Introduction Objects and Stories about 140 years of History of VU Amsterdam Ab Flipse and Liselotte Neervoort In the 2020-21 academic year, two important commemorative events of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam coincided. Not only was the university celebrating its 140th anniversary, but this anniversary year was also proclaimed the ‘Kuyper Year’, as 8 November 2020 marked the centenary of the death of Abraham Kuyper, the principal founder of the university. A host of activities and commemorations were planned to celebrate the anniversary and to highlight and reflect on the historical and contemporary significance of Kuyper. One of the planned activities was the ‘VU Objects and their Stories’ exhibition, which was to focus on the heritage of VU Amsterdam, compiled by the authors of this book, Ab Flipse, university historian, and Liselotte Neervoort, curator of academic heritage. But 2020-21 was also the academic year in which the measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic drastically reduced the possibilities for activities on the campus. Teaching and other activities were only possible on a small scale, or conducted solely online. The same went for many of the anniversary activities. And the plans for the exhibition also had to be revised: it was decided to organise the exhibition online. It was assigned space on the commemorative website ‘Geheugen van de VU’ [Memory of the VU] and over the course of the academic year new illustrations of objects and the accompanying blogs were continuously published online. Of course, it was a pity that precisely this exhibition, which aimed to showcase the material VU heritage, could only be ‘visited’ through a screen. But the online presentation also had an advantage: it enabled us to show all the objects and accompanying stories one by one, and thus to give special attention to each of
them. The many positive responses we received inspired us to also incorporate the exhibition in this publication, which is appearing in both Dutch and English. This allows a less ephemeral form of commemoration. Moreover, in the summer of 2021 it proved possible to organise a physical exhibition after all, in the new heritage display case on the first floor of the VU Main Building.
Bust of Abraham Kuyper in front of the Aula at VU Amsterdam.
140 Y E A R S O F H E R I TA G E AT V R I J E U N I V E R S IT E IT A M S T E R D A M
1
