President's Messages

President's Message
To the Board of Trustees
Holland Society of New York
March 13, 2008

"It is finished!" January 18, 2008 (my communication to a member)

In a letter from Kenneth Barricklo to the Trustees dated December 8, 2006, our member listed himself as Architect in Charge of the HSNY Project to move our Headquarters and wrote the words (t/b determined) beside the titles, Building Department Expeditor, Furnishings Person, Construction Manager and General Contractor. From speaking with Kenneth in quiet times, I know he never entered into this work for our Holland Society with the intention to ever assume the other roles with the responsibilities listed and described in his letter. But he did. With exception of significant commitment of time from John O. Delamater, negotiating problems ranging from lease terms to work stoppages and contract disputes, the other members of the Ad Hoc Committee, David Nostrand, Adrian Bogart, Jr. and I were merely in supporting cast roles to the star of this production Kenneth Barricklo. It was he who had the vision from the beginning bare walls to what has been described by many new visitors as the most august space on West 44th Street. Bearing considerable personal sacrifice at times, Ken never showed that to anyone, as he lead us to this successful, extraordinarily good ending. He knew all along where he wished to lead, and he did a superb job of communicating his vision to the rest of us. It is with heartfelt emotion, I thank our fellow member, Kenneth Hewes Barricklo, for his exemplary service to our Holland Society of New York.

Trustee Charles Wendell took the responsibility of affecting the physical move of our old office from East 58th Street. Together with a "bunch" of members and Friends assuming roles seldom performed, this group came together to carry out the work for our organization in assignments that week which I would describe as "a little outside" of the work we normally do each day. At the end of the week, all were pretty exhausted but proud to have helped.

David Nostrand wrote to my sister about a few members of this group.

Without discounting the considerable work of others in this move, I would like to concentrate for a moment on David Nostrand and his coming forth to serve. At a critical time in the project several months ago, David, when asked, was there ready to "do what was asked of him". We all are very appreciative of the timing of that involvement as he assumed a variety of responsibilities that needed immediate attention.

And at the end of week, I knew why it might have been important for him to come forward to serve as I sat watching him across the room. Though he was tired, dirty, with family waiting at home in Long Island, David sat for a few moments in a comfortable chair reading a volume from the newly stacked bookshelves about the New Jersey Nostrands. I hope he takes a moment many times to sit with members of his three generations of Nostrand family in that new Library that he helped create.

It is finished!

It is a time to celebrate a job well done. How proud we all should feel, an admirable goal accomplished with leading financial support from Robert G. Goelet, Peter Van Dyke and the Wyckoff Family, and the gifts of many of the rest of us.

The traditions of our Society abound in the office's library. The shelves contain our family stories and the maps and manuscripts of business and commerce conducted and the journals of the personal lives of our families. It is a library of the history of HSNY, with records and photographs of our events and dedications.

When we finished, we temporarily placed Astor the Beaver on the long library table to welcome the members back into the volume-filled room that will continue to serve as the repository of the volumes that contain our family stories.

I'm thinking of members, Friends and their families gathering together for a special occasion in New York City, coming into the Library to research and read a special book of their own family history in New Netherland.

I hope we use it simply to meet with each other from time to time. My first opportunity I had to use the new library, I found myself sitting with Diane at the long table, listening to Louis Springsteen speak about the past leaders of Holland Society with more detail than he had ever disclosed about them before. I wish I had a tape recorder as it was like a wonderful lesson about the recent history of our organization in a time period in which Louis has served. And as I listened to our beloved Secretary of the Holland Society of New York, I just wondered how many thousands of hours of his life Lou Springsteen had actually "given" our organization.

I'm encouraged because the other Dutch/American heritage-celebrating organizations are eager to see our new offices as well. Trustees Charles Wendell, Courtney Haff, Rett Zabriskie, Dr. David Voorhees and I welcome our Holland Society Fellow Charles Gehring and a cast of other exemplary members of the New Netherland history organizations, scheduled to meet in our library to discuss "things we all share in common" tomorrow afternoon.

With the move successfully accomplished, I now urge us to concentrate on what I consider very important work at hand. From our Constitution as adopted on April 10, 1885, Article II:

To collect and preserve information respecting the early history and settlement of New Netherland by the Dutch, and to discover, collect and preserve all still existing documents...relating to their genealogy and history…and…to gather by degrees a library for the use of the Society.

