Image & Sound Collections

Introduction

This guide offers a survey of the image and sound collections held by the IISH, including some 250.000 photos and 138.000 negatives. The institute holds one of the largest collections of posters in the Netherlands (ca. 118.200) and stores several hundred banners. In addition, the collections include a considerable number of films (ca. 2500) and videos (ca. 4000), as well as several thousand sound tapes and gramophone records.

Most of the image and sound collections are accessible through search portal search.iisg.nl and can be searched by organisation, date, location, or subject. There is a subject index in the thesaurus.
Digitized copies, low resolution scans only, of visual documents can be viewed by using our search portal.
Only a small part of the collections is accessible through lists on this website.

The IISH also holds the collections of the ReclameArsenaal [The Advertising Arsenal], particularly posters and small printed matter, but also advertisements, cinema slides, commercials, packing material and miscellanea.

Below is a listing of the various materials. Each page shows numbers, formats, access, consultation, and references to available lists.

Materials:

• Posters, overview of the poster collection.
  These also include lists of about 45.000 posters.
• Photos, overview of the photos, slides, negatives and albums.
  The photo lists include about 230 photo collections.
• Prints
  Drawings, illustrations and cartoons.
• Textiles
  Banners, flags and fabrics.
• Sound
  Sound cassettes, sound tapes, gramophone records and CDs.
• Film
  35mm, 16mm and 8mm films.
• Video
  VHS, Betacam, Betamax, U-matic tapes. The tapes of the video festival 'Next 5 Minutes' can be found on the N5M pages.
• Objects
  Glass and earthenware, sculptures, games, gavels, propaganda material, and other similar items.
• Various
  Buttons, historical maps, calendars, small printed matter, paintings, and social art.
• Unidentified photos
  Photos from IISH collections which cannot be identified.

Information

Most of the image and sound collections are accessible through search portal.
The image and sound collection contains only separate images. Books with illustrations are listed by their titles in the catalogue.
In most cases it is possible to order reproductions, borrow materials for exhibitions or view the originals. For rates, conditions, and facilities, please consult the pages on Services. For more information, contact the staff of the reading room, go to: Enquiries.

For information on collection development, gifts etc., contact Frank de Jong ().

Publications

- Van bron tot boek. Apparaat voor de geschiedschrijving van het communisme in Nederland (Amsterdam 1986)
- P. Denekamp, B. Freriks, G. Voerman, Sporen van pacifistisch socialisme (Amsterdam 1993)
- M. Lauwers, Gids voor Historisch Beeld- en Geluidsmateriaal (Amsterdam 1994)
- Gids voor historisch beeld- en geluidsmateriaal (Amsterdam 1999)
- H. Sanders, E. Hiemstra-Kuperus, Images of aspiration = Beelden van streven (Amsterdam, 2005)