IIAV becomes Aletta
The 11th of August, precisely one day after the 80th anniversary of the death of Aletta Jacobs, the International Information Center and Archives for the Women’s Movement (IIAV) has adopted a new name, ‘Aletta, Institute for Women’s History’. At the same time, Aletta launches her revamped www.aletta.nu. With one click, all information about women, women’s emancipation and women’s history can be found. Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ronald Plasterk who is responsible for emancipation policy, revealed the new name and launched the new site.
New name
The name change is aimed at increasing name recognition for the IIAV and reaching a broader public. Aletta is a name with more communicative muscle, which will prevent women’s history from being forgotten. The new name refers to the feminist role model, Aletta Jacobs, who, as the first female student and doctor at the end of the 19th century, created important breakthroughs for women. Breakthroughs are still needed in the present; there is a long way still to go in achieving women’s emancipation. Aletta seeks emancipation of women in all their diversity and focuses on three focal points: Emancipation, Heritage and Knowledge.New website
The website has also been completely renewed. With one search function, all our databases can be trawled. A ‘Google for women’s history’ is born! Aletta has contributed her collection to an international information system, the Automatic Common Catalogue and is also visible in PiCarta and WorldCat, the world’s largest bibliographic catalogue. Not only Dutch researchers and student can access our sources, but anybody anywhere in the world.‘Breakthrough rules’
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the death of Aletta Jacobs and the launching of Aletta, institute for women’s history, the organisation offered Minister Ronald Plasterk a few ‘breakthrough rules’ established by prominent Dutch citizens like Job Cohen, Agnes Jongerius en Mariëtte Hamer. They believe that the four-day work week needs to be worked on, that school time should be expanded, that the phrase ‘father’s day’ should be forbidden, that more women should be elevated to senior positions, since that will improve business success, and that childcare should be partly free. These ‘breakthrough rules’ were handed over by ‘Aletta’s of today’: young, powerful women who, despite great obstacles, have created breakthroughs in their lives. A complete list of breakthrough rules can be found on www.aletta.nu.Background
The International Archives for the Women’s Movement (IAV) was established on December 3, 1935 by the feminists Rosa Manus (1881-1943), Johanna Naber (1859-1941) en Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot (1897-1989). The aim was to build a set of archives and library to collect and conserve the heritage of women and stimulate scholarly research and publication. The institute developed into an international organisation that promoted the collection and sharing of knowledge and information about women’s history and the position of women in the society. Aletta’s ambition is to increase knowledge and promote research, contributing to the emancipation of women in all their diversity. By sharing knowledge of the past, the future can be created. Hence the slogan ‘sharing the past, creating the future’. Aletta comprises 141,000 publications and 577 archives from women’s organisations and individual women, totalling 1,200 metres.European Women’s Thesaurus online in new layout
Looking for information on Amazons, Anorexia-nervosa, Black feminism, Child abuse, Feminist media or Images of women? These are just a few terms from the European Women’s Thesaurus, a tool for indexing and retrieving women’s information in databases, on internet and in the collections of libraries ...
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Aletta Annual report 2009
Are you interested in the projects and activities of Aletta in the past year? Read the annual report 2009.
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Aletta 75 years!
Aletta, institute for women’s history exists 75 years this year! The memorandum of association of Aletta’s predecessor, International Archive of the Women’s Movement, was signed on the 3rd of December 1935.
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Newsletter June
The Newsletter June is out.
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Historian Davis wins prestigious price
Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor at University of Toronto, is awarded Holberg International Memorial Prize 2010.
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Update Fragen project
The Fragen project is in full swing. Project coordinator Tilly Vriend gives an update on the European project.
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Alice Salomon Archiv celebrates 10th anniversary
On the occasion of their 10th anniversary, the Archive and Documentation Centre for Women’s Social and Pedagogical Work of the Alice Salomon University organized a colloquium on 7th May in Berlin. The focus of the event was: 'How can the learning of social values be fostered?'
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Directors blog: 'Italian women's Library in Bologna'
Aletta director Saskia Wieringa visited the Italian women's library in Bologna. Read her blog and learn about the history, the fresco's and the atmosphere of the library.
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DAPHNE III Neskak Gora
Since December 2009 Aletta is participating in the Integrated Initiative for Preventing Violence, Abuse and Discrimination against Migrant Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Europe.
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Saskia Wieringa at Queer Film Festival
John Badalu, director of the Indonesian Q! Film Festival was being interviewed by Professor and Indonesia expert Saskia Wieringa about the current trends in LGBT rights and movements in Indonesia, at the Cinema Asia Film Festival in Amsterdam.
