section 11 – Sister Republics : Netherlands & America

Interior with a Young Couple

By: Arianne Bisar, Amina Zaidi, and Jason Ni

Honors Colloquium Spring 2016, Section 11

Interior with a Young Couple

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art 40.779437, -73.963244

Description

Interior with a Young Couple was painted by Pieter de Hooch in the year 1662. It is showcased in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1913, philanthropist Benjamin Altman purchased this painting and it was placed in the Metropolitan in the same year. There, it is part of the Dutch Golden Age collection with paintings of other Dutch painters like Rembrandt and Hals.

This oil painting captures a scene of the interior of the house of a husband and wife. It shows clear influences from Rembrandt such as use of warm colors, use of gold and placement of the subjects. Like other Dutch Golden Age painters, de Hooch used dark colors and balanced compositions, played with light and perspective and paid attention to small details. He likes to use open doors, windows and hallways like in the painting. With these techniques he creates a very calm and peaceful portrait of the couple. De Hooch mostly painted scenes of the tavern or soldiers and switched to domestic scenes when he started his family in mid 1650s.

What story about the Dutch in America does your story tell

This painting shows the domestic scene of Dutch culture, with this painting we are able to see the mundane details of their everyday life. These types of paintings were very common during this era. Because of the economic prosperity in the Netherlands, an elite merchant class arose. People became rich enough to get portraits painted of them. The gold curtains and tile floor depicts this couple’s wealth. This also shows how women play a role in society. The painting even shows the woman standing and the man sitting. Women in the Dutch republic had one of the highest literacy rates than anywhere else in Europe. While their husbands were at sea, they took over their business. Even though this painting has both a man and a women, paintings of women in the household vastly outnumbered male portraits. Running the household was very much a woman’s job. Cleanliness is also something the Dutch take pride in; it represented virtue and good citizenship. This painting also depicts how clean and orderly their house is.

Bibliography

“Interior With A Young Couple – Pieter De Hooch.” YodelOut Art. YodelOut Art, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

“Interior with a Young Couple Pieter De Hooch 1662-66.” Interior with a Young Couple by Pieter De Hooch, 1662-66. FindTheData, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

“Interior with a Young Couple.” The Met. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.

“Pieter De Hooch.” Pieter De Hooch. Pagina Artis, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

“Pieter De Hooch.” RKD. Netherlands Institute for Art History, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.

The Rutgers History Lesson

Section 11- Chris Kay, Neven Abdo, Kedar Trivedi

“The Rutgers History Lesson”

Lyrics for “The Rutgers History Lesson”

In seventeen and sixty six
On the banks of the old Raritan
A Dutchman’s college in the sticks
Oh, then began.
The Revolution came,
With a boom, boom, boom,
And a zoom, zoom, zoom,
With a boom, and a zoom, and a boom.
But all through the shot and shell
The Dutchmen, they fought like—well
The old Queens flag on high shall fly forevermore.

In eighteen hundred sixty nine
From a place with a mild bid to fame
Came twenty five Tigers in their prime
To play a game.
And football then was born,
With a punt, punt, punt,
And a grunt, grunt, grunt,
With a punt, and a grunt, and a punt.
But although the Princeton yell
Resounded as loud as—well
The old Queens flag on high shall fly forevermore.

In nineteen hundred and eighteen
Just a mile or a bit more from Queens
An institution we esteem
Came on the scene.
Oh Douglass C we hail,
With a mm, mm, mm,
And an oh, oh, oh,
With an mm, and an oh, and an mm.
But when the last truth we tell
The rest may all go to—well
The old Queens flag on high shall fly forevermore.

