008-2011
- Mrs. Lee Crandall Park (Mary Elizabeth Woodfill) [699]
- 2011-2017
- Mrs. Peter Kimmelman (Elbrun Eileen Russell-French) [683]
- 2017-2020
- Dr. Suzanne Roff, PhD [784]
[Adapted from Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland: Historical Records, 1895-2017, Including Reprints of the Society's Original Record Books, and Register of Members, 1895-2019. For information on the current activities of the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland, visit www.hollanddames.org.]
Arrangement
The collection is organized in four series:
Series I. Governance, 1895-2018
Subseries I.A. Founding documents, 1895-2006
Subseries I.B. Board Meeting minutes, 1895-2013
Subseries I.C. Reports, 1898-2012
Subseries I.D. Officers' files, 1919-2018 (bulk, 1992-2018)
Series II. Subject Files, 1892-2013
Subseries II.A. Meetings, luncheons, receptions, 1900-2013
Subseries II.B. Projects and general topics, 1896-2013
Subseries II.C. Talks & papers delivered before the Society & elsewhere, 1892-2013
Subseries II.D. Artifacts, circa 1898-1990s
Series III. Financial, 1896-2011
Subseries III.A. Treasurer's reports, correspondence, receipts, 1896-2011
Subseries III.B. Financial Statements & tax returns, 1964-2007
Subseries III.C. Banking and Investment records, 1938-2000
Subseries III.D. Miscellaneous financial records, 1898-1995
Series IV. Membership, 1895-2021
Subseries IV.A. Subseries IV.A. Membership registers, directories, record books, 1895-2021
Subseries IV.B. Membership Applications and Genealogical Proofs, 1895-2021 (RESTRICTED)
Scope and Contents
The records of the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland span from 1895, the year of the organization's founding, through 2019. Within the Society, each officer kept her own records, and reported the activities in her purview monthly or annually. As a result, and because the Society's records were never maintained in a central location, there are decided gaps in coverage. Despite this, the minutes of board and annual meetings provide the best documentation of the DHD's activities and projects, some of which are further detailed in dedicated folders. See, for instance, the papers generated by the 1903 installation of a stained glass window to Peter Stuyvesant in St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (box 9, folder 18), or the memorial to Society's communal Dutch ancestors proposed for Battery Park, and the ensuing litigation brought by its designer, sculptor Robert Aitken, who sued for payment (box 8, folder 12).
The collection includes applications for membership in the DHD, which document the lineage of each member back to her qualifying ancestor(s). Supplemental applications provide similar information for additional ancestors from whom members descend. Restrictions apply to this portion of the collection; see the note at "Subseries IV.B. Membership Applications and Genealogical Proofs, 1895-2019," in the container list, below.
Subjects
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials in this collection are stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Restriction: In transferring this collection to the New-York Historical Society, the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland (DHD) stipulated that the material under "Subseries IV.B. Membership Applications and Genealogical Proofs, 1895-2019," containing membership applications, supplemental applications, and working proof files, "be made available for scholarly research . . . 100 years after that member's birth year" (birth data is recorded with a member's name and unique number on their application). As the New-York Historical Society cannot revisit the collection annually to determine which applications have passed a century and should be deemed open, interested researchers should contact the DHD for details: www.hollanddames.org.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation Note
This collection should be cited as Records of the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland, MS 3034, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland, 2015, 2019, 2021.
Separated Materials
In 1992 Mrs. Mildred Toombs of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, donated to the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland an anonymous Revolutionary War diary and tune book dated 1781-1782. This came to the New-York Historical Society with the records of the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland, but because it has no bearing on the operations and activities of the organization, it is cataloged separately as AHMC - Revolutionary War diary.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta processed this collection in December 2017-February 2018, September 2020, and July 2021.