On the Waterfront 4 1
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{ 1 } INTERNATIONAAL INSTITUUT VOOR SOCIALE GESCHIEDENIS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL HISTORY On the Waterfront the On n e w s l e t t e r n o . 1 4 of the friends of the iish 2 0 0 7 on the waterfront 14 · 2007 on the waterfront 14 · 2007 Introduction f r o n t p a g e : In this number the reader can find information about how we spend the various f r a g m e n t o f contributions (see pp. 14-15), as well as an interesting view of various aspects of how we obtain a c h i n e s e and keep our audiovisual collections. In this respect we also ask our friends to help us think p o s t e r about how to make these collections available. We would like to invite our readers to devote ( 1 9 3 8 ) , special attention to these sections of On the Waterfront 14. Depending on the reactions (to be s e e p a g e 1 3 sent to Titia van der Werf: [email protected]), friends and other interested parties will be able to be directly involved. Members of the Friends of the iish pay annual dues of one or five hundred euros or join with a lifetime donation of one thousand five hundred euro or more. In return, members are invited to semi-annual sessions featuring presentations of iish acquisitions and guest speakers. These guest speakers deliver lectures on their field of research, which does not necessarily concern the iish collection. The presentation and lecture are followed by a reception. In addition to these semi-annual gatherings, all Friends receive a forty-percent discount on iish publications. Friends paying dues INTERNAT of five hundred euros or more are also entitled to choose Institute publications from a broad I selection offered at no charge. NTERNAT I The board consults the Friends about allocation of the revenues from the dues and delivers an ONAAL I ONAL annual financial report in conjunction with theiish administration. I NST I Theiish was founded by master collector Nicolaas Posthumus (1880-1960) in the 1930s. For the I NST TUUT VOOR SOC past two decades, two of the institutes established by this “history entrepreneur” have operated from I TUTE OF SOC the same premises: the neha (Netherlands Economic History Archive) since 1914 and the Interna- tional Institute of Social History (iish), which is now 72 years old. Both institutes are still collecting, I ALE GESCH although the “subsidiary” iish has grown far larger than the “parent” neha. (Detailed information I AL H about the iish appears in: Maria Hunink De papieren van de revolutie. Het Internationaal Instit- I uut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1935-1947 (Amsterdam 1986) and in: Jan Lucassen Tracing the past. STORY I Collections and research in social and economic history; The International Institute of Social History, EDEN I The Netherlands Economic History Archive and related institutions (Amsterdam 1989). S For all information concerning the Friends, contact Mieke IJzermans at the iish (mij@iisg). c o l o p h o n international institute of social history cruquiusweg 31 • 1019 at amsterdam • tel. + 31 20 6685866 • fax + 31 20 6654181 • www.iisg.nl • info@ iish.nl • abn amro : 0555958892 • iban: nl69abna 0555958892 • bic: abnanl 2a • editors: jan lucassen and mieke ijzermans • translations: phyllis mitzman • photography: hans luhrs • production coordination: aad blok • design and layout: ruparo (ivo sikkema ) • printed, with generous support, by: a-d druk b.v., zeist • website: monique van der pal • w e wish to thank a n n e m a r i e c o t t a a r , m a r i e n van der heijden, b o u w e h i j m a , f r a n k d e j o n g , f rans van der k o l f f , k e e s r o d e n b u r g , h u u b s anders, and t itia van der w erf • financial administration: guusje varkevisser and tjerck zittema • adminstrative support: yvonne bax • composition of the board: jan lucassen (chairman/treasurer), mieke ijzermans (co-chairwoman), bart hageraats (secretary), maarten brinkman, liesbeth laman-meyer, bauke marinus, jan van olden, ger verrips • issn 1574-2156 { 2 } on the waterfront 14 · 2007 From all nooks and corners he iish is a passionate col- Turksma survived the war, Tlector, but yet not greedy: in although many of the members of 2005 the iish received the con- his family did not. In the box were tents of a rusty money box, which pieces about Turksma