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Bibliographic Information
Title
Collection, ca. 1939-2013
Author
Van Loon, L. G. (Lawrence Gwyn), 1903-1985.
Pages:
1
Item info:
1 copy available at Manuscripts and Special Collections.
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Manuscripts and Special Collections
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SC16677
1
MANUSCRIPT
N (nocirc)
MARC Record
Collection, ca. 1939-2013
Van Loon, L. G. (Lawrence Gwyn), 1903-1985.
Control Number:
(OCoLC)820002315
Local call number:
SC16677
Author:
Van Loon, L. G. (Lawrence Gwyn), 1903-1985.
Title:
Collection, ca. 1939-2013.
Quantity:
1 box (0.25 cubic ft.)
Historical/biog note:
Lawrence Gwyn Van Loon (1903-1985) was a physician who spent much of his life and career in Reading, Pennsylvania. Later he was medical director of the Kalaupapa Mission in Molokai, Hawaii, followed by positions at state-run schools at Cresson, Pennsylvania, and Wassaic, Dutchess County, New York. In 1982 he retired and moved to Gloversville, New York, where he spent the last years of his life. His secondary avocation was history, specializing in research relative to the Dutch exploration and settlement in North America during the seventeenth century. This interest stems largely from the fact that he was a descendant of Jan van Loon, an early settler of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, which later became New York. Dr. Van Loon spent a considerable amount of time studying and learning the Dutch language. It seems he used his knowledge of the Dutch language and history to forge a number of documents during the 1930s that appeared to be historically authentic until a more thorough analysis of physical attributes, linguistics, and historical evidence done in the 1980s proved otherwise.
Review:
This collection consists of a number of documents the New York State Library acquired from Dr. L.G. Van Loon, circa 1939, that have largely been determined to be forgeries. The content of the documents generally concerns relations between the Dutch and Native Americans. One example is a letter supposedly written by Jeronimus dela Croix, with accompanying sketch map detailing the expedition led by Harmen Myndertsz van der Bogart from Fort Orange into the Mohawk Valley in the winter of 1634-1635. Careful analysis of the text of this document conducted by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna, and published in New York State History in 1985, points out linguistic errors as well as historical inaccuracies. The article references a laboratory analysis of the physical attributes of the document done at Buffalo State College which concluded the paper dated from the seventeenth century, but the ink dated from the twentieth century. Also the relative even density of the ink throughout the documents indicates that a more modern writing instrument was used and not a quill pen that would have been used in the seventeenth century. A copy of the Gehring and Starna article is included with the collection.
Provenance note:
Collation of a number of documents that were originally accessioned separately.
Finding aids:
Unpublished guide available in the repository.
Publications note:
Gehring, Charles, and William A. Starna. "A Case of Fraud: The Dela Croix Letter and Map, 1634," New York History 66 (July 1985), 249-266.
Subject:
Forgery of manuscripts--United States--History Sources.
Subject:
History--Errors, inventions, etc.
Geographic terms:
New York (State)--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--Forgeries.
Geographic terms:
New Netherland--History--Forgeries.
Electronic access:
Finding aid: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc16677.htm
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