Colonial and postcolonial history

Many collections of the Allard Pierson can be viewed from a colonial context: through the glasses of explorers, mapmakers, colonial administrators, theatre-makers, (post-)colonial writers, and others. Since April 2023, we have been actively looking at parts of our collection from this perspective: Books, maps, and archives from the 16th century to Surinamese independence. This includes 300 years of colonial rule. The project will be extended to other colonial contexts worldwide in the future.

Over the years, the Surinamica collection has been supplemented with materials from the Dutch School Museum and the Theater Instituut Nederland (TIN), among others. With this, the Allard Pierson manages one of the largest and most important collections worldwide on the colonial history of Suriname. The origins of this collection date back to the City Library of Amsterdam (1578), and include documents from the West India Company, such as travel journals and maps. Partly because of this, Amsterdam plays a central role in the historical documentation of colonial activities.

• Collection S.A. Bruijning
• Philip A. Samson collection
• Royal Dutch Medical Association (K.N.M.G.) collection
• Royal Dutch Geographical Society Collection
• Artis Library
• Wina Born Collection
• Indisch Erfgoed from the Jaap Kunst collection (theatre, cookery books, manuscripts)
• Early modern travel stories and descriptions (Indonesia, Japan)

The collections of the Allard Pierson are searchable through various databases and online catalogues. All items from the Surinamcia collection can be found through the online Catalogue CataloguePlus. The image database of the Allard Pierson contains digital images of prints, maps, photographs and posters, among others, as well as integrally scanned books and manuscripts. More details on the content, acquisition and provenance of specific collections can be found in Archive Space. 

• Isabelle Best

  Send an e-mail: i.r.best@uva.nl