Volkenkundig Museum 'Gerardus van der Leeuw'

History of the museum

On the condition that a museum would be established to display his collection, religious historian Theo van Baaren, who was a professor at the University of Groningen, donated his personal ethnographic collection to the university in 1968. Van Baaren named the new museum and its association after his predecessor, Gerardus van der Leeuw. Van Baaren never visited the countries from which he collected objects, but acquired his collection through his extensive European network of art dealers and congregations. After the museum was established, Van Baaren's collection was expanded considerably. For example, the Princessehof Museum in Leeuwarden donated its ethnographic collection to Groningen after deciding to focus solely on collecting ceramics. The municipality of Deventer donated the collection of the former Tropical Agricultural School and businessman Fred ten Houten gave his ethnographic collection on long-term loan. Together with the objects purchased by the Gerardus van der Leeuw Foundation, the above collections formed the core of the Gerardus van der Leeuw Ethnographic Museum, which opened its doors in 1978 on the Nieuwe Kijk in 't Jatstraat in the city of Groningen. During the museum's existence the collection was supplemented by purchases and donations. After several unsuccessful attempts to merge the ethnographic museum with other museums in Groningen, the Gerardus van der Leeuw Ethnographic Museum closed in 2003. Afterwards, the museum’s collection was incorporated into the University Museum Groningen, where it remains until today.

Provenance research

Several catalogues of the collection of the Gerardus van der Leeuw Ethnographic Museum were published. One of these is _ Hoe het ging en verging_, which describes the so-called MG collection, the collection of objects that the museum accumulated during its existence. The book also contains an overview of all the temporary exhibitions held at the museum between 1978 and 2003. In addition to the MG collection, Hoe het ging en verging provides an overview of the CG collection, which was transferred to the ethnographic museum after the Cultural Anthropology department at the University of Groningen was closed down, and the A collection, which was donated by the Australian government in 1978.

The collection of the former Tropical Agricultural Museum in Deventer (the TD collection) has its own catalogue: _ De collectie Deventer_. As well as an overview of the collection the catalogue provides a wealth of background information about the former agricultural museum in Deventer. The original Van Baaren collection (the VB collection) is described in the book The Collection Van Baaren, which is unfortunately not available online. The ethnographic collection of the Princessehof in Leeuwarden is referred to as the PL collection and does not have its own catalogue.

The archive of the Gerardus van der Leeuw Ethnographic Museum (until 1995) is housed at the Groninger Archieven. In addition to documents about the organisation of the museum and its place within the Faculty of Theology, the archive also contains descriptions of the collection. Alongside the sources described below, catalogues of the museum's various exhibitions are also available and can be found in the RUG library by searching ‘Gerardus van der Leeuw’.

Theo van Baaren's personal archive also contains (limited) information about his collection. For example, there is correspondence with various dealers, museums, congregations and missionaries that directly and indirectly refer to purchases for his collection. This archive is also located in the Library of the University of Groningen.

Sources