Dr Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs
The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum is mourning its director and founder, Dr Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs. Jeremy was a leading figure in the field of pilgrim history, and a very unique character.
He was born in Astoria, Oregon, but had very little influence on the town as he left when he was still an infant. After his art history studies in Chicago and Leiden, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1976, he stumbled upon the topic of pilgrim history while working at the Leiden archives. He used to say that people warned him: the subject was of little interest, and anyway, everything about it had already been discovered. His decades of scholarship afterwards proved this somewhat wrong. Jeremy worked as Visiting Curator of Manuscripts at Pilgrim Hall Museum, Chief Curator at Plimoth Plantation (today Plimoth Patuxet), before moving back to the Netherlands where he founded the Pilgrim Museum in Leiden, in 1997.
Author of over twenty books, some of his major works include Pilgrim Edward Winslow: New England’s First International Diplomat: A Documentary Biography (2004), Indian Deeds: Land Transactions in Plymouth Colony 1620-1691 (2008), Strangers and Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners (2009), New Light on the Old Colony: Plymouth, the Dutch Context of Toleration and Patterns of Pilgrim Commemoration (2019), Josias Wompatuck and the Titicut Reserve of the Mattakeeset - Massachusetts Tribe (2020), and a novel, De Kunst van de Scriptie (2023).
Jeremy’s work helped the understanding of various aspects of history: art history, colonist history, American history, Dutch history, religious history, social history. For his contribution, he was given the title of Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau by King Willem-Alexander. His research also allowed a better understanding of Native American history, especially land ownership in the 17th century, with an impact for people still today. As a result, he was very proud to have been awarded an honorary wampum necklace by the Cothutikut Mattakeeset Massachuset tribe.
His motivation and dedication were awe-inspiring and quite frankly exhausting to witness. Jeremy was a historian, an art historian, an artist, a writer, a musician, an educator, an acute observer of art as well as people, a stone-cold comedian, a husband, a father, and a very dear friend.
We are humbled by the task before us: continuing his legacy, and striving to keep alive his love for history and his respect for accuracy. All our love goes to his family and his friends, all around the world.
Trustee Board and Assistant Director
Contact email: director@leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org
People are welcome at the museum during opening hours if they want to write a personal note in our book of condolences, or send us an email at director@leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org. It will go to Jeremy's family
Located in a beautifully preserved house built ca 1365-1370 near the clock tower of the Hooglandse Kerk, the Leiden American Pilgrim museum tells the stories of the founders of New England, the Pilgrims. Furnishings from Pilgrim times show aspects of daily life, while events involving the Pilgrims themselves are illustrated with a remarkable collection of sixteenth and seventeenth-century maps and engravings by such artists as Gerard Mercator, Adrian van de Venne, Adriaen van Ostade, and Jacques de Gheyn.
The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum is one of the smallest museums in the Netherlands. We have two rooms, illustrating two specific time periods. One room shows what homes at the time of the Pilgrims were like, while the other is an exceptionally preserved medieval interior. A visit always has a unique and personal feeling, as it is guided by our expert who will tell you everything you’d like to know about the Pilgrims in Leiden and the museum’s collections (in English or French).
Due to the size of the museum, we may only allow a certain number of visitors at a time - you can reserve your tickets for a particular time slot to make sure you will have a spot.
