Finding Aid or Collection: New Amsterdam Records NYC - Translation of Ordinances of New Amsterdam, 1647 to 1661 (Series RNA_T1_BK1_1647-1661)

Handwritten translation in English from the Dutch Ordinances of New Amsterdam.

In 1848, E.B. O'Callaghan was hired by the City Council to complete the translations started by Cornelius Westbrook. It is unclear why he chose to retranslate the ordinances, but in 1868, O'Callaghan published a more complete "Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674." This volume included the early New Amsterdam ordinances, as well as records of the New Netherland colony. It is not clear why the New Amsterdam ordinance records end in 1661, three years before the English invasion.