Website and educational project
Principal
Zeeland Archives – Zeeuws Archief
The Zeeland Archives (Zeeuws Archief) in Middelburg is the historic reference and place of work for everybody who is interested in the past of Zeeland and the people from Zeeland.
Concept and editorial office
Zeeuws Archief and Onwijs Producties
Development and realization
Onwijs Productions in Oude Tonge develops educational and informative multimedia productions for education and cultural heritage.
Open Gemeenten|Pony Design Club made a restyling in 2018/2019, whereby the web project is included on the website of the Zeeland Archives.
Translation
Manon van Gijtenbeek
Pilot schools
Primary School De Vossenburch in Middelburg (the Netherlands)
Secundary School Scheldemond College in Vlissingen (the Netherlands)
Secundary School Accra Academy Senior High School in Accra (Ghana)
Secundary School Tata Colin MULO in Totness (Surinam)
Financial contributions
Stichting Herdenking Slavernijverleden 2013 website
Provincie Zeeland website
Mondriaan Fonds website
Contact
Zeeuws Archief | Educatie
Educational project
This international web-based educational project has been developed in the context of the ‘Commemoration of 150 years of the abolition of slavery’ (1863-2013) and the ‘Commemoration of 200 years of the abolition of slave trade’ (1814-2014) in the Netherlands. The educational project is part of the overarching program by the Zeeland Archives surrounding the Middelburg Commerce Company (MCC). The MCC’s core business was slave trade.
In 2011 UNESCO placed the MCC archive in the Memory of the World Register, the world heritage list for documentary works. In the context of Metamorfoze, National Program for the Maintenance of Paper Heritage, the MCC-archive is being fully digitalized. Since 2015 this internationally important heritage is available worldwide.
The Zeeland Archives initiated and developed various activities and projects to make this important world heritage available for a wider audience. One triangle voyage was researched meticulously: a slave voyage of the MCC-ship The Unity, 1761-1763. Via a weblog, daily reports from the logs, ship’s correspondence and other documents are published online from October 2013 – March 2015. The weblog is bilingual. All texts, historical- and background information will be on offer in both Dutch and English.
To make the unique sources from the Middelburg Commerce Company available for educational purposes, the Zeeland Archives initiated a digital education project, which is linked to the weblog of the MCC-ship The Unity. This way student’s are given the opportunity to take note of and work with the scans of the authentic archival materials about trans-Atlantic slave trade or triangle trade. In the project, which is developed by Onwijs Productions, students work with a selection of documents from the MCC archive. Processing the lessons is done through questions, assignments and discussions.
The educational project is geared towards the Dutch educational system, but is also accessible for schools abroad as it is offered in both Dutch and English. If desired the MCC-ship The Unity’s weblog serves as a source for more background information and inspiration for the teachers who can independently develop additional curriculum or local projects in collaboration with others.
