page_title: Zuid-Afrikahuis
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Zuid-Afrikahuis / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Zuid-AfrikaHuis, Keizersgracht 141, Amsterdam
context_page_description: The Zuid-Afrikahuis is a central information point on South Africa and contains the largest library on South Africa in the Netherlands. The institution also organizes literary evenings with writers and poets as well as holding cultural events. It also offers courses on the Afrikaans language. The Zuid-Afrikahuis is home to a number of organizations including: the foundation ZASM, the Nederlands-Zuid-Afrikaanse Vereniging, the foundation Stichting Studiefonds, and the Maandblad Zuid-Afrika.
context_section_description: The foundation for the advancement of the study of the language, literature, and history of South Africa (1932) established an extraordinary chair in Afrikaans language and literature at the Municipal University of Amsterdam (now University of Amsterdam) in 1933. The Suid-Afrikaanse Instituut (SAI) was established in 1939 to provide a library for the chair. In 1950 the library was invited by the foundation ZASM to move to their building on Keizersgracht 141 in Amsterdam, where office and classroom space was also provided for the university chair. The goal of the NZAV and the foundation ZASM was to turn the property on Keizersgracht 141 into a South African cultural centre. However, during the 1980s the chair was abolished due to austerity at the University of Amsterdam.
  The library of the Suid-Afrikaanse Instituut continued until 2013 when it was taken over by the foundation ZASM. The library possesses a collection of some 54,000 titles, ca. 40 ongoing, and ca. 550 discontinued periodicals, photographic materials and other documentation which together constitutes the largest collection of documents on South Africa outside of the country. The public may also loan certain items, though parts of the collection may only be viewed on the premises. The focus of the collection is both older and contemporary South African language, literature, history, art, politics, theology, and social sciences. Notably this includes a large collection of photos from the South African War and many archival documents from the Netherlands-South African Railway Company (NZASM) as well as other personal and organizational archives.
  The Keizersgracht building was closed for renovation in 2014, and reopened to the public in 2016. The current director of the Zuid-Afrikahuis is Judith Calmeyer Meijburg.
caption: Library (2018)
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