Background for “The Rutgers History Lesson”

The “Rutgers History Lesson” isn’t the most straight-forward monument to Rutgers’ Dutch Heritage. This is because it is a song and not a tangible artifact. But our group felt that once one took a step back from the obvious, the song actually managed to capture the essence of Rutgers and its heritage better than any static object. The song was written for the Glee Club to serve as a memorial to several of Rutgers’ most celebrated moments. It recounts the school’s founding as a Dutch seminary, it’s small but important role in the Revolution, the first collegiate football game, and the founding of our women’s college on Douglas Campus. Our group selected this song as our “object” because it captured the full spectrum of the Rutgers’ experience. Some songs, like our Alma Mater, give only a brief slice of our history; this piece provides a fuller picture and we saw that as something worth directing more attention towards. Additionally, this song helps remind everyone within the Rutgers’ community of just how rich our history is. There are few schools who can list off as long or successful a resume as ours and such history shouldn’t go unappreciated. The beauty of this song is that it allows everyone to have that moment of appreciation. Unfortunately our group was unable to find who wrote the “The Rutgers History Lesson” or when they might have written it but we do know that the Rutgers Glee Club performed the song for their record The Bells Must Ring which was released in 1998. “The Rutgers History Lesson” is an even more perfect song to represent our heritage this year as we celebrate our 250 year anniversary because, as we’ve said already, the song encapsulates some of our proudest accomplishments.

Bibliography:

http://gleeclub.rutgers.edu/~rugc/cds/

http://identity.rutgers.edu/elements-system/university-flag

http://www.rutgers.edu/about/traditional-songs

Geology Hall

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Geology Hall 40.497842, -74.446429

By Matt Hinger and Abdul Abdul – Section 11

Geology Hall is building in the historic Queens section of the College Avenue campus at Rutgers. Designed Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Geology Hall was ordered to be built by President William Henry Campbell in order to expand the Rutgers facilities near Old Queens in 1872. When Rutgers was chosen as New Jersey’s Land Grant College in 1864, fundraising began for the creation of new buildings on campus, and Geology Hall became one of the first projects to be completed. Henry Hardenbergh, born in New Brunswick to a Dutch family, designed Geology Hall in a way that imitates gothic architecture in the Netherlands. In 1872, Geology Professor George H. Cook utilized the building to found the Rutgers Geology Museum. The Museum has housed many artifacts, including a prehistoric skull that was initially found in Holland in 1720. The native Dutch artifact serves as a connection between the University and Dutch history that traces back even further than the founding of Rutgers.

We decided to pick Geology Hall because it is a major Rutgers landmark that ties both directly and indirectly with Dutch heritage. Derived from a Dutch designer, it connects with the traditionally Dutch influences that Rutgers is known for in the College’s early years. The Dutch style of the architecture is a true standing reminder of the origins of the University. It still operates to this day as the house of many geological collections and artifacts, and is open for visitation to the public. Bill Selden, former director of the Museum said in an interview with the Daily Targum, “’The thing about the Old Queens Campus in general is the fact that it is an architectural record of the change from natural philosophy to the arts and sciences,’”.

geologhall skull

Works Cited

1) Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Rutgers University Libraries. “Paths to Historic Rutgers: A Self-Guided Tour” from the Special Collections and University Archives: University Archives. Retrieved September 27, 2013.

2) Olsson, Richard. “History of EPS: A Brief History Of Geology At Rutgers, 1830–1980” at Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (official website). Retrieved September 27, 2013.

3) Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey — Rutgers Geology Museum. “About the Museum”. Retrieved September 27, 2013.

4) Szteinbaum, Sabrina. “Rutgers Geology Museum to Remain Fixture on Campus.”The Daily Targum. Rutger University Press, 04 Sept. 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2016. <http://www.dailytargum.com/article/2013/09/rutgers-geology-museum-to-remain-fixture-on-campus>.

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Abraham Staats House

Moksh Gudala and Sukeerthi Bitra

The Abraham Staats House is located on the banks of the Raritan River on 17 von Steuben Lane, in South Bound Brook, New Jersey, which is about 5 miles up the river from Rutgers College Avenue campus. Abraham Staats, who was one of the original dutch settlers in a land then known as New Netherlands, his wife Margaret DuBois, and his six children lived in this house in the mid to late 18th century. During the Revolutionary war, Staats was a known patriot and rebel against the British. Staats was even considered an “arch traitor” by the British, as “local legend suggests that Staats was involved in a spy network” (Staats History).

