Reading room and exhibition space at the SHCL, photo by Monika Barget, December 2023
On Monday, December 4, the Social Historical Center for Limburg (SHCL) hosted an open day for the institute’s donors and colleagues from the Maastricht University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS). Director Nico Randeraad welcomed the attendees, followed by a presentation from Head of Collections, Irene Schrier, on the key activities of the archives and library departments over the past year. Special emphasis was placed on the challenges that come with obtaining larger industrial collections from closed business. On the one hand, such collections are often uncatalogued and extensive. On the other hand, the documents were often stored in unsuitable rooms and not looked after for decades. A recently acquired local company archive will need to be professionally cleaned and restored before becoming accessible for research.
Guests of the open day then enjoyed an exhibition featuring highlight pieces from the collection curated by Senior Archivist Andrea Peeters. Some visitors also received a guided tour of the archive depot, which hosts several collections of trans-regional relevance. One of those collections is the archive of the Culture and Recreation Center (COC) Limburg. COC Nederland, the Dutch national organisation, was established shortly after World War II and serves as an advocacy organization for the Dutch queer community. In 1970, Limburg created its own COC branch, aiming to promote the acceptance of homosexuals and lesbians. At the time when COC Limburg was founded, coming out as homosexual was challenging as many believed that it was a mental condition requiring cure. From December 2022 to April 2023, the history and struggles of the COC were also covered in a small exhibition and film entitled ‘50 jaar Roze in de klas’ (’50 years Pink in the Classroom’) at Maastricht’s Centre Céramique.
Presenting the new regional historical atlas to the Open Day audience, photo by Monika Barget
In the second part of the SHCL open day, Head of Research Joris Roosen presented the current historical research conducted at the SHCL. Researchers Afra de Mars and Frank Hovens presented their projects, whose common theme is regional landscape history. While PhD candidate Afra de Mars analyses and conceptualizes the transformations of (former) mining landscapes, Frank Hovens contributed to the creation of the ‘Atlas van de Geul’ (‘Atlas of the Geul’), a scientifically ambitious popular historical atlas to be published in the WBooks series.
The Dutch workplan of the SHCL for 2023 and the Dutch-language SHCL yearbook give further insights into the institute’s activities.