Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs

Dr Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs

https://leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org/en

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

“In Remembrance of Dr. Jeremy Bangs.” Delano Kindred. < link >

Jeremy Bangs, Ph.D. (Univ. of Leiden, 1976) was Director and Founder of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum; former Visiting Curator of Manuscripts, Pilgrim Hall Museum (Plymouth, MA); Chief Curator, Plimoth Patuxet (formerly Plimoth Plantation); and Curator, Leiden Pilgrim Documents Center. Dr. Bangs was the author of over 30 books including Strangers and Pilgrims, Travelers and Sojourners (2009). Dr. Bangs was Knighted by the Netherlands for his work and his Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in Leiden.

From the many other tributes to Dr. Bangs that have been posted on the web and on Facebook by his friends, family, and colleagues, here are just a notable few: “Dr. Jeremy Bangs a witty, talented artist (see his drawing of the 1621 Fortune above), musician, historian, father, brother and husband and a world-renowned expert on the history of the separatists who lived and sailed to New England in 1620.”

“He was an art historian, Pilgrim scholar, and much more. He was a biographer and a novelist. He was an artist who illustrated some of his own publications. He was a composer and could play the bagpipes. Jeremy Bangs was a polymath, his knowledge and skills were only dwarfed by his always-present sense of dry humor. He will be missed.”

References

• https://leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org/en
• “In Remembrance of Dr. Jeremy Bangs.” Delano Kindred. < link >
• < Dowling genealogy >
• < Ancestry tree >
• “We invite you to enjoy another exclusive historian interview, this time with Dr. Jeremy Bangs, preemininent authority on the history of Plymouth Colony and the Pilgrims.” https://fb.watch/nm7nee83uU/
• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005256732738
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/258355959/jeremy-dupertuis-bangs