Literature

The Allard Pierson is rich in literary collections, featuring various authors and literary movements that have left their imprint on Dutch literary history. The emphasis is on the 17th and 19th centuries, including Joost van den Vondel, Pieter Cornelisz. Hooft and his Muiderkring, Potgieter and his periodical De Gids, Multatuli, numerous figures from the Beweging van Tachtig and Frederik van Eeden. But the 20th and 21st centuries are also represented with archives and collections on, for instance, Nescio, Gerard Reve, Dick Hillenius, Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dubravka Ugrešić, Arnon Grunberg, Reinjan Mulder and the literary supplement (Boekenbijlage) of Vrij Nederland. A characteristic feature of the authors in these collections is that even the earliest exponents were fully engaged in opinion-forming and took part in social debate. A special aspect within the literary collections is translation practice, thanks to the presence of archives of among others Aleida Schot, Charles B. Timmer and Dolf Verspoor.

• Manuscript material of great names such as Pieter Cornelisz. Hooft, Joost van den Vondel and Eduard Douwes Dekker and relevant archives of foundations and museums
• Unpublished work of lesser known or unknown female authors, translators and publishers such as Maria Louiza Griethuizen-Carelius, the Van Vloten sisters and Else Otten
• The writer's letter as a means of communication vs. literary genre
• Collections, archives and items deriving from two historical groups and their immediate entourage : The mythical Muiderkring and the Tachtigers
• Archives of contemporary leading authors Gerard Reve, Arnon Grunberg, Dubravka Ugrešić
• Archives full of items on the development of and polemic about modern literature, such as the archive of Reinjan Mulder and the literary supplement archive of  Vrij Nederland

Various literary collections can be found through ArchivesSpace. Printed material can be found in the UvA's online catalogue. Separately acquired literary manuscripts, if obtained before 1902, can be found in the printed catalogue of M.B. Mendes da Costa, Catalogus der handschriften, Amsterdam 1902. Single manuscripts acquired later are entered in a card catalogue in the Reading Room of the Allard Pierson. Making the literary collections available is work in progress. If necessary, please contact the curators concerned.

If you are unable to request material or have another question, please use the contact form [buttons/links for the two forms, for UvA members/students and for externals].
 

• Jos van Waterschoot
  Curator of Book Historical Collections and Comics
  Send an e-mail: j.a.m.vanwaterschoot@uva.nl
• Jessie Pietens
  Curator of manuscripts
  Send e-mail: j.pietens@uva.nl