General Baron von Steuben, who was the inspector general of the army, was eventually quartered at the Staats’ house during the war, and during his extended stay, many famous figures from the Revolutionary War, such as George Washington, visited the Staats’ house to meet with General von Steuben. General von Steuben even held a ceremony for the French Minister Girard during his stay, which included a reception where eight regiments of soldiers came to honor Washington and the army. We chose the Abraham Staats House in particular because it shows the importance of Dutch heritage and how it can still hold value in a place that is close to our home. This house is one of the finest standing buildings left from the Dutch settlement that holds a rich history. The Abraham Staats House is a reminder to Rutgers students of the historical value of the area around Rutgers both in the existence of Dutch settlements and the role the people of this area played in the Revolutionary War.

Home to a New World Dutch family for nearly 200 years, the Abraham Staats House has been enlarged many times and now includes a Federal/Greek Revival two-story addition. The central part of the house is the oldest and the west and east wing were added later on in the 18th and 19th century. Some notable features of the house include an old kitchen with a large fireplace and a Dutch-style staircase. Standing as one of the greatest remaining buildings from the Dutch settlement of the Raritan Valley, this house has been added onto the New Jersey Register of Historic Places.

Abraham Staats House

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Abraham Staats House 40.551541, -74.520681

Bibliography:

http://www.staatshouse.org/

http://gardenstatelegacy.com/files/The_Abraham_Staats_House_Ormosi_GSL1.pdf

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The Morris Canal

By: Trevor Jurkowski, Winston Shaw, & Jonah Wasserman

What is it?

The Morris Canal is an expansive waterway system that facilitates transportation through the ingenious use of water inclined planes and locks for scaling minor disparities in elevation. Throughout the network, there are 23 planes and 23 locks – the planes can accommodate differences in elevation of up to 20 feet, and the locks up to 10 feet.

MC_1 — Entrance to the Morris Canal in Phillipsburg, NJ BestBudBrian via Wikimedia Foundation CC BY-SA 3.0

Originally, the canal spanned a length of 90 miles from Phillipsburg to Newark, but in 1836, an 11 mile extension was added that connected Newark and Jersey City resulting in a total length of 102.15 miles (109.26 miles if the 4.26 miles to the Pompton feeder lock, 1.76 miles to Pompton Iron Works, 0.67 miles to the Lake Hopatcong feeder, and 0.42 miles to the small/large basin in Jersey City are considered). The final dimensions of the dam after this renovation was a surface width of 40 ft, and depth of 5 ft. The canal accounts for the 760 feet difference between the low waters of Phillipsburg and the summit of Lake Hopatcong, as well as the 914 feet difference between the summit and and the mean tide at Jersey City. Hence, the canal addresses an overall 1674 feet difference between Phillipsburg and Jersey City via the implementation of waterway mechanisms such as planes and locks.

Where is it?

Morris Canal Entrance

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Morris Canal Entrance 40.678783, -75.177512

1827_Morris_Canal — Original Canal Map Wikimedia Foundation CC BY-SA 3.0

As you can see through this map, the Canal began in Phillipsburg, NJ in Warren County, where ships from the Delaware River or the Lehigh Valley cities of Allentown, Easton, and Bethlehem had easy access. From there, it travels up Warren County to Hackettstown, before it straddles the border between Sussex and Morris counties. It runs through several towns along the length of Morris county including Dover, Morristown, Rockaway, and Montville. After that, it leads into Paterson and then Newark and Jersey City, where there is easy access to the port of New York as well as the Atlantic Ocean.

Unfortunately, the Canal was closed in 1924, brought down by the advent of railroads and the automobile. Since then, much of the Canal has been filled in, but there are traces of it in most if not all towns through which it passed. In Trevor’s hometown of Phillipsburg, for example, he’s never seen the entrance to the old canal but there is a length of raised earth that borders a farm and a shopping plaza; Lock street was also paved on top of it.

Connections to the Dutch

Morris_canal_in_Paterson_NJ_from_HABS — Morris Canal in Paterson Wikimedia Foundation

These two pictures highlight what you were probably already thinking. What is more Dutch than a nice canal? Of course, there are the obvious similarities of transportation and trade but further connections abound through the passing of time. For example, what is one thing that you notice in the bottom photo that isn’t in the top photo? Cars!

