Library Exhibits: Maps of New Netherland, New Amsterdam, and New England.
In 1948 the plight of a young man from The Netherlands came to the attention of Fr. Robert Gannon, S.J., the President of Fordham University. Bert Twaalfhoven and his family had lost everything in the bombing of The Hague. Fr. Gannon offered Bert a scholarship to Fordham and found him a job washing dishes in the Jesuit house on campus.
Over the course of his college career he supported himself as a waiter, translator, retail clerk, chauffeur, radio announcer, United Nations Guide, and camp counselor. He was also quite active as a student, chairing the International Club, the Industrial Club, and the Debating Club. As the Social Chairman of the International Club, he organized visits of the students to nearby women's colleges. It was at Marymount College that he met his wife Maria from Switzerland. They were engaged in 1953 and married in 1954.
Bert was very successful as a student. He graduated from Fordham's College of Business Administration in 1952 and won a scholarship to Harvard Business School from which he graduated in 1954. Bert has also been successful both as a family man and a businessman. He became a venture capitalist and created or bought 51 companies of which 17 were failures. The 34 successes, however, were very successful, indeed. Perhaps the most successful was his laundromat business with 350 locations in four countries. In 2000, at the height of the economic boom, Bert sold all of his holdings-a good fortune he ascribes to luck.
Bert and Maria have a united nations of children: two are Canadian born, one American, three Dutch, and two Swiss. Bert retains his Dutch citizenship and lives in Hilversum, The Netherlands.
Throughout his career, Bert has collected 16th, 17th, and 18th century maps of New York and New England with an emphasis on maps of New Netherlands and New Amsterdam. Those were the names by which New York State and New York City were known when they were Dutch colonies from the beginning of the 17th century until 1664 when the English took control and renamed them New York. Although the Dutch retook New York in 1674, they were not able to hold onto it for more than 15 months. The English held it for the next one hundred years or so until the American Revolution. Bert has decided to make a gift of these maps to the Fordham University Library. This gift of 22 handsomely framed maps is one of the most valuable ever received by the library. It provides us with an historical resource we would never have been able to afford on our own.
The maps, now on exhibit mainly in the Walsh Library with some being shown at Lincoln Center and some at Marymount, are beautiful and frequently charming. They are printed from copper plates and in many cases are colored by hand. A number of them contain images of Native Americans, animals, ships, and decorative cartouches framing the title of the map. One of them is more a view of New Amsterdam from the harbor than a map. This small piece is among the most striking of the collection.
In 1636 Jan Jansson (or Jansz) produced a map entitled Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium et Virginia (New England, New Netherland and Virginia). This map was one of the first to show the newly founded Dutch and English colonies in North America. It was frequently copied, revised, embellished, and reprinted. In the collection there are eight other maps obviously based on this one, but having their own special features.
In December, 2003, at the end of this exhibit, the maps will be permanently hung in spaces open to students and faculty. The bulk of them will be located in the Walsh Library Reference Room on the first floor. Several of the maps will be hung in the Quinn Library at Lincoln Center and in the Gaines Library at Marymount.