Colonial Collections Consortium
Back to overview

Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)

Name variations: Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, KITLV

Description

The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) was founded in 1851 by Jean Chrétien Baud, Taco Roorda and Gerrit Simons. Although the Dutch name of the institute suggests otherwise, the focus of the research were primarily in the fields of linguistics, history, and anthropology. The initial tasks of the KITLV can be decomposed threefold: establishing and maintaining a collection (including, for example, a large photographic collection), conducting research into and within regions colonized by the Netherlands, and publishing its research results in the journal Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde and the Nieuw West-Indische Gids, which focuses exclusively on research in and into the (Dutch) Caribbean region. Although KITLV addressed both the Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, the emphasis was on research in and into Indonesia.

Since its inception, the core of the research conducted by the KITLV was along the same lines as the Dutch colonial policy. When the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia took place in 1949, KITLV's attention initially shifted to New Guinea, which remained under Dutch control until 1963. When New Guinea also ceased to be part of the Dutch Kingdom, attention shifted to Suriname and the Caribbean. In 1966 KITLV moved from The Hague to Leiden, where it became part of the university. Since its inception, the core of the research conducted by KITLV was primarily along the same lines as the Dutch colonial policy. When the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia took place in 1949, KITLV's attention initially shifted to New Guinea, which remained under Dutch control until 1963. When New Guinea also ceased to be part of the Dutch Kingdom, attention shifted to Suriname and the Caribbean. In 1966 KITLV moved from The Hague to Leiden, where it became part of the university. Despite the process of decolonization, and perhaps due to the improved relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia in the 1960s, a KITLV representation in Jakarta was established in 1969, collaborating with the Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI), the Indonesian scientific institute. Nowadays the KITLV-Jakarta is part of the Leiden University Library.

In 1990, a policy decision was made to link KITLV to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), rather than having the institute directly under the then Ministry of Education and Science. This connection was ratified in the late 1990s, after which KITLV as an institute became part of the KNAW, which it remains to this day. Due to budget cuts in the cultural sector, two of KITLV's three tasks were divested in 2014. The collection of books, photographs and other objects has since been managed by the Leiden University Library, and the publishing of the journal Bijdragen was transferred to Brill publishers (part of De Gruyter since 2024). Since 2014 it was also decided to separate the KITLV association from the research institute.

Today, according to its website, KITLV aims "to be a world-class research institute for the study of Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, with a focus on Indonesia and the ‘Dutch’ Caribbean, in an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective."

Provenance research

In 2014, the management of the KITLV collection was transferred to the Leiden University Library (UBL). The archival inventories are available through the UBL's collection guide. The KITLV collection contains texts and images from and relating to Indonesia and Southeast Asia on the one hand (80%) and the Caribbean, especially Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles on the other hand (20%). The collection totals 750,000 items (about 12,000 meters). The collection consists not only of more than 20,000 periodicals, but also (due to previous documentation activities of KITLV) 100,000 linked descriptions of individual items.

The manuscript collection is divided into Asian manuscripts, which are findable in the UBL catalog with the attribute "D Or", and European manuscripts, which are findable with the attribute "D H".

The KITLV map collection has its own access within the UBL's Digital Collections website. This also applies to the images and photographs collection. The KITLV archives of the Oral History Association Indonesia (SMGI) and the Southeast Asian pop music collection also have their own websites.

The KITLV text collections can be requested through the UBL's online catalog. Most publications printed after 1900 can be loaned. Publications printed before 1900 must be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room; the same applies to other materials, such as manuscripts, archives, prints and drawings.

Resources

Related items

Sources
Science
Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen
Civil servants
Wereldmuseum Leiden

Keywords

Manusripts
Books
Collectie
Photgraphs
Archive
Documents
Maps

Geographical

Netherlands Antilles
Republic of Indonesia
Suriname

Period of activity

1851 – Present