Inloop

Dijksterhuislezing

De Dijksterhuislezing 2024 wordt uitgesproken door Prof. Dr. Irene van Renswoude onder de titel:

Anonimiteit en onzekerheid in erfgoedcollecties.
Een pleidooi tegen canonvorming

Symposium

In het aansluitende symposium worden verschillende casestudies gepresenteerd van het gebruik van collecties in onderzoek. Vanuit het perspectief van de onderzoeker, conservator en docent.
Met onder meer :

Aida Tadesse en Rosa Seepma, Allard Pierson, Giving New Life to Old Collections of Human Remains at Allard Pierson: A Case Study from Selenkahiye, Bronze Age Syria

• As interns in Osteoarchaeology, Research Master students Aida Tadesse and Rosa Seepma (Leiden University) are currently conducting research on the human remains housed at the Allard Pierson and the ethical concerns that entail their curation. In their talk, they introduce their research on the Bronze Age skeletal sample of Selenkahiye, which was excavated by prof. Maurits van Loon (University of Amsterdam) and his team in northern Syria between 1967 and 1975. As this collection has been largely overlooked since its arrival in the Netherlands, their work aims to make this sample accessible for research, ensuring its preservation while highlighting its scientific value.

Jos van Waterschoot, conservator Boekhistorische Collecties en Stripcollecties bij het Allard Pierson: Boekhandelsarchieven en hun belang voor provenanceonderzoek.

• De Koninklijke Vereniging voor het Boekenvak verzamelt sinds midden negentiende eeuw archieven van boekhandelaren, uitgevers, antiquaren, veilinghouders, drukkers, etc. Soms liggen archieven jarenlang op de plank tot zich ineens een ontwikkeling voordoet die ze van de plank haalt. Zoals het onderzoek naar boeken die voor, tijdens en vlak na de Tweede Wereldoorlog werden verhandeld. Waar kwamen die boeken vandaan? Was de handelaar er eerlijk aan gekomen? Was de verkoop wel rechtmatig? Provenance-onderzoek in binnen- en buitenland is booming en de veiling- en antiquariaatsarchieven van de KVB mogen zich in een ongekende populariteit verheugen in binnen- maar vooral in het buitenland.

Willemijn Elkhuizen, Researcher on Digital Technologies for Cultural Heritage Experiences bij de TU Delft / Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering: Het ontwerpen van design & academisch erfgoed ervaringen: een les in geschiedenis en toekomst in één.

• Do you (still) know what it is: a Personal Digital Assistant, or PDA for short? And what about the Cellatron, an electro-mechanical calculator, produced in the DDR in the 1960s? Both are likely unknown to a first-year student in 2024. But what is the relevance of these obsolete products from the past, in educating (technical) students to solve the challenges of today and tomorrow? And what happens if you combine these old technologies with the most recent technological innovations like generative AI, and extended reality? In my education and research, I explore how bringing these old and technology together can create new experiences and ways of learning, offering new avenues for enjoyment and meaning making.

Paul Wolff Mitchell, Postdoctoral Researcher, ‘Pressing Matter: Ownership, Value and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums’ at University of Amsterdam: Disarticulated histories: provenance between bodies and archives in the anatomical collection of Petrus Camper (1722-1789) at the Universiteitsmuseum Groningen.

• Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper was among the most influential scientists of the Enlightenment era. King Willem II gifted Camper’s natural historical and anatomical collection to the University of Groningen in 1820. Although Camper has been celebrated with exhibitions, paintings, street names, and even a postage stamp, relatively little is known about the provenance of hundreds of remains in his anatomical collection. Through both documentary and object-based provenance research in Camper’s collection and its widely distributed archives – across multiple sites in the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, and Indonesia – we can trace new stories about the humans and animals whose remains became part of this collection. Can shifting focus from Camper to the people (and animals) in his collection change how we interpret, value, and critically question his contribution to academic heritage?

Borrel