Photography

Prints, Drawings and Portraits · Photography

Claiming Coster

On 4 November 1901, a large crowd gathered on the Rapenburg for the unveiling of a memorial, mounted on the Academy Building of Leiden University. The memorial was erected in memory of Herman Coster. Who was he and why is commemorated at this very spot, at the heart of Leiden University?

Erik-Jan Dros • 25-06-2025

Photography

Chemicals, Glass and Persistence: Alexine Tinne’s 1862 photography in the heart of Africa

Alexine Tinne mastered mobile photography while the art was still in its infancy, enabling her to create some truly unique photos in mid-19th-century Africa.

Maartje van den Heuvel • 25-03-2024

Photography

A Photo Album of Julius Muller - Suriname 1883-1885

Julius Eduard Muller (1846-1902), an esteemed and influential politician in Suriname, was also an amateur photographer. His view of the colony lives on in a photo album created for a friend and business partner.

Anouk Mansfeld • 16-05-2023

Manuscripts, Archives and Letters · Photography

A rich Dutch East Indies family history impeccably preserved

A donation of an (almost) complete family archive, including photography, correspondence, official documents, but also textiles and clothing, provides a glimpse into life in the Dutch East Indies.

Anouk Mansfeld + 1 other • 19-07-2022

Photography

Extreme example of Dutch ‘landscaping’, photographed by Marie-José Jongerius

"God created the world but the Dutch created the Netherlands", Descartes supposedly once said. Leiden University Libraries acquired 40 photographs by Dutch photographer Marie-José Jongerius (b. 1970), who photographed an extreme example of this Dutch passtime.

Maartje van den Heuvel + 1 other • 15-12-2020

Photography

Emmy Andriesse: forbidden photographs of the hunger winter and liberation of Holland, 1944-1945

Emmy Andriesse photographed the last years of World War II in Amsterdam while putting herself in serious danger. Her photographs, now in the Leiden Special Collections, gained iconic status in Dutch visual history.

Maartje van den Heuvel • 01-05-2020

Exhibitions · Photography · Asian Special Collections

Schaefers’s daguerreotypes of the Borobudur

In 1844, the German photographer Adolf Schaefer was recommended by Ph. F. von Siebold, advisor to the Ministry of the Colonies, to document the antiquities of the island of Java.

Anouk Mansfeld • 23-09-2019

Photography

The price of a mounted photograph by Woodbury & Page

New information about pricing of tourist photographs uncovered in conservation effort.

Guest author + 1 other • 02-09-2019

Photography

A professional Dutch wide-angle stereo camera (1902), designed by Major General Van Albada

The first Dutch stereographic camera was designed and manufactured by a Major General of the Dutch army, L.E.W. (Lieuwe) van Albada (1868-1955). It appeared on the professional market in 1902.

Maartje van den Heuvel + 1 other • 10-07-2018

Blogs

Claiming Coster

Chemicals, Glass and Persistence: Alexine Tinne’s 1862 photography in the heart of Africa

A Photo Album of Julius Muller - Suriname 1883-1885

A rich Dutch East Indies family history impeccably preserved

Extreme example of Dutch ‘landscaping’, photographed by Marie-José Jongerius

Emmy Andriesse: forbidden photographs of the hunger winter and liberation of Holland, 1944-1945

Schaefers’s daguerreotypes of the Borobudur

The price of a mounted photograph by Woodbury & Page

A professional Dutch wide-angle stereo camera (1902), designed by Major General Van Albada