Over the course of the twentieth century, cities around the globe grappled with how to accommodate the automobile into the fabric of the city. After all, many roads were made of dirt, for horse carriages, and most were not wide enough to fit two lanes. In order to make room for more cars and people, certain portions of canals were filled in and made into roads. Also, the city built public works such as parks, constructed by unemployed men who risked losing their benefits. These two aspects directly mirror development in New Jersey. Much of the state, not to mention much of the Morris Canal, was paved with highways. In fact, parts of the Parkway and Route 9 were built directly on top of the canal and part of the length from Newark to Jersey City is now covered in railroad tracks, and they were similarly constructed as part of a public works plan in the United States. As for parks, there exists a Morris Canal Foundation which strives to make a greenway park out of its existing portions. There’s also a park and nature preserve in Clifton, bordering none other than the Garden State Parkway.

Citation

: http://www.morriscanal.org/history.htm

http://www.canalsocietynj.org/morrisfact0.html

http://www.cliftonhistory.org/mocanal.html

http://www.njskylands.com/hsmorriscanal

Goller, Robert (1999). The Morris Canal, Across New Jersey by Water and Rail (First ed.). Arcadia Publishing.

Kirkpatrick Chapel

Kirkpatrick%20Chapel%20-%201

Honors Colloquium Spring 2016, Section 11

Dutch Influence At Rutgers & Beyond; As Seen Through Kirkpatrick Chapel

By: Harry Buscher, Jaffer Hashmi, and Matthew Peyrek

Kirkpatrick Chapel is one of Rutgers University’s more famous landmarks. It is located on the College Avenue campus within the Old Queens complex of the university. It was designed and built by the famous architect, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who also designed Geology Hall. It was built to honor the memory of Sophia Astley Kirkpatrick, a wife of a trustee of Rutgers College, whose donation funded the construction in 1873.

Designed by a Dutch architect who, using Dutch influence as inspiration, went on to design and build National Historic Landmarks such as the Dakota building in New York City or, more famously, The Plaza Hotel.

Kirkpatrick Chapel, having been built at Rutgers College and whose construction was funded in memory of the wife of a Rutgers trustee, was originally designed to serve as a chapel and to house the college’s library. However, with the construction of Voorhees Hall the library was moved and the chapel became less used for worship and moved as a place for academic programs and other special lectures. Later in its life, Kirkpatrick Chapel was expanded in 1916 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the college.

We chose this object for multiple reasons. We took a walking tour of Queens College with our Colloquium group and one of the stops was Kirkpatrick Chapel. We were fascinated by the church and decided to explore its history a little more in depth. We were delighted to find that it had Dutch roots and eagerly began the process to get Kirkpatrick Chapel approved as our artifact.

Today, Kirkpatrick Chapel is home of the university’s most advanced choir-Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir. It is used by the Mason Gross School of the Arts as a performance venue and is a very desired location to hold weddings and other ceremonies. Across the yard at Old Queens, adjacent to both Kirkpatrick Chapel, stand is the Class of 1877 Cannon where as a graduation tradition, seniors break clay pipes over the cannon as the Henry Rutgers Bell rings.

Kirkpatrick Chapel, while not Dutch in design, stands firm as a beacon and symbol of the Dutch influence at Rutgers and beyond. Its famous architect, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh went on to design many famous National Historic Landmarks and his great-great grandfather, Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh served as the first President of Queen’s College, now Rutgers University.

The history and traditions of Queen’s College are represented by Kirkpatrick Chapel. Kirkpatrick Chapel stands as one of the oldest buildings at Rutgers and in the entire city of New Brunswick-A testament to the Dutch and their influence at Rutgers University and Beyond. Kirkpatrick stands with Rutgers, Revolutionary for 250 years.

Kirkpatrick Chapel

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Kirkpatrick Chapel 40.498861, -74.445830

Bibliography

http://www.kirkpatrickchapel.rutgers.edu/about/history

http://www.masongross.rutgers.edu/sites/mgsa/files/images/Kirkpatrick%20Chapel%20-%201

https ://www.rutgers.edu/about/history/past-presidents/jacob-rutsen-hardenbergh

http ://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/realestate/streetscapes-henry-janeway-hardenbergh-architect-who-left-indelible-imprint.html

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