On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront is the semi-annual magazine and newsletter for the Friends of the IISH

Cover and open spread of On the Waterfront, the semi-annual magazine of the International Institute of Social History (IISH).

On the Waterfront 49

Lecture: Huub Sanders on 90 years of IISH

Collection highlights and new acquisitions: 

  • the CNT photo archive from the Spanish Civil War
  • Projekt Artur, a 1987 film project about radical left-wing movements in West-Germany
  • the archive of the Committee of Moroccan Workers in the Netherlands (Komitee Marokkaanse Arbeiders in Nederland; KMAN)
  • the international photo collection of the Participating Artists’ Press Agency (PAPA)
Cover of On the Waterfront 49.A black-and-white historical photograph shows men and women standing and sitting on a truck in a busy Spanish city street.

On the Waterfront 48

Lecture: Selin Dilli on the overlooked history of women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands

Interview: Eef Vermeij about his IISH career and his work acquiring Asian archives

Collection highlights and new acquisitions: 

  • the personal papers of Indonesian leftist revolutionary Francisca Fanggidaej
  • papers of the Sri Lankan Research Forum for Social Development (RAAF)
  • two Haggadot, satirical pamphlets from the Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeyter Bund,
  • report on the handiwork required to digitize the SDAP archive 
Cover of On the Waterfront 48. Historic black-and-white photograph of Dr Caroline Bleeker behind a lathe, circa 1930.

On the Waterfront 47

Lectures: 

  • cultural genocide: how Palestinian records are being erased
  • environmental activism in the IISH collections: activism against Hoogovens; car-less Sundays in the seventies
  • interview with Milieudefensie’s Peer de Rijk 

Interview: retiring staff member Erhan Tuskan on his career at the IISH

Collections: a deep dive into the archives of Amnesty International

Cover of On the Waterfront 47. Black-and white photo of four boys cycling on an empty motorway during the car-free Sunday in the Netherlands, 4 November 1973.

On the Waterfront 46

Lecture: Ivo Zandhuis and Richard Zijdeman on the next step in making collections digitally accessible

Acquisitions and special finds: 

  • highlights from the collection of Archive Coop Nederland U.A. and precursors
  • the CIDR project: the collection of the Center for Iranian Documents and Research
  • the rich collection of the KNAW Library 
  • a long-forgotten box of gems rediscovered
Cover of On the Waterfront 46. Black-and white portrait photo from 1913 of suffragist Isabel Seymour, wearing a dark fur coat and hat.

On the Waterfront 45

Lecture: Ulbe Bosma on The World of Sugar

Interview: retiring Ed Kool on transporting precious archives and other Institute logistics

Interview: Sjoerd van der Veen – Why become a Friend of the IISH? 

From all nooks: Viktor Chernov’s ‘unopened’ book and the legacy of Russian non-Bolshevik socialism

Collection highlights and new acquisitions:

  • personal papers of Klaas de Jonge
  • an anarchist in Hong Kong; the archive of Mok Chiu-Yu
Cover of On the Waterfront 45. Klaas de Jonge, portrayed on a poster announcing an exhibition of his collection of African masks in Belgium, 2019. He is sitting on a chair in front of a collection of African masks.

On the Waterfront 44

Collection highlights and new acquisitions:

  • two 1930s photographs of Cruquiusweg
  • two photos of socialist Gerard Duivenstijn poking fun at the militiamen of The Hague
  • the Moscow Times archive
  • schoolbooks from the 1981 Nicaraguan FSLN literacy campaign
  • The Ratchaprasong notes from Bangkok 2010: ‘Say Hi to the Leaders’ 

The FNV archives project, an update

Research using the FNV archives

Cover of On the Waterfront 44. A black-and-white photograph from 1947 of the Zwanenberg meat processing plant in Oss. It shows a large number of slaughterhouse workers in white overalls standing in a line on the fire escape at the rear of the slaughterhouse.

On the Waterfront 43

Interview: Jack Hofman on his IISH career

Collection highlights and new acquisitions: 

  • the Lavrov-Goc library
  • the papers of Asser Baars
  • the SOBSI congress of 1952 and high-ranking representatives from the Netherlands
  • the Daniel Pereyra papers

The Open Archives project 

Cover of On the Waterfront 43. A black-and-white portrait photo of Russian socialist Petr Lavrovič Lavrov, a bearded and bespectacled older man.

On the Waterfront 42

Interview: Jacques van Gerwen on his career at NEHA/IISG

Collection highlights and new acquisitions: 

  • photo album of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco of 1915
  • a plaster bust by Émile Derré
  • design by Fré Cohen for an AJC Christmas camp in 1924
  • kiek Halewijn papers, photos, and a drawing (the Shanghai Incident)

Report on History Month at the IISH - 8:UREN:FESTIVAL

Cover of On the Waterfront 42. Colour drawing by Kiek Halewijn from 1932. It shows a combination of different war scenes, a bombing, victims, a hanging etc.

On the Waterfront 41

The IISH and the pandemic – by Aad Blok

Presentation of the acquisitions:

  • archives of firms in the Netherlands Indies
  • a signed copy of Annelies Laschitza’s Karl Liebknecht
  • the papers of Jan Carmiggelt and the ‘Plan van de Arbeid’
  • Jos Collignon’s collection of drawings
  • Hetty Paërl’s collection of drawings
  • papers on Trotskyism in Hong Kong and China 
  • Thailand Protest Movement 2020

The Marx documents on tour

Cover of On the Waterfront 41. A black-and-white photograph from the 1950s showing two European men on a picnic in the Dutch East Indies, with three native servants and two horses in the background.

On the Waterfront 40

Interview: Henk Wals says goodbye to the Institute

Presentation of the acquisitions:

  • the personal papers of philosopher and communist Hans Hein Holz
  • the archive of Sebald Rutgers, engineer and communist in the Soviet Union
  • the archive of social democrat Bart Tromp
  • images from Hong Kong protests
  • a charcoal drawing from 1914 by Engelien Reitsma-Valença

125 years of ANDB – a dazzling legacy – by Karin Hofmeester and Susan Leclerq

Digitization of the ANDB archive 

Cover of On the Waterfront 40. Nocturnal photo of the light projection of a historical image on the façade of the union building De Burcht in Amsterdam in December 2019.

On the Waterfront 39

On ‘The share of Atlantic slave-based activities in the Dutch GDP in the second half of the eighteenth century’ and the impact of a report – by Astrid Verburg

Presentation of the acquisitions:

  • prints by Jan Holswilder
  • the small but dramatic archive of Jafar Vakili
  • the photographs of Norah Smyth
  • new collections from Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan

Lecture: Peter van Dam on securing a place for the history of fair trade

Interview: Huub Jansen from the National Federation of World Shops (LVVW)

Cover of on the Waterfront 39 showing the cover of an account book from 1760 of Vossenburg and Waijampibo plantations in Suriname. Flowers decorate the cover, with a heart in the middle that has the title in curly handwriting.

On the Waterfront 38

On the Waterfront is the semi-annual magazine of the IISH. This is issue 38 (2019)

Cover of On the Waterfront 38. Cover of On the Waterfront 38. Photo of some shelves in the IISH archive containing marble busts and small sculptures.