On the Waterfront 46

The provisional conclusion of the SEP evaluation commission was very favourable regarding both the Research department and the Data and Collection Department. One of the developments that received special attention during the evaluation was creating and storing large datasets, as well as making them available, retrievable and usable. This was also among the topics addressed in the presentation by Richard Zijdeman and Ivo Zandhuis about the new Data and Augmentation Department, of which this issue features a report.

In addition to this presentation, fascinating descriptions of collection acquisitions and interesting discoveries in the IISH collections were featured at the first gathering in 2024. Marzi Heydarian presented a selection of newspapers, magazines, and books, published in and outside Iran, from the collection of the Center for Iranian Documents and Research, covering publications by both supporters and critics of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Following up on previous articles about the holdings of the National Library of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (issue 11, pp. 9-15), Alexandr Belov presented an update about his work cataloguing this unique library collection.

Pieter Steenbergen showcased highlights from the collection of Archive Coop Nederland U.A. and precursors, based on his recent monograph on the history of these consumer cooperatives. And, as a way of concluding her 26-year career with the Collections Department at the IISH, Marja Musson presented the results of her work during her final weeks before retirement exploring a set of unspecified archival documents, which had been lying on a shelf for many years and came mainly from the offices of former staff members at the previous accommodations on Kabelweg. Marja discovered this set to be a veritable treasure trove, yielding many additions to organizational archives and personal papers, including those of Sylvia Pankhurst, Emma Goldman and Eleanor Marx, as well as a letter from Leo Trotsky’s widow. This marked a fitting conclusion to a quarter century at the IISH. Many thanks go to Marja for this special discovery and for all her work for the Institute!

Aad Blok