Digitization of Surinamese plantation archives

The collection of the Surinaams Museum contains important archives that provide a good picture of the management of plantations and the living conditions of enslaved persons in Suriname in the 19th century. On 23 June 2022, the National Archives of the Netherlands and the Surinaams Museum signed an agreement to digitize these records, thereby improving access to these items.

The records of the two plantations Vrouwenvlijt and Vossenburg, the records of Mr A.F. Lammens – Judge at the Combined Court for the Prevention of the Slave Trade in Suriname – and various manuscripts related to slavery in Suriname, Saba, Statia, and St. Martin will be part of the digitization project. These records were created in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the past, these archives were used by individual researchers, but they are difficult to access for the general public.

To make the digitization possible, a scanner will be installed at the Museum and staff will be trained to become scanner operators. The scans are expected to become available in 2024 in the reading room of the National Archives of the Netherlands and at locations of the Surinaams Museum.