Archival Research
View of the Plantersrust plantation on Curaçao, Jacob Hendrik van de Poll, 1862, Rijksmuseum.
We dig deep into understudied parts of archives to uncover unknown voices. Historical documents are an independent evidentiary source that does not merely fill archaeological gaps but also provides crucial context and vital detail to the archaeological record. We read historical documents with and against the grain to identify colonial power structures and recover their local and idiosyncratic everyday alternatives.
Our archival research also focuses on the variability of the material experiences of everyday life on the ABC island across ethnicity/race, religion, class, and specifically gender. We are especially interested in material things (e.g., tableware, clothing, furniture, tools, commercial goods) found in the documentary sources and the entanglements between people―especially women―, things, and places that these reveal.
Research is conducted at archives on either side of the Atlantic including the Nationaal Archief Curaçao (NAC) and Mongui Maduro Foundation Library in Curaçao, the Archive of the Indies (AGI) in Seville, and the Nationaal Archief (NA) in The Hague, among others.
Responsible of the research line
Iris van Vlimmeren
Research Master's Intern
iris.vanwlimmeren@upf.edu
