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Hoofdcursus Kampen

The Hoofdcursus was a military school in Kampen (Overijssel). Whereas the Royal Military Academy in Breda had a more scientific approach, the Hoofdcursus had a focus on practical education. As such, an ethnographic collection was assembled for officers personnel for the former Dutch East Indies. This collection was also open to the general public. After the closure of the school in 1923, the collection was incorporated into that of the Royal Military Academy in Breda.

Description

The Hoofdcursus, as the military academy in Kampen was called from 1880 onwards, provided education for military personnel in the Netherlands and the former Dutch East Indies. The curriculum at the Hoofdcursus had a more practical focus than that of the Royal Military Academy (Koninklijke Militaire Academie, KMA) in Breda. At the beginning of the twentieth century, certain courses were tailored to working in the Dutch colony in Southeast Asia. Hendrik Theodorus van IJsseldijk was appointed as a teacher of Malay language, geography and ethnography, among other subjects. To illustrate his lessons, Van IJsseldijk brought his own ethnographic collection to the Hoofdcursus and encouraged other military personnel to send their collections there too. George Nypels was among those who responded to Van IJsseldijk's request. Among other things, he donated a gravestone he had brought back from Aceh. This object was examined in 2022 as part of the Pilot Project Provenance Research on Objects of the Colonial Era (PPROCE). See the full report under ‘Sources’. H.J. Voskuil, who later succeeded Van IJsseldijk as curator of the ethnographic collection, also donated various objects.

In 1900, Van IJsseldijk was able to set up a museum with the collection he had assembled through various donations. Due to the diversity of the objects, it was also open to the general public. When the Hoofdcursus was discontinued in 1923, it was decided to merge the ethnographic collection with that of the KMA in Breda. H.J. Voskuil, who had since become curator of the museum in Kampen, was therefore also given responsibility for the Breda collection. From 1923 onwards, the combined collections formed the Ethnographic Collection of the Royal Military Academy and the Main Course. See the relevant search help for more information about the ethnographic collection of the KMA and the later Volkenkundig Museum ‘Justinus van Nassau’.

Provenance research

The archive of the ethnographic collection of the Main Course was merged with the collection in 1923 into that of the Volkenkundig Museum ‘Justinus van Nassau’. That museum in turn became part of the then Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, now the [Wereldmuseum Leiden](https://app.colonialcollections. nl/nl/research-guide/https%3A%2F%2Fn2t%252Enet%2Fark%3A%2F27023%2F77c1a0cf982b33b9e88073c4a704049b). Within the archive of the Wereldmuseum Leiden, the archive of the Volkenkundig Museum Justinus van Nassau can be found under the access ‘A16’. For more information about the collection or to consult archival documents, please contact collectieinfo@wereldmuseum.nl. The general archive of the Hoofdcursus in Kampen is available through the National Archives in The Hague.

Sources

Related research aids

Wageningen University & Research
Museum Nusantara
Army and navy personnel in colonised territories
Volkenkundig Museum Justinus van Nassau
Museum Bronbeek

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Geographical

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Period of activity

1900 – 1923