In 1633, Griet Reyniers invented the role of the Manhattan woman on the
prowl, personifying the bawdy world the Dutch created when they settled
in the Hudson Valley and surrounding region. On May 14th, Bill Greer
explores this world in his talk “Sex and the City: The Early Years”
as part of the New York State Library’s noontime programs.

Using art, literature and folklore, Bill will discuss the Dutch culture
of the era and the libertine characters like Griet who transplanted it
to the Hudson Valley. The wanton ways of these early settlers helped
fuel a running battle between the people and their rulers, a conflict
many historians argue laid the foundation for the freedom-loving society
that America became.

Bill is the author of The Mevrouw Who Saved Manhattan, a novel of New
Amsterdam. De Halve Maen, Journal of the Holland Society, describes the
book as a “romp through the history of New Netherland that would
surely have Petrus Stuyvesant complaining about the riot transpiring
between its pages.” He is a trustee and the Treasurer of the New
Netherland Institute, a nonprofit organization supporting research and
education in Dutch-American history. The Institute currently is working
with the New York State Office of Cultural Education to establish the
New Netherland Research Center in Albany.

The talk will be in the Huxley Theater on the first floor of the
Cultural Education Center, home of the New York State Library, Museum
and Archives, at 310 Madison Avenue, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY. It
will run from 12:15 to 1:15 on Friday, May 14th. The program is free
and attendees are invited to bring lunch.

Contact: Bill Greer at 347-204-1917 or Bill@Billsbrowstone.com