Left: the official Seal of the City of , as adopted by the Board of Aldermen on April 27, 1915. Below: the official Seal of the City of New York, as altered by the City Council on December 13, 1977.

PAUL O’DWYER AND CHANGING NEW YORK HISTORY

by Leo Hershkowitz

N JUNE 16, 1974, Paul Dutch heritage and the fact that “the O’Dwyer, President of the City city had then been in existence with a OCouncil, presented a bill (Intro- democratic form of government for duction No. 568), to change the year on thirty nine years” before 1664. The ’s official flag and seal Irish-born council member supplied a from 1664, the year the Dutch surren- number of historic examples of prior dered to the English, changes to induce the other forty-three to 1625, the year of the founding of council members to accept and pass his ing the existing coat-of-arms design, . The bill further pro- legislation. Among these members together with the year 1686. Then, in vided that the Latin inscription Sigillum were Thomas J. Cuite, majority leader, 1915, essentially under the direction of Civitatus Novi Eboraci (Seal of the Matthew J. Troy, David L. Dinkins, the Art Commission of the City of New City of New York) be omitted from the City Clerk and Clerk of the Council, York, a group that included Isaac N.P. seal, Eboraci being the Roman name Robert Wagner Jr., Henry J. Stern, and Stokes, Victor H. Paltsits, and John B. for what became York, England. This Peter F. Vallone.1 Pine, well-known collectors and histo- was, O’Dwyer said, not an attempt to There was precedent for a revision. rians, recommended a re-design of the twist the British Lion’s tail but, rather, In 1973, the State Legislature, at the “ancient corporate seal,” changing was intended to recognize the city’s request of Norman Goodman, New 1686 to 1664. The suggestion was York County Clerk, had approved leg- quickly adopted by the Board of Alder- Leo Hershkowitz is Professor of History islation adding to the year 1664 on the men on April 27, 1915, without dissent, at Queens College of The City University county seal the date of November 1, and approved by Irish-born Mayor John of New York. He is the author and editor 1683, when the county system of gov- P. Mitchell on May 1, 1915. This of, among other works, The Lee Max ernment was established under the marked the 250th anniversary of the es- Friedman Collection of American Jewish Dongan Charter. O’Dwyer, a student of tablishment of municipal government Colonial Correspondence: Letters of the and maker of city history, knew that the (1665) under English rule.2 It is pos- Franks Family, 1733-1748 (1968), city flag and seal had also been altered sible that the new date reflected public Tweed’s New York: Another Look (1978), many times. The first seal was created support for England during World War I. and Courts and Law in Early New York: in 1654 by the Dutch West India Com- While it had taken the Art Commis- Selected Essays (1978) as well as numer- pany and the first dated seal under the sion only two or three months to effect ous essays on New Netherland and early English rule was created in 1669, fol- its recommendation, O’Dwyer, faced New York. Dr. Hershkowitz was instru- lowed by one in 1686 and Dongan’s is- with a number of obstacles caused in mental in saving many early New suance of the City Charter. After the Amsterdam and New York City records Revolutionary War, a new seal was 1 See The New York Times, June 27, 1974. when the city was in the process of dis- adopted, substituting the American 2 John B. Pine, Seal and Flag of the City of New York posing of them. eagle for the English crown but keep- (New York, 1915), 86-99.

Winter 2008 79 Left: The official seal of the helpful.”4 Weissman had earlier writ- City of New Amsterdam, ten to Anthony J. Caracciola, counsel to Majority Leader Thomas Cuite, re- presented to the city by the garding Int. No. 568 and, on Septem- West India Company on ber 13, 1974, answered O’Dwyer by December 8, 1654. elaborating on an earlier letter to Caracciola responding to the new ques- tions. He ended his two-page reply with Librarian Steven Weissman. In a letter “From my readings and research, I am dated September 4, 1974, he asked sev- of the opinion that there was an active eral questions of the librarian, answers to and vibrant government in New York which would be of “help to the Majority before 1664.” A copy was sent to Leader [Cuite] when this legislation Caracciola. comes on for a hearing.” O’Dwyer wanted O’Dwyer, in his letter to Weissman, information on the brief 1673 recapture rejected claims by “noted New York of the colony by the Dutch: for example, historians” who argued that the first part by inertia and, perhaps, in part by if there were laws providing manumission city government was established in a lack of information, was forced to of slaves, if African-Americans were al- 1664. He was surely addressing con- wait almost three years for the final lowed to own land, the nature of local clusions reached by Philip Klingle of approval of the new flag and seal. His- government after and before 1664, the the New-York Historical Society who tory would be served, even it were to right of appeal, the limitations on the noted in The New York Times of June be a slow process. On July 9, 1974, his power of officials to inflict punishment, 27, 1974, that the “main point is that bill was referred to the Committee on the founding of the West India Company, the Dutch presence here was commer- General Welfare. It was titled, “A Lo- and the form of government outlined in cial, not a governmental one.” There cal Law to Amend the Administrative its charter of 1621. should be no change made in the year. Code of the City of New York, in rela- Surely, O’Dwyer continued, govern- This finding was questioned by tion to the official city flag,” which, ment was established prior to 1664. “I O’Dwyer and Weissman and, perhaps while keeping the traditional orange, am led to believe that there in the safe more importantly, by history. white, and blue and coat-of-arms, sub- of the City Clerk are original minutes No doubt, trade was at the heart of 3 of what would correspond to City stituted 1625 for 1664. 3 Minutes of the Common Council, 1974, p. 1364. Now O’Dwyer about the business Council meetings written in Dutch lan- 4 Paul O’Dwyer to Steven Weissman, September 4, of convincing his fellow council mem- guage. Any light you can throw on 1974, Folder City Flag and Seal, City Hall Library, 31 bers. He enlisted the aid of Legislative these matters would I’m sure, be most Chambers Street, New York.

From left to right: Dr. Julius Bloch of Queens College, Dr. Leo Hershkowitz, author of this article, and Paul O’Dwyer discuss the changing of the date on New York City’s Seal in O’Dwyer’s office in 1974.

80 de Halve Maen the colony; a glance at the City Seal with its beaver, flour barrels, Indian, and sailor are testimony to that. But the Dutch had also provided representative government as well as basic concepts (Peter) Paul O'Dwyer of tolerance, including that of religious (1907-1998), New freedom. Obviously, the existence of a York City Council free and open society before 1664 was something O’Dwyer knew about and President from 1974 wanted emphasized. F. C. Wieder’s De to 1977. It was due to Stichting van New York in Juli 1625 O’Dwyer’s efforts that (The Founding of New York in July, the Dutch origins of 1625), published in The Hague in 1925, is a basic reference of which, together New York City’s with others, he was aware. Wieder’s municipal founding book, based on original research in were finally officially Dutch archives, revealed that 1625 was recognized. the year of the planning and building of New