When thinking about the people of several centuries ago, living their lives here, where we too live, many, many questions can be asked, and answered. This project concerns itself with the items of ornament, the accessories, some with a purpose beyond decoration, that the colonists of early New York held precious. We might assume that the people here looked exactly like the people from the places they left, but what evidence do we have to show that? Very few portraits from the early era of colonial New York exist, so we are left with records; wills and estate inventories, lawsuits, account books, and other kinds of documents created by the local civil and religious authorities.