Archive Wilhelmina J. Bladergroen

Short overview

Archive of: Bladergroen, Wilhelmina J. (1908-1983), child psychologist, remedial educationalist.

Provenance: Heirs Bladergroen

Name archive: Archief-Bladergroen

Dated: ca. 1949-1983

Size: 3 m

Language of the materials: Dutch

Nature of the archive: Fragments of scientific and personal materials

Call number: uklu BLADERGROEN

Summary: Manuscripts of articles, transcripts of lectures and presentations. Correspondence from the 50’s, some materials about clients as well as personal notes

Collection number: UBGcb031

Institution: University of Groningen

Repository: University Library Groningen

Provenance and acquisition

Early on I n1984, the University Library was given the opportunity to buy ms. Prof. Dr W.J. Bladergroen’s personal library, which contained mostly material from her field, but also the contents that now make up this archive: handwritten excerpts from books, drafts of articles, transcripts from lectures, and other such things. Amongst these unorganised pieces, correspondence from the 50’s was found, as well as some notes regarding clients and personal notes. The Bladergroen-archief, as it is available at the University Library Groningen is only a fragment of Bladergroen’s personal and professional output. Most of it has been lost to time. 

Biography

Wilhelmina Johanna Bladergroen was born in Amsterdam on 12 july 1908. She was the daughter of Willem Frederik Bladergroen, a dealer in office supplies, and Hendrika Maria Bruchner. She remained unmarried, but did have a fosterchild.

After attending the Barlaeusgymnasium in Amsterdam (gymnasium-A), she studied to become a P.E. teacher, for which she received a diploma in 1930. She taught P.E. at several schools in Amsterdam until 1934. From 1932 until 1940, she studied psychology at the University of Amsterdam. After qualifying as a teacher, she taught pedagogy in Amsterdam and in Utrecht, training teachers in the Montessori-style.

In 1940, she settled in Amsterdam and started working as an independent advisor in child psychology and pedagogy. Starting in 1941 she worked with a group of students with learning difficulties, in an educational institute that she and a teacher had put together. In 1943, this school expanded and started boarding students with various learning difficulties and developmental challenges. Bladergroen was sent to Kamp Vught for harbouring fugitives during WW2. After the winter of famine, the institute had to close. In August 1945, the school and boarding house reopened, now as part of Stichting Psychologisch-Paedagogisch Instituut ‘Amsterdam’, which her consulting practice was also part of. In August 1949, Bladergroen was named lecturer in child psychology at the University of Groningen. She also ran a private practice in Groningen to help children with learning difficulties. In 1956, she opened another school in Eelde, and in 1962 the Stichting Instituut voor Remedial Teaching was founded in Groningen. In October 1966, Bladergroen was named a Professor of pedagogy. On 1 September 1978, she became an emeritus professor. She passed away on 25 december 1983, in Glimmen.

Source: P.TH.F.M. Boekholt in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 5 (The Hague 2002)

Contents and collation

Five boxes of archived materials (ca. 60cm each): Manuscripts of articles, transcripts of lectures and presentations. Correspondence from the 50’s, some texts regarding clients and personal notes. 1.5 metres of offprints and excerpts. Three pieces of tests.

Instructions for users of the archive 

Accessibility 

The collection is accessible for research purposes. People who want to access the collection need a University Library Groningen access pass. An inventory of the collection is available           

Limitations to use

The materials from this collection are available for viewing only. If you wish to study this archive, the rules set out in the Reglement voor de gebruikers van de Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit Groningen apply. Reproductions, as far as they are allowed, are to be made conforming to the rules set out in Tarieven en diensten Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Citations       

When citing this collection as a whole, or when citing any individual part of the collection, the following information should be given: Universiteitsbibliotheek Groningen, Archief Bladergroen.

Requests

Uklu Bladergroen, requests can be made by sending an email to Special Collections Department.

Bladergroen’s personal library

Bladergroen’s personal collection contains several valuable magazines and periodicals, as well as many monographs concerning psychology, pedagogy and philosophy, some of which are old and rare (Jaarverslag UBG 1984).

The titles of these books have been coded in 2014 so they can be gathered and kept as a collection. In total, there are almost 2700 books.

Literature

Wilhelmina Bladergroen: vrouw in de eeuw van het kind / Mineke van Essen. – [Amsterdam]: Boom, copyright 2012. -381 pages, [16] pages of photos and illustrations; 22 cm.

Published under licence of the Archie fen Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Geragswetenschappen. – With bibliography, literature, index.