On the Waterfront 38

On the Waterfront : newsletter from the Friends of the IISH
Authors: Bouwe Hijma, Huub Sanders, Eric de Ruijter
Place of publication: Amsterdam
Year: 2019 / Issue: 38 / Format: 16 pp.

Including lectures by Huub Sanders, Annette Mevis  and Ariadne Schmidt.

Introduction

On 17 January the iish organized an afternoon for teachers about Dutch involvement in slavery and colonial history. Those topics may be cause for agitation in the classroom. At the same time, scholarship advances continuously. How can scholars and teachers encourage discussion about these subjects? Matthias van Rossum and Klaas Stutje compiled instructional materials based on their research. Like other activities, this is once again intended to bring the iish closer to society and make our research more relevant.
On 22 February the results of the portfolio evaluation were announced. Following the assessment by the evaluation committee in 2018, this marked another important step for the Institute. This evaluation had been requested by the government. The objective was to examine whetherthe academic infrastructure in the Netherlands meets current needs. The most important conclusion for the iish was: ‘by combining academic research with (inter)national access to the collections,
the iish clearly enhances the national knowledge landscape. Because of both the size of the archive and the contingent of specialized staff required, the collections are best kept in a national institute.’ The ongoing cooperation for digital
humanities in the huc received praise as well.
On 8 March, International Women’s Day, nearly 200 people gathered at the Institute to attend the event ‘Love for the world: celebrating Rosa Luxemburg and Hannah Arendt.’ This gathering featured speakers expressing surprising views about these two women. Joke Hermsen and Brenda Ottjes were the driving forces. Other speakers included Marja Vuijsje, Ewald Engelen,
Heidi Dorudi, Eva Rovers, Leo Lucassen and Pepijn Brandon.
On 20 March the neha had a big day, when Jessica Dijkman, secretary to the neha board, beat the gong to open the stock exchange. This ceremony marked the official transfer of the stock exchange collection to the neha, making a wonderful source on economic history available to the public.
On 10 April the undersigned was awarded his PhD degree for a history of the iish. This work is covered in the lectures section of this issue. And finally I say farewell to On the Waterfront, as this is the last issue I produced. Aad Blok takes over
as editor. Nataša van de Laar and Eric de Ruijter take on my other Friends tasks. Thank you all and see you around!

Huub Sanders