To those purposes of our organization, I bring you the following good news tonight. Barely five months after replacing me as Pacific Northwest Branch President, Edwin Outwater III has come forth to be involved in a national initiative. During a private conversation last month, Ed proposed to me during his first Branch Meeting he was hosting as President in Washington a very worthy goal sent to me by proposal outline the following week. He has volunteered to coordinate the stabilization/preservation of our library assets, preserving the "rare books" in order to move beyond simple storage. Ed has presented quite a comprehensive plan to proceed with this important work in a cooperative effort with private corporations with which he is connected. Edwin Outwater has stepped up with a substantial offer to help secure the funding of the goals of this outline. I have sent this proposal outline to Charles Wendell as Chairman of Library and Archives Committees.

However I also remind you all that we are temporarily without a Librarian, a situation unacceptable for our organization. It will take a concerted effort and considerable financial support to correct that unfortunate circumstance. I believe we are required to come to a consensus about the path we must immediately take. Discussion has begun in Executive Committee and in Library Committee concerning recommendations Rob Bruno suggested to secure our new Librarian. It is essential that the Board of Trustees discuss a permanent solution if we are able to do that.

As we physically move, it is time to open the file drawers and examine the contents. Dr. David Voorhees has brought to our attention a number of questions we should be concerning ourselves with about our collections, archives, and copyrights of the Holland Society. It is time to examine these issues.

Before the celebration begins in 2009, following this incredible effort to affect the move, I wish to concentrate these next few months on getting our library and archives in order and fully supported, and I welcome your help in accomplishing same.

Please welcome new Trustee-elect, Dr. Andrew Hendricks as newest member of our Board of Trustees. Most of us know him well, a man fully involved in financially supporting Dutch/America history projects from scholarships he awards to very active participation in the ship he created, Henry Hudson's Half Moon. For a few years now, we have been ready to bring Dr. Hendricks onboard to the table at Union Club. This year, he is finally available to serve in this capacity as Trustee. I welcome him to New York City tonight.

The agenda tonight of this Board of Trustees Meeting includes Hudson 400 Membership Campaign/Report on the Survey. I welcome Patrick Van Pelt, Membership Chairman and Texas Branch President. He comes to New York to report to you the results of his robust Membership Drive, including this report of the first ever Survey conducted of the Membership. I know you have all now received the packet containing the big orange flyer announcing the survey enclosed. A quick check before the meeting revealed to me that not all of you have completed the survey yet. I really hope you will sit for a few minutes and answer the important questions posed to you in that carefully drafted HSNY Survey.

Please join me in thanking Patrick Van Pelt for contributing the entire costs of creating the excellent survey and building the infrastructure online to tabulate and organize the answers received. And thank you to Dr. Bob Schenck, our Membership Committee Vice Chairman, for donating to the Society the costs of mailing the packages to the members. I also wish to thank the other members of that Committee, Dick Ten Eyck, Friend Martha VanDerbeek Unger, Lisa Lasher, Jill Jasso and Marcia Whitney-Schenck, who are all completely involved these days updating a seriously flawed database and corresponding with members, some who have not been contacted for years by our organization to solicit their thoughts.

Our agenda tonight also includes a report of the Henry Hudson Capital Campaign. Once again I wish to thank Charles Zabriskie, Chairman, as he continues to perform the considerable work of that Campaign, with help from his assistant Nancy Stokes. I also wish to remind you once again that all his work and the costs of that Campaign are being donated generously by Mr. Zabriskie.

All these good reports are indicators to me of our organization's well-being. With respect to most of the business of Holland Society of New York, all is well.

From that same Article II of our 1885 Constitution, you will read the words: To perpetuate the memory and foster and promote the principles and virtues of the Dutch ancestors of its members. To that end, I overheard one member's words stated by him following his walkabout that "our organization has made a bold statement" about our intentions. We are indeed here not just to remain, but we intend to continue forth into the next century in our leadership role as a heritage-celebrating organization. We have begun a significant membership drive, have received a substantial commitment of time and personal resources of our membership, have heard new proposals to collect and preserve our historical resources and we have assumed a leading role in the 2009 Celebration. I am confident we are here not just to remain, not simply to continue to exist with the other organizations for the next century, but to lead the way!

Together, Diane and I have logged over 60,000 miles for the work of HSNY to promote our organization to the Membership this past year. I know I speak for her as I thank you for a most enjoyable first year of leadership of Holland Society of New York. I have identified four major initiatives asked and have received considerable support from the membership of these initiatives we all have deemed important. Thank you for your support in leading with me this fine organization. I appreciate that you have given me this opportunity to serve you.

My best to you all this evening,
John Barcalow VanDerbeek IV
President, Holland Society of New York