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International Institute of Social History

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International Institute of Social History
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
AbbreviationIISH/IISG
Websitesocialhistory.org
Posthumus,IISH founder and director (1937–1952)

The International Institute of Social History(IISH/IISG) is one of the largestarchivesof labor andsocial historyin the world. Located inAmsterdam,its one million volumes and 2,300archival collectionsinclude the papers of major figures and institutions inradical leftistthought. The IISH was founded in 1935 byNicolaas Posthumusas an independent scientific institute. It is part of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Collections[edit]

The International Institute of Social History specializes in international labor and social history, including that of the Netherlands. As of 2000, it holds one million volumes, 80,000 audiovisual items, 2,400 serials, three million digital files, and 30,000 linear feet of manuscripts across 2,300 collections. Among the latter are institutional collections fromAmnesty International,Confederación Nacional del TrabajoandFederación Anarquista Ibérica,theEuropean Trade Union Confederation,Freedom Press,Greenpeace International,theInternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions,RussianSocialist Revolutionary Party,Socialist International,and the personal papers ofEmma Goldman,Karl Marx,Max Nettlau,Lev Trotsky,Karl Kautsky,Ernest Mandel,andSylvia Pankhurst.[1]The institute is the foremostrepository of anarchist documentsin the world.[2][3]

History[edit]

Nicolaas Posthumus,a socialist and first chair appointment in economic history in the Netherlands,[1]founded the International Institute of Social History in 1935.[4]To examine howlabour relationsdevelop over time, IISG collected archives from all over the world. During the first years Posthumus succeeded in obtaining many papers from anarchists (Bakuninmanuscripts), othersocialistandsocial democraticandMarxistmovements from Germany and Russia.

Before theGermans invaded the Netherlandsin 1940, Posthumus was able to move the most valuable archives to London. During the war, many remaining IISG archives were transported to Nazi Germany. They were not destroyed. Most of the papers were rediscovered in Hannover in 1946, and some other parts were later found in archives in Moscow in 1991, and returned to Amsterdam.[5]

In 1989 the International Institute of Social History moved to new premises: an old warehouse at the Cruquiusweg in the eastern part of Amsterdam. This building also housed thePress Museumbut in 2017 that museum became a part of the Dutch Institute for Image and Sound (Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) in Hilversum.[6]

They host most of theIHLIA LGBT Heritagecollection (LGBT Archives).

  • Bakunin Archives (IISG)
    Bakunin Archives (IISG)
  • Communist Manifesto (Marx)
    Communist Manifesto (Marx)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abKloosterman 2001,p. 373.
  2. ^Avrich, Paul(1979)."Review of The American as Anarchist: Reflections on Indigenous Radicalism".The American Historical Review.84(5): 1467–1468.doi:10.2307/1861661.ISSN0002-8762.JSTOR1861661.
  3. ^Suriano, Juan (2010).Paradoxes of Utopia: Anarchist Culture and Politics in Buenos Aires, 1890-1910.AK Press. p. 252.ISBN978-1-84935-044-0.
  4. ^Bergvelt, Ellinoor; Knegtmans, Peter Jan; Schilder, Marian (2007)."Nicolaal Wilhelmus Posthumus (1880-1960)".Colourful professors: 375 years of portraiture in the collection of the Universiteit van Amsterdam.Amsterdam UP. pp. 120–21.ISBN9789056294496.
  5. ^History of IISG (more)
  6. ^"Persmuseum en Beeld en Geluid: Verder als één organisatie".Beeld en Geluid.July 27, 2018. Archived fromthe originalon April 23, 2020.RetrievedJuly 27,2018.

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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