Dr. Janny Venema, associate director of the New Netherland Project, will present the address "The Legacy of the New Netherland Colony for the United States" on Thursday, April 10, at 11 a.m. at Hope College in the DeWitt Center Herrick Room.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

The New Netherland Project was established under the sponsorship of the New York State Library and the Holland Society of New York. Its primary objective is to complete the transcription, translation, and publication of all Dutch documents in New York repositories relating to the 17th-century colony of New Netherland. The unique resource has already proven invaluable to scholars in a wide variety of disciplines, and also serves to enhance awareness of the major Dutch contributions to America over the centuries and the strong connections between the two countries.

In her lecture on April 10, Venema will discuss the work of the New Netherland Project, New Netherland in general and especially the source materials available pertaining to it, and her own current research, which is into Amsterdam at the beginning of the 17th century.

A native of the Netherlands, Venema joined the New Netherland Project in Albany, N.Y., in 1985. She was awarded a Master of Arts in history in 1990 by the University of the State of New York, Albany, N.Y., and a doctorate in 2003 by the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. She is the author of "Deacons' Account of Albany's FirstChurch, 1652-1674," which was published by Eerdmans in 1998 in the Historical Series of the RCA. She has also written numerous articles.

The Van Raalte Institute, which is sponsoring the lecture, specializes in scholarly research and writing on immigration and the contributions of the Dutch and their descendants in the United States. It is also dedicated to the study of the history of all the people who have comprised the community of Holland throughout its history. The institute is located in the Theil Research Center at 9 E. 10th St.

The DeWitt Center is located at 141 E. 12th St., facing Columbia Avenue at 12th Street.