Since the COVID-19 outbreak, much more attention has been paid to hygiene, such as washing your hands regularly. Nowadays, we assume everyone knows that that will help against the spread of diseases. In Victorian England, this was not yet the case. The importance of clean water and personal hygiene was unknown for a long time […]
Author: Public History Student
Who owns the street? What a pavement tile can tell us about prostitution rights in Amsterdam
Recently, there has been a renewed interest in restricting the rights of prostitutes. Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, as long as the concerned party has a permit. The Netherlands are an exception in how they deal with topics such as prostitution and drugs. While some people are still discussing whether the legalizing of prostitution […]
The Anti-Gas Fan: How a Female Inventor Found a Way Into a Man’s World of War
It’s the 22nd of April, 1915 in Ypres. You’re a British soldier during the First World War and you’re looking in the direction of the enemy. It is a cloudy day, but below the rain clouds you see a cloud that is much closer to the ground, and it is moving towards you. Then, all […]
From historical cartoon to digital meme: the iconography of anti-vaxxers throughout history
You have probably seen it plenty of times on social media: the vaccination debate. After two years of COVID and more than half a year after the first COVID-vaccine came out, the discussion is all too familiar and still so topical. Especially the smaller group of fanatical anti-vaxxers are clearly heard and seen on social […]
The Chastity Belt: From Medieval Torture Device to Masturbation Prevention Appliance
What do you do when you don’t trust your partner and want to make sure they’re not cheating on you? Do you look through their phone? As those devices are relatively new, that has not always been possible. For a long time, people used other means to control their lovers, like a chastity belt. Or […]
Tropenmuseum: Breaking the Illusion of Neutrality
Kiki Ernst The original goal when visiting the Tropenmuseum was to see their exhibition ‘Genderful World’. However, when climbing the stairs to the top floor something else caught my attention, stopping me in my tracks. A tv screen was showing a Dutch, black spoken word artist talking about the way the Dutch history of slavery […]
History is quite queer don’t you think?
On the 31st of march 2001, history was written in the city hall of Amsterdam. The first legal gay marriages had just been performed as the world watched the Netherlands in awe. The event had been in the making for a long time and press from all over the world came to report on this […]
Vincent: Beyond the troubled mind
When asked about Vincent van Gogh, most people answer: he’s the crazy painter that cut off (part of) his ear, right? Although he’s best known for his work, his personal anguish comes a close second. We know a lot about his life because a great deal of the letters that he wrote have been preserved: […]
Signs of slavery left in a modern city
Amsterdam is a modern city, but many details refer to its long past. We see some old buildings and the canals, without directly thinking what they could tell us about their history. One history we especially do not associate with the Netherlands is slavery. All of this happened on the plantations in the Americas, or […]
From Footnote to Foothold: Dutch Masters Revisited
Since my first visit to the Hermitage Amsterdam in 2014, I always make a small detour through the semi-permanent collection of the Amsterdam Museum wing. The exhibition Portrait Gallery of the 17th Century offers an extensive overview of the evolution of Dutch regents group portraiture.Standing in one of the massive rooms with group portraits from […]