The Allard Pierson Artis Library holds the magnificent natural history collection of the Allard Pierson. The books previously in the possession of the Natura Artis Magistra society form the core of the Allard Pierson's natural history collection, today comprising more than 100,000 items from the 16th to the 20th century. The former collections of the Amsterdam Hortus Botanicus (Botanical Garden) also form part of the University of Amsterdam's rich natural history collection. The collection thus covers all the fields of natural history: zoology, botany, geology and palaeontology. Modern themes like ecology and nature conservation have now been added.
The Artis Library contains old and rare printed works, manuscripts, watercolours, drawings and prints covering the entire course of natural history. The collections contain outstanding items, such as albums with watercolours of animals that were intended as examples for the works of Conrad Gessner (1516-1565); the hand-coloured books of Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) on the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly; the Moninckx Atlas with 425 water colours of plants in the Amsterdam hortus, drawn between 1687 and 1750; the bird books of John Gould (1804-1881); letters from Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and a collection of approximately 60,000 illustrations of animals dated between 1500 and 1900: the Iconographia Zoologica.
Suggestions for research
• the role of natural history sources in the light of current climate problems;
• the number of female researchers, artists and printmakers in natural history publications;
• extinct or endangered plants and animals in the Artis Library collection;
• the composition of the Iconographia Zoologica;
• the relationship between text and illustration in natural history publications;
• or other topics in the field of natural history.
Searching in the collection
The Allard Pierson collections can be accessed and searched via a number of databases and online catalogues. The collection of the Artis Library has been catalogued in its entirety and can be browsed via the online catalogue of the UvA. When searching, you can apply filters on the right side of the search engine: for ‘Library’ choose ‘Artis Bibliotheek’, to find solely books that are physically being held at the Artis Library. A part of the natural history collections resides at the Allard Pierson: they can be found in the same catalogue. Some of our highlights have been digitized in the Allard Pierson’s beeldbank. The Iconographia Zoologica can be searched in its entirety on Wikimedia Commons. The archives of both the Allard Pierson and the Artis Bibliotheek can be found in ArchivesSpace.
Questions
Curator Myriam van der Hoek can be contacted for questions about the collection. Fellowship programme coordinator Anna de Wilde can be contacted for questions about the application process.
Guidelines
Read more about the guidelines and the application process here.