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Dr. J.M. van Duijn is Curator of Western Manuscripts (post medieval) and Archives at Leiden University

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Purging Leiden University after World War II

The end of WWII and the reopening of Leiden University meant the start of the purging of the university, aimed at removing all staff, professors and students from Leiden’s academic community that had sympathised with the Nazi oppressors.

Mart van Duijn • November 17, 2020

Bodel Nijenhuis: a collector of famous people

Collector Bodel Nijenhuis is best known for his collection of maps and atlases, but he also collected portraits and autographs. Through his collections he created a documentation system on famous people, with portraits, specimens of their handwriting and biographical information.

Mart van Duijn • July 09, 2020

Tools and supplies for discovering space in 1798

Leiden University has a long history in studying space, which is reflected in the collections held at Leiden University Libraries. An inventory of the university's obervatory gives insight in the tools and supplies needed for discovering space in 1798.

Mart van Duijn • June 28, 2018

Sailing to Asia

The Western manuscripts collection contains valuable treasures leading their readers to the Asian continent. Eleven historical travel journals are now digitized.

Mart van Duijn • December 21, 2017

Before and after Luther

31 October 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. It marks the symbolical beginning of the Protestant Reformation. His translation made the Bible available for the general public.

Mart van Duijn • October 31, 2017

A heartbeat from 1881

Einthoven already experimented with detecting the human heartbeat during his study in Utrecht.

Mart van Duijn • August 01, 2016

An album from Gorcum with a Leiden touch

The recently purchased album amicorum of Charlotte Johanna Kneppelhout (1779-1842) is an album from Gorcum, but with a Leiden touch.

Mart van Duijn • December 22, 2015

Mementoes of Hans Christian Andersen

In 1866 Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) sent a photograph of himself to the writer Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint (1812–1886). On the back he wrote: ‘a memento of H.C. Andersen’.

Mart van Duijn • November 07, 2014

A Piano on Java

Pen drawings in a manuscript copy of the story 'Sarina. A Javanese woman' show a piano. But what is a piano doing on Java?

Mart van Duijn • September 21, 2014