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This outstanding contribution to Colonial social history is highly recommended for all undergraduate and graduate history collections. --Choice This is a beautiful book. Donna Merwick has written an intimate history of a sort of man few American historians have encountered, since almost none of us reads Dutch or has bothered to care about the Dutch in the New World. But mainly this is the work of an artist-historian, lovingly crafted to bring an obscure person (and profession) to life. What a triumph of historical sensibility! --Stanley N. Katz, Princeton University Not only will specialists find the book useful in the debate over Dutch-English influence in New York, but it is a good beginning for the general reader seeking to understand the state. Above all, however, Death of a Notary is a rare commodity for a history book--a good story told well. --Don Roper History Ms. Merwick's careful, moving reconstruction of Janse's life and death shows what happens when a person who lives by words finds those he knows no longer suffice. --The Chronicle of Higher Education Merwick presents a complex and fascinating account of van Ilpendam's career and daily life in late 17th-century Albany.... A major work of scholarship. --AB Bookman's Weekly Death of a Notary compellingly evokes the vanished Atlantic world the seventeenth century Dutch inhabited. Through Donna Merwick's amazing reconstruction of the life of a humble man, notary Adriaen Janse van Ilpendam, we understand his Dutch sense of place, both in the physical landscape and in his context of books, reports, and carefully crafted legal documents. Merwick allows us to comprehend the magnitude of change felt in all the minute details of daily life when conquered New Netherland became New York. All the certainties became uncertain as English practice replaced Dutch, and ordinary men and women found in countless daily ways that their assumptions and arrangements were now worthless.... The English and their historians reduced Dutch concerns to caricature and the caricature is repeated still. Donna Merwick's Death of a Notary makes such repetition impossible. --Karen Ordahl Kupperman, New York University Adriaen Janse van Ilpendam, notary of Albany, committed suicide in 1686, several years after the English had taken over New Netherland from the Dutch. In this fascinating book, Donna Merwick brings him to life again, and through him, the busy and sometimes troubled world of the Dutch settlers on their own and under conquest. In Merwick's vivid prose, every letter and notarized act is made to speak anew, carrying us across the ocean to Janse's childhood in Leiden through his years as schoolteacher and then notary in New Netherland. His melancholy end gives new insight into old age in a changing colonial society. Here, in Donna Merwick's deft hands, is microhistory as its best. --Natalie Zemon Davis, author of The Return of Martin Guerre A gem of a book.... The author describes Janse's notarial career as a matter of 'nearsighted work. And the metaphor applies to her own efforts as well... as Death of a Notary is a strikingly successful example of... microhistory. Merwick is, at the same time, an expert storyteller, one who can piece together her admittedly fragmentary evidence in compelling, sometimes surprising ways. --John Demos Washington Times A thoughtful examination of the roles played by writers and researchers, ruminating on the pawns that such average citizens can become both of history and of historians. --Library Journal Academic Newsletter

This outstanding contribution to Colonial social history is highly recommended for all undergraduate and graduate history collections. --Choice Not only will specialists find the book useful in the debate over Dutch-English influence in New York, but it is a good beginning for the general reader seeking to understand the state. Above all, however, Death of a Notary is a rare commodity for a history book--a good story told well. --Don Roper History Merwick presents a complex and fascinating account of van Ilpendam's career and daily life in late 17th-century Albany.... A major work of scholarship. --AB Bookman's Weekly Adriaen Janse van Ilpendam, notary of Albany, committed suicide in 1686, several years after the English had taken over New Netherland from the Dutch. In this fascinating book, Donna Merwick brings him to life again, and through him, the busy and sometimes troubled world of the Dutch settlers on their own and under conquest. In Merwick's vivid prose, every letter and notarized act is made to speak anew, carrying us across the ocean to Janse's childhood in Leiden through his years as schoolteacher and then notary in New Netherland. His melancholy end gives new insight into old age in a changing colonial society. Here, in Donna Merwick's deft hands, is microhistory as its best. --Natalie Zemon Davis, author of The Return of Martin Guerre A thoughtful examination of the roles played by writers and researchers, ruminating on the pawns that such average citizens can become both of history and of historians. --Library Journal Academic Newsletter This is a beautiful book. Donna Merwick has written an intimate history of a sort of man few American historians have encountered, since almost none of us reads Dutch or has bothered to care about the Dutch in the New World. But mainly this is the work of an artist-historian, lovingly crafted to bring an obscure person (and profession) to life. What a triumph of historical sensibility! --Stanley N. Katz, Princeton University Ms. Merwick's careful, moving reconstruction of Janse's life and death shows what happens when a person who lives by words finds those he knows no longer suffice. --The Chronicle of Higher Education Death of a Notary compellingly evokes the vanished Atlantic world the seventeenth century Dutch inhabited. Through Donna Merwick's amazing reconstruction of the life of a humble man, notary Adriaen Janse van Ilpendam, we understand his Dutch sense of place, both in the physical landscape and in his context of books, reports, and carefully crafted legal documents. Merwick allows us to comprehend the magnitude of change felt in all the minute details of daily life when conquered New Netherland became New York. All the certainties became uncertain as English practice replaced Dutch, and ordinary men and women found in countless daily ways that their assumptions and arrangements were now worthless.... The English and their historians reduced Dutch concerns to caricature and the caricature is repeated still. Donna Merwick's Death of a Notary makes such repetition impossible. --Karen Ordahl Kupperman, New York University A gem of a book.... The author describes Janse's notarial career as a matter of 'nearsighted work. And the metaphor applies to her own efforts as well... as Death of a Notary is a strikingly successful example of... microhistory. Merwick is, at the same time, an expert storyteller, one who can piece together her admittedly fragmentary evidence in compelling, sometimes surprising ways. --John Demos Washington Times

