The Holland Society of New York is a historical and genealogical society founded in 1885 in New York City. Its primary goal is to gather and preserve information about the settlement and history of New Netherland, a Dutch colony in North America. The society focuses on researching and documenting the lives and experiences of the colony's inhabitants, its political, social, and religious patterns. It supports genealogical research and publishes historical publications.
The Holland Society is known for initiating projects such as the New Netherland Project, which translates and publishes 17th-century records from the New York State Archives.[1]
Membership in the society is open to both males and females, who are directly descended from an ancestor who lived in New Netherland before or during 1675.[2] Cecil B. DeMille, Humphrey Bogart, Henry Fonda, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John Updike were members.[3]
The Holland Society's library holds approximately 7,000 books, including local histories, family histories, genealogies, and reference materials. It also features a comprehensive collection of vertical files containing letters, photographs, genealogies, and press clippings.[4]