About the collections
The Allard Pierson holds a large collection of natural history works, with a focus on botany and zoology. The collection provides a comprehensive overview of the research conducted in Western Europe between circa 1500 and 1900 on nature in the broadest sense of the word. Works on ecology, biodiversity, and climate conservation are currently being added to the collection.
The majority of the zoological works are housed at the Artis Library. This monumental 19th-century library was part of the Royal Zoological Society Natura Artis Magistra but was transferred to the University of Amsterdam in 1939. The botanical collection partly originates from the library of the Amsterdam Hortus Botanicus.
The collections comprise some 20,000 printed books, 3,000 manuscripts, 70,000 animal prints and drawings (Iconographia Zoologica), journals and several dozen archives and collections from Amsterdam botanists, zoologists and biology professors, including the archive of Hugo de Vries. Additionally, there is a substantial collection of 19th- and 20th-century botanical educational charts, both printed and unique hand-drawn or painted examples, as well as a collection of plant models.
Priority areas / highlights
- Botany and zoology
- Linnaeana
- Darwiniana (including letters from Charles Darwin)
- Maria Sibylla Merian
- Iconographia Zoologica
- Professors' archives
- Heimans and Thijsse Foundation Archive
- Illustrated works
Searching the collections
Various collections can be found in Collection descriptions. All titles of the early printed books and related literature can be accessed through the online Catalogue. The Iconographia Zoologica has been digitized and can be accessed through Wikimedia Commons.
More information about content, acquisition, and provenance of specific collections is available in ArchivesSpace. The Reference Library in the Reading Room contains journals, reference works, bibliographies and printed catalogues of manuscripts and early printed books.
Contact person
- Myriam van der Hoek
Curator of the History of Science
Send an email: m.vanderhoek@uva.nl
UvA staff page: Myriam van der Hoek
Support the Allard Pierson
Your contribution makes it possible to acquire, expand and restore collections, to undertake research into the collections, develop educational programmes and present them to tens of thousands of visitors a year. Can we count you in?
