Colonial Collections |

Colonial Collections Consortium

The Colonial Collections Consortium is a partnership between five organisations in the Netherlands: Museum Bronbeek, NIOD, Cultural Heritage Agency, Rijksmuseum and Wereldmuseum. The consortium supports institutions administering collections in provenance research by sharing knowledge, answering questions and providing stakeholders with a network.

Provenance research

Does your museum manage collections and objects from colonial contexts and would you like to do provenance research on these? Apply now for a grant!

Read more →

News

7 November 2024

Open for applications: provenance research into colonial collections

Does your museum manage collections and objects from colonial contexts and would you like to do provenance research on these? The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has made budget available for provenance research on colonial collections. A total of EUR 500,000 is available that will be awarded to provenance research projects.

24 September 2024

For second time cultural artefacts to be returned to Indonesia

In response to a request from Indonesia, the Netherlands is returning 288 objects from the Dutch State Collection to Indonesia. These objects were wrongfully taken to the Netherlands during the colonial period and are of cultural interest to Indonesia. Experts and organisations in the field of museums and collections in both countries collaborated intensively to make this return possible.

6 August 2024

Vacancy Project Officer Provenance Research Grants

Wereldmuseum, partner of the Colonial Collections Consortium, is looking for a Project Officer who will help implement the Provenance Research Grants. Do you have experience working on restitution, repatriation and provenance reseach cases and are you familar with the Dutch policy? Then we invite you to apply.

25 July 2024

Eleven grants for NWA research into collections with a colonial context

NWO has awarded funding to 11 research within the call ‘Research into collections with a colonial context’. Dutch museum collections may contain looted objects with a colonial context. This programme aims to redress injustice and strengthen trust and cooperation with the countries of origin.

Events

Wednesday

12 | 03 | 2025

International Conference: Decolonizing Museums and Colonial Collections

The conference will delve into the theme of transdisciplinarity as a vital tool and framework for reimagining museums and their colonial collections from an inclusive and decolonial perspective. Globally, there is a growing movement fueled by public demand to decolonize museum institutions. However, practical strategies for decolonizing museums and addressing their colonial collections are often lacking in discussions.

Tuesday

12 | 11 | 2024

Symposium: Honour & Discomfort, war booty in museum collections

On 12 & 13 November 2024, at the National Military Museum in Soesterberg, The Royal Defense Museums Foundation (SKD) is organizing the symposium: ‘Honour & Discomfort, war booty in museum collections’. At this symposium, the current state of provenance research and restitution in military museums will be discussed.

Wednesday

06 | 11 | 2024

Course: Provenance Research on Colonial Collections

Colonial collections differ widely, including how they were obtained. Collaborative research into the history of objects can shed light on their origins. Employees of museums and archives have an important task in conducting provenance research on these collections. This course ‘Provenance Research on Colonial Collections’, developed by the ErfgoedAcademie together with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, aims to support them in this task.