Annual Report 2008 International Institute of Social History Annual Report 2008 Annual Report 2008 International Institute of Social History Amsterdam 2009 Table of Contents 7 General Survey 84 Pending PhD Projects Supervised by 10 The Institute in Figures IISH Staff 12 Financial Survey 86 PhD Projects completed with 13 Social Survey Supervision from IISH Staff 86 Teaching Assignments of Research 14 Staff Council Fellows Academic Year 2008 - 2009 88 Scholarly Publications 15 Accessions 96 Professional Publications 99 Aksant Publications on Social History 18 Access and preservation 100 Aksant Publications on Economic 18 Archives History 19 Library 101 Lectures and Interviews 20 Lists and Inventories 110 Participation in External Conferences 21 Image and Sound Collection and Foreign Travel 22 Documentation 114 Meetings Held at the Institute 23 Stacks and Reproduction 116 Exhibitions and other Productions with 23 Preservation Assistance from the IISH 24 Albert Einstein at the IISH 117 Abbreviations 26 NVSH 119 The Institute in Brief 27 Services 119 Practical Information 120 Organization chart 28 ESSHC 123 History and Activities 126 Friends of the IISH 29 Research and Publications 31 Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations 1500 - 2000 33 Conferences 35 Censorship! 55 Commodities 75 Appendices 75 Boards 76 Staff 80 Membership of Boards and Committees General Survey 2008 has been a year in which bottlenecks Amsterdam and has already discussed 7 were identified and several strategic collaboration on various occasions. The first decisions reached. Clearly, these strategic results of the new communication practices decisions did not achieve an impact during have been manifested through media the year under review, but their effects will coverage of discoveries in the IISH collections, materialize from 2009 onwards. particularly the ‘Einstein papers.’ Analysing the obstacles revealed that The Institute will continue to pursue the funding is tight at the IISH, both because price current course of action, in which automation increases for goods and services are and digitization have been designated as key compensated only in part, and because the processes, with noticeable effects in every Institute employs more staff than can be paid department and activity of the IISH, on the from the Royal Academy grant and funding for basis of the Information Policy Plan research projects. These staff members are applauded by the evaluation committee. This paid from several different sources of income, policy entails coordinating the changes but the Institute receives no compensation for throughout the organization necessitated by pay raises according to the collective labour technological advances and seeking solutions agreement to which they are entitled and this suitable for multiple applications. Open- strains the budget nonetheless. source programming is used whenever Internal strength-weakness analysis has possible, in all cases following careful review demonstrated that the IISH has an excellent to determine whether internal development reputation among scholarly circles, based on adds sufficient value over purchasing existing its collections as well as on the research systems. Devising a clear game plan for conducted there, as confirmed by the allocating, implementing, and monitoring qualification ‘excellent’ that visiting projects within the IISH and reorganizing the evaluation committees attributed to the Digital Infrastructure Department have proven operations of the Institute in both 2007 and necessary. The IISH uses internal ICT capacity 2008. The analysis also revealed, however, to serve the core operations of research and that the IISH is largely an institution by and collection development and outsources basic for researchers and as such has relatively office automation whenever possible. few interactions with and little impact on the Because the rapid, technology-driven outside world. This finding has led to devising changes in the world of research and in that a PR and communications policy with of archive and library collections also affect assistance from the KNAW’s PR department, and will continue to affect the nature of including the recruitment of a new staff operations within the Institute, a competence- member. The objective is to enhance the development trajectory was planned in social visibility of the IISH, as well as to conjunction with the KNAW’s P&O Department increase public support for the Institute. In in 2008. The objective is to determine on the this context the IISH attaches special basis of a shared vision of the future in 2015 importance to its ties with the City of within the different task forces of the collections department which competences to secure ‘sustainability’ began, and in 2009 a (in terms of knowledge and skills) will be project will be developed to be implemented required, to identify in what measure staff parallel with the elaboration of extra- 8 members presently possess these European operations. competences, and to determine what needs In addition to the limited financial means to be done to ensure that the required (for the reasons indicated above), lack of competences are present in 2015. In all space is a growing concern. The planned likelihood, the traditional divisions between expansion of the building has been postponed the archive, the library, and the audiovisual by three years because of the debate within materials will lose their importance as the parent organisation, the Royal Nether- primary organizing principle in the process. lands Academy of Arts and Sciences, about In the second half of 2008, much time was possible clustering of its humanities devoted to drafting a vision of the future institutes, and the IISH has therefore had to relationship between the two pillars of the lease office space elsewhere. The transfer of Institute: collections and research. The basic the Academy library to the IISH and average principle is that both sides wish to shift their annual growth of the Institute’s collections by emphasis from the traditional collection more than 1,000 m of shelf space is filling the development and research areas (the warehouses as well. In early 2009 the future Netherlands and Europe) to the ‘global South’ occupancy of the Cruquiusweg premises (Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin became sufficiently clear to start the America). The result is a new architecture, remodelling and expansion project. The involving twelve new positions, six for senior underlying memorandum of understanding researchers/chief collectors in Amsterdam, was signed by the KNAW, the IISH, and the IIAV and six for staffing regional representative in 2008 and indicates that the three parties offices in the regions outside Europe. aim to place the international archive of the Internal resources would enable the IISH to women’s movement (the IIAV) on the expanded complete this transition by 2014, but nearly IISH premises, which will once again reunite 800,000 Euros in financial aid has been these two chips from the same block founded requested from the KNAW strategy fund to by Mr and Mrs Posthumus in 1935. accelerate the process. The request has In 2008 the Institute received a visit from already been approved. an evaluation committee to conduct a mid- During the years ahead, IISH staff will age term review of the Institute’s collection and significantly, especially in the collection collection policies. The evaluation yielded development department. This trend provides extremely favourable results. The committee opportunities (e.g. the change of course summarized its rating as excellent and described above), although lasting explicitly supported the Institute’s decisions, preservation of the vast knowledge of the especially with respect to the digitization and collections acquired by the specialists over internationalization. In 2007 the Research the course of twenty or thirty years and Department had already been evaluated as ensuring that such knowledge remains excellent, especially because of its pioneering accessible to future users of the collections role in developing Global Labour History, are important priorities. In 2008 preparations internationally comparative study of the historical development of labour relations. In rather than at the IISH. This experience shows 2008, the Global Collaboratory on the History that one of the great strengths of the IISH is of Labour Relations began, sponsored by the at the same time a continuous weakness: the Barbara Henkel Stiftung and the NWO. absence of teaching responsibilities, minimal Construction of data collections (the ‘global bureaucracy, and high standards of the staff 9 hubs’) on labour, wages and prices, and make for an ideal environment for planning strikes evolved into the central infrastructure projects and applying for funding, but the of IISH research. One of the major data small permanent staff severely curtails career collections of the IISH (the Historical Sample prospects. The IISH tries to compensate by of the Netherlands) entered its final year of setting up endowed chairs at Dutch guaranteed financing. Funding has yet to be universities for senior researchers wherever raised to consolidate this database, which possible. This practice has the fringe benefit will require a considerable technical upgrade of enabling researchers to stay in touch with for long-term storage. This reveals once students and university counterparts. As a again that the vast data collections on which result, we welcomed the appointment