History of the collections

A brief history of the special collections in the Library of the University of Groningen.

Even before the University of Groningen was founded, the city had its famous scholars. Emo of Wittewierum, for example, is known to have studied in Oxford, Orléans and Paris in the thirteenth century. After he became abbot, Emo wrote a history of the Wittewierum monastery. This manuscript is the only surviving book of what must once have been a rich library. Various other monasteries also had libraries, produced manuscripts and provided teaching. A number of famous scholars, including Wessel Gansfort (c. 1419-1489) and Rudolf Agricola (1444-1485), learned to read and write at the Groningen Sint-Maartensschool before continuing their studies at Italian universities. Churches, monasteries and private individuals collected books for their studies in theology and philosophy. One example of a learned book collector is Wilhelmus Frederici, pastor of the Martini Church. He studied in Italy in the same period as Agricola and was even awarded two PhDs there. Several dozen of his books have been preserved.

The foundation of the University Library

In 1594, during the Eighty Years’ War, the city of Groningen was conquered by Prince Maurits. Soon after this, Groningen and its hinterland joined the Union of Utrecht. Plans were made to establish an academy to train civil servants, lawyers, theologians and medical doctors. After two decades of preparation, the academy was finally inaugurated in 1614, followed the next year by the foundation of an academic library, which was located in a wing of the Franciscan monastery directly opposite the academy. This location has always remained the same, although both the Academiegebouw and the University Library have been rebuilt a number of times since.

The first years

The main aim of establishing and expanding the library collection was, and still is, to support teaching and research. The first inventory of the University Library was written in 1619. This Syllabus librorum was maintained by librarians until the eighteenth century. The library contained over four hundred volumes in 1619. A calligraphic copy of the Syllabus was available to show to benefactors and other important visitors. In the first decade of its existence, the Academy Library received a great boost when the library of the Martini Church, including the book collections of the Groningen monastery, was acquired. Unfortunately, the exact details of this acquisition are not known as it was not included in the Syllabus. However, the origins of a great number of mediaeval manuscripts, incunabula and sixteenth-century prints in the University Library can be traced back to the Martini Church on the basis of bindings and notes of ownership.

Since the early seventeenth century, the collection has grown from about four hundred to over two million volumes thanks to acquisitions, legacies and gifts from university, province and city administrators, professors, alumni, students and others.

A few examples of special collections

The collections that we now call ‘special’ were not always special to begin with. The Groningana collection in the UB – about the history, language, politics, arts, etc. of Groningen – contains both books bought by the library and gifts from authors and private collectors. Mello Backer was an important nineteenth-century collector whose library contained printed books as well as manuscripts and maps. Another large collection, received as a gift from J.J.C. Enschedé in 1913, contains works about the Dutch and English colonial history in Southeast Asia and about the history of railways in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. The library of the Genootschap Conamur , founded in 1899 for the study of socialism, contains a lot of source material on social history, including hundreds of pamphlets and brochures. In 1853, the Societas Pro Excolendo Iure Patrio , which was founded in 1761 to promote the study of natural law and Dutch law, gave its collection of approximately 3500 works on law and history on permanent loan to the University Library. The Bibliotheca Unitariana , about the history and principles of Unitarianism and freedom of religion, is a relatively new collection, the foundations for which were laid by a gift from Dr Duncan Howlett in 1991. The library of the Kunstlievend Genootschap Pictura , founded in 1832, mainly consists of eighteenth and nineteenth-century works about the fine arts. This collection was lent to the library in 1904. H.J. Nauta’s library, given to the university in 1807, focuses on alchemy, astrology, magic and astronomy. The largest philological collection is the Horatius library, compiled by Hendrik Riedel , a teacher at the Groningen gymnasium. It contains over 1100 editions of and commentaries on the works of the Roman poet Horace and was accessioned in 1871. While preparing the catalogue for this collection – which was published in 1996 – we found an early sixteenth-century edition with marginal notes in the handwriting of Regnerus Praedinius, rector of the Latin School in Groningen around 1550. Various twentieth-century specialists in the field of the Spanish language and history have donated their books to the library: Fonger de Haan , a Dutch professor at an American university, the writer Johan Brouwer , and Gerardus Johannes Geers , professor at this university. The Groningen department of the Società Dante Alighieri has lent the library a large collection of books about artistic and cultural life in early twentieth-century Italy, and members of this society have helped organize an exhibition of this splendid material. Another collection, the Stavermanbibliotheek of editions, translations and adaptations of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, has also proven very suitable for exhibition.

Although the main aim of the University Library is to provide texts as instruments for teaching and research, there is still enough room to collect printed material for other reasons besides content. The history of the book is a subject that interests increasing numbers of students. A collection of over five thousand Dutch industrial book covers from the period 1890-1940 therefore fits in the collection profile. The art of printing only arrived in Groningen in the late sixteenth century, after which it took some time before handwritten books were completely replaced by printed ones. The most famous Groningen printer of the twentieth century is without doubt Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman. Many of his ‘Blauwe Schuit’ editions can be found in the library, as well as the more commercial products he printed. Since the 1960s, many Dutch amateur printers have produced beautiful printed works. Various minor printers from the city and province of Groningen – members of the ‘Drukwerk in de Marge’ foundation – also regularly publish beautiful work. The University Library aims to collect a representative selection of the works of the Groningen printers.

• See also the descriptions of the other special collections in the University Library.