This is a beautiful book. Donna Merwick has written an intimate history of a sort of man few American historians have encountered, since almost none of us reads Dutch or has bothered to care about the Dutch in the New World. But mainly this is the work of an artist-historian, lovingly crafted to bring an obscure person (and profession) to life. What a triumph of historical sensibility! -- Stanley N. Katz, Princeton University Death of a Notary compellingly evokes the vanished Atlantic world the seventeenth century Dutch inhabited. Through Donna Merwick's amazing reconstruction of the life of a humble man, notary Adriaen Janse van Ilpendam, we understand his Dutch sense of place, both in the physical landscape and in his context of books, reports, and carefully crafted legal documents. Merwick allows us to comprehend the magnitude of change felt in all the minute details of daily life when conquered New Netherland became New York. All the certainties became uncertain as English practice replaced Dutch, and ordinary men and women found in countless daily ways that their assumptions and arrangements were now worthless.... The English and their historians reduced Dutch concerns to caricature and the caricature is repeated still. Donna Merwick's Death of a Notary makes such repetition impossible. -- Karen Ordahl Kupperman, New York University Adriaen Janse van Ilpendam, notary of Albany, committed suicide in 1686, several years after the English had taken over New Netherland from the Dutch. In this fascinating book, Donna Merwick brings him to life again, and through him, the busy and sometimes troubled world of the Dutch settlers on their own and under conquest. In Merwick's vivid prose, every letter and notarized act is made to speak anew, carrying us across the ocean to Janse's childhood in Leiden through his years as schoolteacher and then notary in New Netherland. His melancholy end gives new insight into old age in a changing colonial society. Here, in Donna Merwick's deft hands, is microhistory as its best. -- Natalie Zemon Davis, author of <I>The Return of Martin Guerre</I> This outstanding contribution to Colonial social history is highly recommended for all undergraduate and graduate history collections. * Choice * Not only will specialists find the book useful in the debate over Dutch-English influence in New York, but it is a good beginning for the general reader seeking to understand the state. Above all, however, Death of a Notary is a rare commodity for a history book-a good story told well. -- Don Roper * History * Ms. Merwick's careful, moving reconstruction of Janse's life and death shows what happens when a person who lives by words finds those he knows no longer suffice. * The Chronicle of Higher Education * Merwick presents a complex and fascinating account of van Ilpendam's career and daily life in late 17th-century Albany.... A major work of scholarship. * AB Bookman's Weekly * A gem of a book.... The author describes Janse's notarial career as a matter of 'nearsighted work. And the metaphor applies to her own efforts as well... as Death of a Notary is a strikingly successful example of... microhistory. Merwick is, at the same time, an expert storyteller, one who can piece together her admittedly fragmentary evidence in compelling, sometimes surprising ways. -- John Demos * Washington Times * A thoughtful examination of the roles played by writers and researchers, ruminating on the pawns that such average citizens can become both of history and of historians. * Library Journal Academic Newsletter *

Author Information

Donna Merwick is Visiting Fellow at the Center for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University. Her most recent book is Possessing Albany, 1630-1710: The Dutch and English Experiences.

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