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The long-standing reciprocal relationship between Amsterdam and New York is the focus of an international conference that will take place in the Municipal Archives Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 31 January and 1 February 2003: Parallel Cities: Amsterdam-New York 1653-2003. The commemoration of the introduction of a city government in Nieuw-Amsterdam modelled after the ‘old’ Amsterdam on 2 February 1653 is the occasion for this symposion. Thanks to the commercial interests and close ecclesiatical ties the relationship between the two cities remained intact even after Nieuw Amsterdam became New York in 1664.
This special relationship carries on in modern times. New York and Amsterdam are seen as icons of the modern world, in which history shapes identity. Amsterdam and New York derive their identity not only from their own local history, but they also attune it to each other. Each city pretends to be unique as a warehouse of the world, while they continue influencing and emulating one another.
This conference offers a coherent view of this unique urban connection by presentations on government, city planning, diplomacy, commerce, religion, architecture, art, literature, and tourism in the seventeenth till twentieth centuries. The presenters have a background in (public) history, archival collections, museums, urban planning, and city archeology.
The conference fee is € 50 covering admission, coffee, tea, and lunch. Registration (before January 15, 2003) at the Roosevelt Study Center. The program is listed on www.roosevelt.nl. All papers will be presented in English.
The conference will be held at the Gemeentearchief Amsterdam (Amsteldijk 67, 1074 HZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands), the depository of numerous original sources documenting the relationship between Amsterdam and New York. Co-organizers are the Amsterdam Center for the Study of the Golden Age, the Historisch Documentatiecentrum voor het Nederlands Protestantisme at the Vrije Universiteit and the Roosevelt Study Center at Middelburg.
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