Vol. 40, No.4, October 2011
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Dark Clouds above Leiden's Boerhaave Museum
by Rienk H. Vermij, University of Oklahoma
Students gather in the Boerhaave's anatomical theater to watch the history of science in action.
The already-small number of museums specifically devoted to the history of science may soon be further depleted. The Leiden Boerhaave Museum for the History of Science and Medicine is presently in danger due to new measures imposed by the Dutch government. Unless the state-funded museum raises 700,000 euros (approx. US $1,000,000) from private sources by 2012, it will be forced to close its doors after next year.
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Dark Clouds Above Boerhaave Museum
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Notes from the Inside
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News
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Conferences and Jobs
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Jobs and Fellowships
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Member News
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In Memoriam
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Jobs, Conferences, Grants
The Boerhaave museum opened in 1931 at Leiden, where it is still housed. The aim of its founders was the preservation of the rich heritage of Dutch science and medicine, in an age in which the modernization of teaching and research made the old institutions and instruments obsolete at a rapid pace. The initial core of its collection was the physical cabinet of Leiden University, which went back to the seventeenth century, when Leiden was counted among the foremost universities of Europe. A second core element was the inventory of the Leiden astronomical observatory, founded in 1632. Since that time, the museum has acquired many other collections and objects of historical and scientific interest.
Highlights of the museum include the world's largest collection of Leeuwenhoek microscopes, instruments by Huygens—a large telescope, lenses, and the planetarium Huygens made for the French King—and more modern pieces, like the helium liquefier of Kamerlingh Onnes. In addition to instruments for research, the collection also sports teaching aids, such as anatomical models and demonstration equipment, and all kinds of medical or para-medical instruments, physique amusante, curiosities, and instruments for surveying or measurement.
All in all, the museum is responsible for one of the world's foremost collections of scientific instruments and other objects of scientific material culture. As of 2011, the collection comprises more than 30,000 items, not counting books, prints and some important scientific archives. This makes it a resource of the utmost importance for historians of science. The collection is being made accessible through a series of inventories, there is a competent staff of curators, and the museum contains an excellent library, which I frequently used myself when I was working in the Netherlands. Travelling exhibitions and a series of popular publications bring the treasures of the museum to the public. As Jim Bennett wrote in 2006, among history of science museums, "the Museum Boerhaave plays a leading role, demonstrating that museums for the history of science can have national standing for the presentation of scientific culture."
The museum is now under threat because of recently-announced policy changes in the Dutch government. Like many other countries, the Netherlands is carrying through cuts in the state budget and the cultural sector is taking a severe hit: the government has announced a 20% cut in the budget of 2012 compared to the 2011 budget. The Boerhaave Museum is particularly vulnerable to such policy changes. In 1947, it became a state museum, which meant that the Dutch government took full responsibility for its funding. However, in recent years, as the national government has sought to diminish its involvement with such entities, state support has been made dependent upon an institution's ability to raise funds independently. Therefore, beginning next year, state museums like the Boerhaave have to raise at least 17.5% of their budget themselves. That percentage will grow gradually in coming years.
Inside the Boerhaave Museum
The museum has already anticipated these new demands. In recent years, under new, dynamic leadership, the museum has taken active steps to become more open and interactive. This has not only involved increasing the number of visitors and reaching out to the public by initiating programs for primary and secondary schools, but also undertaking in-house fundraising campaigns. These efforts have been so successful that if the new policy were indeed implemented next year, the museum would not need to fear the future. However, it appears that the Boerhaave Museum must reach the benchmark of 17.5 % not in 2012, but already in 2010 and 2011—demands imposed retroactively.
The Boerhaave Museum may indeed become one of the most conspicuous victims of the new government policy. The Dutch undersecretary for culture, Halbe Zijlstra, has made it clear that, if the museum fails to raise the required sum, the Boerhaave will cease to operate as a public museum and will instead remain a storage facility. This will not only deny the public access to this part of the Dutch scientific heritage, but it will also eliminate opportunities for professional researchers to use the collections for scholarship.
The government claims that the new policy will improve and strengthen Dutch cultural life. They legitimate the demand for substantial self-support as a way for public institutions to show that they fulfill a real social need. The Boerhaave Museum is cooperating with the government's demands and, thanks to its fundraising in recent years, is in a better position to weather them than are many other Dutch institutions. Yet the point remains: closing down a viable institution due to failure to meet an arbitrary benchmark has nothing to do with cultural politics; it is a pretext not just for cutting budgets, but for slashing funding for culture in general.
The Boerhaave Museum may, ironically, fall victim to a policy that aims to stem the outgrowth of mediocre or superfluous cultural manifestations, in order to benefit those cultural institutions that most deserve support. Indeed, in the recent budget cuts, the government has ordered special exemptions for internationally-reputed highlights of Dutch culture: the Rijksmuseum, the National Ballet, and others, which draw foreign visitors and contribute to the Dutch glory abroad. It appears that the government regards science and medicine as unimportant fields of culture and does not consider that Huygens and Leeuwenhoek contribute as much to the renown of Dutch culture abroad as do Rembrandt and Vermeer. The necessity of a museum for the history of science and medicine to keep the Dutch officials aware of this part of their own heritage can hardly be demonstrated more clearly.
If the museum is able to raise the 700,000 euros before the end of this year, its immediate future seems assured. The museum has, therefore, started an energetic fundraising campaign. The museum's director, Dirk van Delft, explains: "We have approached funds for special projects (...) Also, there will be a series of fundraising dinners. Companies, such as Philips, Shell, AkzoNobel and Unilever, that are represented in the museum's collection, have been approached for support." Still, 700,000 euros at such short notice is a considerable sum for a relatively small museum, and, as this article goes to press, the Boerhaave's future remains uncertain.
Scholars and the general public are invited to support the museum through donations or memberships, or by buying an item, perhaps a replica of a Leeuwenhoek microscope, a great aid for history of science classes, from the museum's shop. For more information, please see www.museumboerhaave.nl
Editor's Note: To celebrate the Isis centennial in 2012, the University of Chicago Press will offer HSS members a chance to win a replica of Antoine van Leeuwenhoek's microscope. This replica microscope will be purchased by the Press from the Booerhaave Museum in the Netherlands, as part of their "save the Museum" project. The purchase of the Leeuwenhoek microscope will benefit the Museum and exemplify the spirit of the History of Science Society.