Wereldmuseum Leiden

Description

The modern-day Wereldmuseum Leiden has a history in which the first hundred years are characterized by financial difficulties, the accumulation of large quantities of objects and many changes of location. In 1937, the museum finally found a permanent home in the former University Hospital where it could display its entire collection. Today, the museum is still located in this building.

The collection of the Wereldmuseum Leiden originated from the private collection of Philipp Franz von Siebold, also the museum's first director. His collection, which consisted mainly of Japanese objects was expanded during the 19th century to include several private collections and, in 1883, several ethnographic objects from the collection of the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. At the start of the twentieth century, part of the collection of the Museum of Antiquities in Leiden was also transferred to the then Rijks Etnografisch Museum. The latter group of objects included the various Singhasari statues, some of which were returned to Indonesia in 1978 and others in 2023. On the other hand, objects were also transferred from the Ethnographic Museum to other museums, such as to the Anatomical Museum in Leiden in 1935.

Objects were acquired in various ways. First, as described above, by exchange with other museums. In addition, the National Ethnographic Museum itself was an active buyer of ethnographic objects from dealers and auctions; part of the Museum's collection of Benin Bronzes, for example, were obtained in this way. Many objects were also received as donations, often from colonial officials or military personnel of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL), for example. The vast majority of the collection of the present Wereldmuseum Leiden was therefore collected during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Provenance research

The Wereldmuseum Leiden has kept records of the collection since its founding. However, the archival system has changed several times and different documentation is available for each object or collection series (several pieces registered at the same time).

The archives can be roughly divided into the collection archive and the correspondence archive. The collection archive consists of object registers, inventories, series files and, for some older objects, lists of donations and exchanges. This archive can be found under NL-LdnRMV_A3. The correspondence archive contains incoming letters and telegrams, copies of outgoing letters, lists of incoming and outgoing correspondence, and so on. This archive can be found under NL-LdnRMV_A1.

The World Museum Leiden archive is not accessible online. For more information about the collection or to view archival records, contact <collectieinfo@wereldmuseum.nl>.

Documents related to the Wereldmuseum Leiden can also be found at the Dutch National Archives, these are mainly administrative records. In the archives of museums with which Wereldmuseum Leiden has exchanged collections, more archival material may be found regarding those specific objects.

Resources

• Effert, Rudolf. “Volkenkundig Verzamelen: het Koninklijk Kabinet Van Zeldzaamheden en het Rijks Ethnographisch Museum 1816-1883.” Dissertatie, Universiteit Leiden, Leiden 2003.
  Dissertation by Rudolf Effert, equal to the English version. About the history of the National Ethnographic Museum and how it was formed from the collections of the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. —
• Rassers, Willem H. Overzicht van de geschiedenis van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, 1837-1937. Sijthoff,1937.
  Comprehensive history of the first hundred years of the National Ethnographic Museum. Describes how the museum originated from the Von Siebold collection and the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities, and how it was subsequently formed into an ethnographic museum. Contains information on objects acquired during the first hundred years of the museum. — https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB06:000003234:00005
• Veys, Fanny Wonu, en Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, red. The Benin Collections at the National Museum of World Cultures. Provenance, #2. Leiden: Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, 2021.
  Publication of the Wereldmuseum regarding its Benin collection. Provides information on the link between objects from Benin within the Wereldmuseum collection (not just in Leiden) and the looting of British soldiers at Benin City in 1897. —
• Effert, F.R., en Nola Caffey. Royal Cabinets and Auxiliary Branches: Origins of the National Museum of Ethnology, 1816-1883. Leiden: Research School CNWS, 2008.
  History of the Rijks Etnografisch Museum (the current Wereldmuseum Leiden) in Leiden and how it was constituted from the collections of the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. —
• Marquart, Joseph. Die Benin-Sammlung des Reichsmuseums für Völkerkunde in Leiden. Beschrieben und mit ausführlichen Prolegomena zur Geschichte der Handelswege und Völkerbewegungen in Nordafrika, Leiden: Brill, 1913.
  Book by Joseph Marquart, a German historian and curator of the Rijks Etnografisch Museum in Leiden, about the Benin collection of the museum. —
• Wengen, Ger van. Wat is er te doen in Volkenkunde?: de bewogen geschiedenis van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, Leiden 2002.
  Book about the history of today's Wereldmuseum in Leiden. —