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New: Aletta Scholarly Newsletter
The Scholarly Newsletter, which will appear three times a year, is intended to enhance the communication with researchers who are interested in Aletta's collections.
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The African Gender and Development Index (AGDI)
In 2002 Saskia Wieringa, director of Aletta, was asked to reflect on a new gender index, by members of the Economic Commission of Africa, which is a commission of the United Nations that resides in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ...
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Doing Gender Lecture Series Utrecht University
In the Spring of 2010 the Graduate Gender Programme - GGeP - at Utrecht University organises a sixth round of the series of lectures entitled DOING GENDER.
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Adjusted opening hours due to holidays
Due to the upcoming holidays the opening hours of the library are adjusted.
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Live webcast Beijing+15 Forum
The NGO Committee on the Status of Women/New York announced that select events of the Global Forum for Women–Beijing Plus 15 will be webcast live on February 27 and 28 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time-US).
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European Feminist Forum publishes ‘A Herstory’
Over the past several years, feminist women and men throughout Europe came together to meet as part of the European Feminist Forum. In the European Feminist Forum, they exchanged ideas about issues that face women in Europe today, with the goal of creating a new European feminist agenda ...
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Interview with Wendy Harcourt
Wendy Harcourt is Senior Director and Editor of the journal Development at the Society for International Development. She is a member and immediate past Chair of Women in Development Europe ...
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Project 'Back in a Bite' wins pitch
On September 8, 2009 Aletta won a DOEN Clinic at Mediamatic with the project 'Back in a Bite', pitched by Evelyn de Roos.
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Report Fragen training at Aletta
From the 19th till the 21th November 33 women from 29 countries attended the Fragen training. Tilly Vriend, Project manager of the Fragen project, welcomed the participants at Aletta, Institute for Women’s History.
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Human Rights Defenders Tulip for Shadi Sadr
The 9th of November, the Iranian human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr won the 2009 Human Rights Defenders Tulip for her courage in championing the human rights of her fellow citizens. The price was handed over to her by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Verhagen.
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Book review Traveling Heritages
This summer, the magazine Feminist Collections, Quarterly of Women Studies (Women's Studies Librarian, Univeristy of Wisconsin) published a favourable book review of 'Traveling Heritages: New Perspectives on collecting, preserving and sharing women's history'.
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WLIC symposium in Istanbul
Tilly Vriend, information specialist and coordinator of databases at Aletta, was keynote speaker at the Women’s Library and Information Center (WLIC) symposium in Istanbul. She quoted Gloria Wekker, professor Gender & Ethnicty at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and associated with Aletta ...
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No EU funding for ATHENA 3
The year of dissemination for ATHENA3, an initiative of the Athena Network, will not receive funding from the EU. However, Athena will be able to continue its work within ATGENDER.
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Annual report 2008
Are you interested in the activities of the IIAV in
2008? Read the annual report.
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IIAV becomes Aletta
The 11th of August, precisely one day after the 80th anniversary of the death of Aletta Jacobs, the International Information Center and Archives for the Women’s Movement (IIAV) has adopted a new name, ‘Aletta, Institute for Women’s History’. At the same time, Aletta launches her revamped www.aletta ...
Read on 
Mieke Aerts appointed to the Wilhelmina Drucker Chair
Dr. Mieke Aerts (1952) has been appointed professor of ‘political history of
gender in the Netherlands’ in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of
Amsterdam (UvA) ...
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International Rosa Manus seminar
The IIAV held the first ever Rosa Manus seminar on October 23 and 24,
2008, honoring the Dutch activist for peace and women's suffrage who died in a
Nazi camp during the Second Wold War ...
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IIAV acquires the online Gerritsen collection
The Gerritsen collection is the largest source in the world for the study of
women’s history. It contains 133 magazines and more than 4,000 books in a
variety of languages, dating from the 16th century through 1945 ...
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IIAV supports research in Victimology
In February 2008, prof. dr. Renée Römkens became holder of the new chair
‘Violence in interpersonal relationships, in particular domestic violence’ at
INTERVICT (International Victimology Institute Tilburg) at the Tilburg
University ...
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Trafficking and migration
Text: Gé MeulmeesterPhotographs: Karin LakemanThe Japanese Yu Kojima recently wrote her dissertation for the Institute of
Social Studies in The Netherlands ...
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Saskia Wieringa Inaugurated as Professor
The IIAV is immensely proud that its director Dr. Saskia Wieringa has
been appointed to hold the chair ’Gender and Women’s Same-Sex Relations
Cross-culturally’ at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences.
Prof. Dr ...
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New website www.aletta.nu
Aletta launched a completely revamped website on August 11. All the information about women’s history and the position of women in society is now even easier to find.
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