Dr. Elisabeth Paling Funk will discuss her recent book, “The Dutch World of Washington Irving: Knickerbocker’s History of New York and the Hudson Valley Folktales.” Washington Irving’s Knickerbocker History of New York is a satire on the seventeenth-century Dutch colony of New Netherland, on Irving’s own time, and on mankind in general. It is also the first historical work published in America that is largely devoted to New York’s Dutch beginnings. The Dutch World of Washington Irving demonstrates that the Knickerbocker History is tolerably accurate for its day and is based on available historical sources, including untranslated Dutch material, and that the work’s satire tends to cause Irving’s conscientious scholarship to be unjustly dismissed or ignored.

Born in Woerden, the Netherlands, Elisabeth Paling Funk received her PhD from Fordham University, taught English at the university level, and is now a translator, editor, and independent scholar. She lives in the Hudson Valley. Her book, The Dutch World of Washington Irving: Knickerbocker’s History and the Hudson Valley Folktales, was published by Cornell University Press in June 2025.

This is a virtual talk which will be held on Zoom. All SCHS members will receive a link in advance of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets.

Winter Speaker Series:

07 JAN Marie Danielle Annette Williams “Loyalists in the Adirondacks”
14 JAN Laurie Lawlor “Many Voices: Erie, the Canal that Changed America”
21 JAN Chuck Henry “First Draft of History: NY State Historic Newspapers”
28 JAN Ellen Ledoux “Laboring Mothers: Reproducing Women and Work in the 18th Century”

04 FEB Sarah Wassberg Johnson “Apples in America: A History”
06 FEB James Taub, Associate Curator, Museum of the American Revolution “Threads of Liberty”
11 FEB Mary Liz Stewart “Underground Railroad”
18 FEB Dr. Elisabeth Paling Funk “The Dutch World of Washington Irving”
21 FEB Chris Conto “The Daring Life of Arent Van Curler”
25 FEB Nancy Newman “Songs and Sounds of the Anti-Rent Movement in Upstate New York”

04 MAR Kevin Bronner “Albany During The American Revolution: Victory In Upstate New York”
11 MAR Prof. LaGarrett King “The African Americans’ Revolution”
18 MAR Craig Siulinski “The Early 20th Century Experience of Polish Immigrants in Schenectady”
21 MAR Multiple Speakers: “Ten Things You Didn’t Know About the American Revolution”
25 MAR Wally Wheeler, “Early Vernacular Architecture in Schenectady County”