USA: Fort Orange exhibition opens in New York State Museum

The exhibition in the New York State Museum, titled “a small fort, which our people call Fort Orange”, examines the momentous archaeological discovery of the fort in 1970, as well as the lasting impact of the Dutch settlement of New York 400 years ago. The title is taken from The New World by Johannes De Laet, a director of the Dutch West India Company, written in 1625.

Fort Orange was excavated in 1970 and 1971 by a small archaeology team from the State Historic Trust (predecessor to the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, or OPRHP), headed by Paul Huey and composed mostly of volunteers. The archaeologists made remarkable discoveries about life in the Dutch colony at Fort Orange. In 2016, a collection of 36,000 artefacts from Fort Orange was transferred from OPRHP to the New York State Museum.

This exhibition includes select artefacts, film footage from the excavation, and highlights four decades of historical and archaeological research – including renderings of the fort by the historical artist Len Tantillo. Dutch ceramics on loan from the Albany Institute of History & Art help bring life to the story.

The exhibition is supported by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York as part of Dutch Culture USA and in partnership with Historic Albany Foundation.