Thursday, January 12, 2012

Guide to Dutch Lineage Research

Hello, everyone! Many of you might have Dutch ancestors who have coats of arms. Perhaps you'd like to know more about those families or are just curious about searching for ancestors in New Netherland. The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames has just published my guide to Dutch research -- and you can purchase a copy for just $10.00 plus postage, here: http://www.hollanddames.org/images/docs/hollanddamesgifts.pdf
















Scroll down the page to read about the guide; the order form is at the bottom. Clip, enclose your check, and mail. I hope this is helpful to you.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Alta Studia Heraldica

Hello, everyone. Duane Galles, a heraldist friend from the Midwest, pointed me to the journal Alta Studia Heraldica here: http://ash.heraldry.ca. This is published by the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, at www.heraldry.ca. The site is content rich; have a look and happy reading!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Stone Carving, Old School

Hello, everyone. I thought this was interesting, and heraldry-related. See photos of the Cathedral below, from April 2011. More to come!

http://www.westsiderag.com/2012/01/04/upper-west-side-stone-carver-chisels-away-at-st-john-the-unfinished

Monday, January 2, 2012

An Invitation ...

Please join the New York City Heraldry Facebook page for quick updates on activities, new photos, and heraldry news. The Wall is open to all group members, and I hope you'll post your heraldry news there, as well as your comments here. I'll continue to alert FB members to new posts here, too.

Thank you for your interest. It's exciting to read your comments and greet new blog followers!

Regarding the Old NYC Seal ...

The old seal (with the 1664 date) is hard to find, but about a year ago, I saw it on the base of a flagpole in Central Park. I KNOW I have a digital photo here ... somewhere ... but will return to take another and post it. Has anyone else seen it -- near the West 72nd Street entrance on low-rising hill?

Happy New Year!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Old Seal/New Seal - City of New York

Happy New Year! To start us off this year, Sandy Sanford explains why there were two dates on the seal of the City of New York, and why the older date prevailed. Here are the details:

The basic design of the Seal of the City of New York originated in the seventeenth century and has been in continuous use since that time with two major modifications: first, at the time of the American War of Independence, the crown originally at the top of the seal was replaced by an eagle, signifying the new nation; second, approximately two hundred years later the date at the bottom, which was originally 1664, was replaced with the date 1625.

Here is the seal dated 1664:



















from Seal and flag of the city of New York: authorized by the committee appointed by the mayor to commemorate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the installation of the first mayor ... Edited by John B. Pine. In the public domain; on Google Books.


The first date commemorated the year that the Dutch ceded control of New Amsterdam to the English. In the 1970s, however, a passionately anti-English New York City politician, Paul O'Dwyer, led the move to replace the date (1664) with one that made no reference to the English but rather commemorated the locating of the administrative center of the Dutch New Netherland colony to New Amsterdam.

Here is the newer seal with the older date:












This image (available from Wikipedia Commons) is in the public domain and is originally from Vector-Images. com. The vectorization is by Alexei Ishimov.