Where are the women?
"There were many portraits and objects by and of men in the repository. Women did not become professors in the early period of VU, the first female professor was Gezina van der Molen, not until 1949. Then I saw this chest, from the Women's VU aid. I didn't know this organization existed, but they did a lot and it was run by women!"
VU, started as a private university, was built with money from the Reformed constituency. Many families were members of the VU Association (founder and director of the VU until 1972) and paid dues.
In 1932 some women from the constituency started the "VU Plan 1937", specifically to raise money for the establishment of a medical school. In 1937 at the celebration of Abraham Kuyper's 100th birthday, they planned to hand over the money. Eventually, in five years, they had collected more than three tons. The campaign would grow into the organization "Women's VU Help", which used the well-known purple and green VU vans to collect extra money for the VU throughout the Netherlands.
Bigger picture: from the Dutch East Indies to the Netherlands
The savings plan was also enthusiastically received outside the Dutch borders. There were contributions from Germany, from Hungary, from emigrants from the US and South Africa, and from the Dutch East Indies. The women in the East Indies were asked to transfer 2.50 guilders twice a year by money order. The final amount, 5,612.22 guilders, was handed over during the celebration on October 28, 1937. This box containing the book of signatures was also handed over at that time.
"The global movements interest me, the contacts and exchanges between groups. That's also what history is to me. I thought the VU collection would be very Dutch and Reformed. Evidence that the VU is looking beyond Amsterdam, or the Netherlands, that's what I was looking for. And I found that with this object. "
