On the edge of my former hometown of Baarn lies a country estate called Groeneveld Castle. It is well known in the area because of its large so-called English landscape garden and interesting architecture. Many elementary school children in Baarn visited this garden to learn about nature or to take part in a scavenger hunt. […]
Author: Public History Student
Black History Matters
Criticising your own narrative can prove to be extremely hard. That’s why teachers always encourage you to ask for feedback from someone who isn’t involved in your topic. This way, the ‘outsider’s’ fresh way of looking gives you the insight you can’t possibly provide being as involved as you are in your own research. Yet, […]
Unwrapping Slavery
How do you deal with a problem you easily get lost in? You draw up a map! That is what the creators of Mapping Slavery thought of when they launched the internationally known public history project about Dutch history of slavery. Other than the German Stolperstein project which focusses on the victims of national socialism, […]
‘It’s getting personal’: dinner at The Keti Koti Table
It is already dark when I step into this beautiful gothic church in Amsterdam. Under the big bows of the church, an intimate table is set. It is graced with bright colored tablecloths and different sorts of Surinamese food. Tonight I will dine at a Keti Koti Table.* The history of the Keti Koti Table […]
Picturing yourself in the picture: World War II in 100 photos
The story about an ambitious public history project bringing together researchers and the people, resulting in a beautiful overview of the Dutch experience during the Second World War as we see it today.
“History…In My Blood It Runs”
“We have apologized, what more can we do?” Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon response when Australians are asked about the colonial wrongs of the past. The extraordinary documentary In My Blood It Runs shows exactly what Australia can do for the First Peoples of Australia besides apologizing. The history of colonialism rarely effects white […]
Can you save Superman? Queer blood could
Art by Jordan Eagles used in the online exhibition Can you save Superman? for the Leslie-Lohman museum In 1981 several, previously healthy gay men got seriously ill from pneumonia or cancer in Los Angeles, New York and California. At the end of the year 270 men suffered from (auto-)immune disease. 121 men died. Some people […]
Traces of Slavery Utrecht: The city as an archive
“Adjacent to the wharf-level warehouse at Oudegracht 20, we find a streetlight on a sculpted pedestal depicting four shackled men. On their shoulders, they carry a man who is smoking a pipe. In the background, we see palm trees.” This is one of many texts you can find in the walking guide of the project: […]
1 commemoration, 4 Nations, 1000 Voices
The exhibition First Americans, in the Volkenkunde Museum is part of the bigger commemoration project of Leiden 400. The exhibition is about the resilience of the native American people, who have lived through many hardships since the European pilgrims took their land. The exhibition wants you to take a moment to think about the Native […]
Rising Tide
Global warming is a hotly debated issue everywhere. Politics is full of deniers, people refuse to act, and big companies are actively hindering meaningful change. However at the same time real people are in real danger. Bushfires in Australia and California, dying coral reefs and droughts affect millions of people around the globe. For the […]