as a cattle had been stored for many years at dealer. Also in the box was the text an Amsterdam notary’s office. The of the kaddish for his son who had box included a Frisian’s old papers. died in the Amersfoort Camp, the From 1932 to 1941 Jacob Turksma yellow Star of David that he had (1888-1963), a Jewish inhabitant to wear, and pieces about how he of Leeuwarden, was a member continued his life after the libera- of the city council for the liberal tion. Theiish decided to offer the Democratic Union and from 1939 pieces to the Historic Centre of to 1941, when he was pushed out Leeuwarden, which welcomed by the German occupation, he these remembrances of Turksma i d c a r d o f was a councillor in Leeuwarden. as a “lost son”. t u r k s m a f r o m j u l y 1 9 4 5 i n h i s c a p a c i t y a s i n s p e c t o r o f t h e l e e u - S I Fourteenth Friends Day, w a r d e n b u - EDEN I r e a u f o r STORY I 11 January 2007 CONFISCATED AL H g o o d s f r o m I ALE GESCH I e n e m i e s , p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e wanted from the original col- concentrate on acquiring antique c o l l a b o r a - TUTE OF SOC t i o n i s t s a n d I acquisitions lection, and it did this lavishly. atlases as its primary mission TUUT VOOR SOC NST I t r a i t o r s I A good 200,000 volumes ended – which does not mean that we NST I n the second half of 2006 the up with us. The publications that do not have many more beauti- ONAL I iish was able to obtain 121 new did not fit with our collections ful copies of such materials than ONAAL I I archival acquisitions, of which (especially modern medical stud- would be expected; even an origi- NTERNAT I somewhat more than half were ies) went to other knaw institutes, nal Blaeuw City Atlas is included INTERNAT additions to existing collections and the rest was sold to used here. and the rest represented com- book dealers. To our surprise, it However, the early history of pletely new collections. Homodok appeared that the yields from this the Suez Canal is closely tied to was one of the larger acquisitions, could also be spent to increase the the development of social ideas, covering over 100 metres of shelf collection. Truly a generous ges- especially with those of the uto- space, and comprising 152 metres ture by the knaw! In this way we pian Saint-Simonists, for which of documentation about the managed to acquire, via a Paris- we possess a substantial number emancipation of homosexuals. At ian used book dealer, a mysteri- of original documents (see On the same time, the Special Col- ous atlas about the building of the the Waterfront 12, 2006, 3-4). This lections of neha again increased Suez Canal. It concerns a bound movement of arch optimists, who by more than ten numbers. Even portfolio of 21 large maps, prob- had great confidence in techni- more important was the publica- ably all from the 1840s, which cal progress and the blessings it tion of all the accesses to it on the were brought together not long would bring to all the inhabit- Internet: see www.iisg.nl/~neha/ after that by Henry Guillaume ants of this earth, in September specialcollections. Out of these from Naives-Devant-Bar, about 1833 organized an expedition new acquisitions the following whom we know nothing at this to Egypt. The well known Bar- were selected for the Friends. time. Perhaps he was a follower of thélemy Prosper Enfantin (1796- Saint-Simon, and more especially 1864) led a group of 55 engineers, 2 The Suez Canal and the of his apostle, “Père” Enfantin, scientists, writers, journalists, and Saint-Simonists which brings us to the reason why tradesmen and discovered that the The library’s most recent major the Institute purchased this atlas. digging of the Isthmus of Suez acquisition was the transfer of the Although the atlas is extremely was indeed possible by showing knaw library (see On the Water- rare and as a bound portfolio is that the difference in height of front 11, 2005, 9-15). The Institute undoubtedly unique, the Insti- 12 metres that the Napoleonic was able to choose whatever it tute, as is well known, does not expedition of 1798 had calculated { 3 } on the waterfront 14 · 2007 in 1880 was given to the City purely of economic-historical of Amsterdam), founded the interest and therefore – despite Amsterdam bank of Lippmann, the fascinating backgrounds of Rosenthal & Co.