The 'academic heritage' part (e.g. archives of study associations) is accessible through the Special Collections of the University Library. That too was inventoried in this project led by the Document Management and Archives Department of Administration. They did so in cooperation with the Stadsarchief Amsterdam and the company VADA.
Project leader Mirjam Brouwer and university historian Ab Flipse explain what this means for VU Amsterdam, and anyone interested in its history:
30 centimetres a day
"Archive editing is very labour-intensive. Sometimes you can only do 30 cm in a day. Then it takes a very long time to get through that 1.3 kilometres. Moreover, the files have to be neatly packed in acid-free covers and boxes. In addition, all metals (adhesive strips, paper clips, staples) and plastics have to be removed, because those materials are harmful to the files and because otherwise the City Archives cannot scan the files. Also, don't forget that the records are kept at the City Archives forever, so you have to deliver them in good condition."
Of course, while editing, you occasionally come across some striking things - such as discussions about student misconduct in the early days. And the 1879 report (handwritten, of course) by Abraham Kuyper, in which he outlines some possible choices for where the Free University should be located, is a wonderful and surprising piece. But researchers will, of course, only really get to grips with the content of the archive in the near future and will then undoubtedly come across many more special pieces that could not yet be used in previous research.
Hey, was that how it went back then?
The archive is accessible to anyone interested in VU Amsterdam. Mirjam hopes that now more young people will also discover the archives. Mirjam: "You can look to the future for 'the new', but also to the past: 'Hey, was it like that back then?' Sometimes you discover that there is nothing new under the sun and that what you are now completely full of has been done or discovered before. Other times, you come to surprising insights. This can also be done through other media and channels, but the great thing about archives is that it is all 'real'. Archives are the record of people's time, place and activities. For generations after, they are a window into that time.
The best thing would be if interested parties could also find their way to the City Archive itself. Because you can take in so much through the internet these days, I fear people no longer get around to the physical feel of old paper or parchment, or seeing craftsmanship in physical registers and systems (rather than databases), or holding a photo of your grandfather. Ask any archivist or researcher about a special archival experience and they won't stop giving examples."
Ab Flipse adds: " 'I was already making intensive use of the archive myself, of course, but a world is now opening up for me too. Some study associations, for instance, turn out to have beautiful, almost complete archives. A lot has also been preserved about all kinds of initiatives taken in the 1950s to strengthen the university community, such as the establishment of a civitas council. We can still learn from this today. The website 'Memory of the VU' (in Dutch) is intended to introduce everyone to the history of VU Amsterdam, and to help people on their way who want to do further research. You can already find all kinds of digitised material there, such as journals and almanacs. I have now also created a page with tips for researchers who want to dive into the archives. The project contributes very much to the objective of Memory of the VU."
The entire archive digital?
The most frequently asked question in recent years was, "And will everything be available digitally now?". "I found that striking," says Mirjam, "because there was usually an implicit expectation in the question that it would be. In fact, what we have done is to make the archives accessible, making it easier for interested parties to request scans; this makes the records themselves accessible. "
"Another frequently asked question was, "When will you be ready and when will the archives be online?" I would have liked to serve the impatient interested party earlier, but we also have to remember that these are archives from 1880 onwards. Moreover, some of the work had to be halted during the corona pandemic. "
"So the archives have not been made digital. This project provided tools (in the form of inventories), which did bring the digitisation of VU Amsterdams archives closer. The City Archives publishes the inventories on its website and, as an interested party, you can request scans of files (inventory numbers). You will be notified when the scans are ready. That takes about three weeks and then you can consult that file from your own environment. You no longer have to come to the City Archives' reading room. Although of course you can; the building that houses the City Archives is very beautiful and well worth a visit.
Ab adds: "Moreover, a combination often works best: doing exploratory research on the spot - where you can browse through a large number of files - after which you can then have targeted pieces scanned. Once documents are digitised, they remain online afterwards, and are therefore available to everyone."
No uniform standard records management
Mirjam continues: "The biggest challenge, though, was the fact that VU Amsterdam has never had a uniform standard for managing its archives. Archives were archived and stored in different ways and in more than 65 different places. As a result, any overview was lacking and we had to do regular 'archive research' during the project to find out where a certain department belonged or what an abbreviation stood for. What I also find striking is that dating is very often missing. The drafter of the piece knew for himself when it was playing or applicable and did not consider that over time that would no longer be clear to others."
Dive into the history of VU Amsterdam
Ab Flipse concludes: "Even in the past, you could go to the archives for research. But for outsiders, it was often not clear what was kept at all and where to start. So you actually had to already know what you were looking for. What has changed is that all archives are now described and these inventories are now fully and coherently visible to everyone. This allows the history of VU Amsterdam to be studied as part of the broader history of universities, of Amsterdam, of the Netherlands. But also anyone within VU Amsterdam can now much more easily delve into the history of their own faculty, department or study association in view of an anniversary or to retrieve important decisions from the past. Of course, as a university historian, in cooperation with the archivists of Document Management and Archives and the University Library, I am still willing to provide people with advice and help on their way."
Useful links
VU Archives - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam