OKBN * ARLIS/NL
Introduction

Amsterdam
Apeldoorn
Arnhem
Delft
Den Bosch
Den Haag
Eindhoven
Enschede
Groningen
Leeuwarden
Leiden
Maastricht
Nijmegen
Otterlo
Rotterdam
Schoonhoven
Tilburg
Utrecht
Wageningen
Wijk bij Duurstede
Zeist

Dutch Institutions abroad
Collections of Art-historical documentation in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM

Meertens Instituut onderzoek en documentatie van Nederlandse taal- en cultuur / Bibliotheek

Meertens Institute research and documentation of Dutch language and culture / Library

Joan Muyskenweg 25, PO Box 94264, 1090 GG Amsterdam.
Tel: 020-4628500, Fax: 020-4628555, E-mail: info@meertens.knaw.nl
Librarian K. Schell
Opening hours Mon-Fri 9.00-17.00 by appointment only
Conditions of use Restricted to researchers, consultation only; (limited) access to special collections only on written application
Services Reference assistance / microform reader-printer / café
WWW-site http://www.meertens.knaw.nl

Size 50,000 books, 1,100 current and 1,200 discontinued periodicals
Character and emphasis The institute, founded in 1930, is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences. Its fields of research are dialectology, onomastics, and folklore and European ethnology, mostly concentrated on the Netherlands. Its library reflects these interests, and includes a large quantity of primary sources and secondary literature. For art historians the ethnological materials are the most important. Topics represented are: cultural history, regional history and topography; song, popular tale, legend and saga; material culture, daily life, feast and ritual; magic and witchcraft. These can help in iconological research - e.g. texts of folktales and -songs and materials relating to popular festivities and devotion (collection of devotional prints) - and in research into material culture (e.g. probate inventories).

Special collections

  • Dutch folktales and legends
  • Dutch songs - texts and music of over 35,000 songs, many collected from oral sources
  • Press-cuttings on ethnological phenomena (chiefly from regional and local papers)
  • Audio-visual material: tapes, maps, microforms, photographs, videos
Much of the primary material collected is processed into a number of databases, prior to publication, including:
  • Database of probate inventories (17th-19th centuries)
  • Database of places of pilgrimage in the Netherlands
Access Closed stacks
Catalogues
  • Automated catalogue (acquisitions since 1988 and all periodicals)
  • Alphabetical card catalogue on author's name and title
  • Computerized subject indices for European ethnology and onomastics
  • Separate first-line catalogue referring to ca. 100,000 published and unpublished Dutch songtexts (16th-20th centuries) Publications
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Last modified: 17/04/2007