More than a costume party. Costumes for the Leiden Student Pageant of 1910

Within the field of costume history, fancy dress can be a rather complicated and neglected category. Are we looking at ‘fake’ clothes or well-made imitations? Research can reveal some interesting facts about its production, its previous owners, and their motives for ordering these clothes.

• October 12, 2021

The early years of mathematics education at Leiden University (1575-1645)

Leiden University was one of the first universities in Europe to offer a practical mathematics course, taught in vernacular, parallel to a theoretical course. Why was this practical course taught and what did it teach students? The lecture notes of one of its first teachers can tell us a lot.

Guest author • September 28, 2021

Leiden University’s third centenary and jubilee (1875)

The fifteenth of June 1875 was a pleasant and warm day. Some menacing clouds threatened to throw a spanner in the works, but luckily the rain never came. Fortunate for the crowds gathering in Leiden, as on this day, Leiden University celebrated its three hundredth anniversary.

Jef Schaeps • April 20, 2021

Dogs in the library (1610). A team for utility and entertainment

Dogs were a much-loved subject in early modern prints. On the oldest depiction of the Leiden University Library, a print from 1610 after design by Jan Cornelisz Woudanus (ca. 1565-1615) two dogs are visible in the foreground, and not without purpose.

Other Library Staff • April 06, 2021

Political propositions: Willem Bilderdijk’s legal dissertation

Many recognise Willem Bilderdijk as one of the greatest poets in Dutch literary history, but only few know that he was a rather famous lawyer, all thanks to his education in Leiden. Letters, lecture notes and other documents provide insight into his time as a law student at Leiden University.

Guest author • March 09, 2021

Poet Anna van der Aar de Sterke and her all-female literary society 'Die Erg Denkt Vaart Erg In ’T Hart'

Leiden University student Evi Dijcks added a new chapter to Dutch literary history when she discovered the earliest all-female literary society in the Dutch Republic, founded in 1782. The discovery shows: 18th-century women did not wait around for men to include them in their literary activities.

Guest author • February 23, 2021

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