Slavernijverleden Digitaal is a temporary funding program for digitizing archives and collections on the Dutch history of slavery. For this purpose additional funding has been allocated by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The funding program is intended to make more information about the history of slavery accessible and available online.
The first and currently only application round within this funding program has now closed. Heritage institutions in the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom have been able to submit a project application. This application may concern printed or written sources, photos and other images, audiovisual material and objects that have connections with the history of slavery.
In November 2024, the Slavernijverleden Digitaal selection committee assessed the applications on substantive grounds. You can read the assessment criteria in the funding scheme. The committee paid attention among other things to uniqueness, suitability for education, relevance for descendants of enslaved people and the addition of underexposed perspectives.
The approved project applications will be developed into project plans in 2025. After approval of the project plans, the heritage institutions can start digitizing. At that time, Metamorfoze will also announce which projects will start.
Do you have any questions about this funding program? Please contact the coordinator, Charlotte van Putten.
Funding scheme and forms (in Dutch)
| Conditions, procedure and assessment criteria |
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| Financieringsregeling MM Slavernijverleden Digitaal (PDF) |
| Project application |
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| Formulier 1 projectaanvraag Slavernijverleden Digitaal (Word) |
| Project plan |
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| Formulier 2 projectplan Slavernijverleden Digitaal (Word) |
| Material analysis |
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| Materiaalanalyse Slavernijverleden Digitaal (Word) |
| Planning and budget |
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| Format Planning en begroting Slavernijverleden Digitaal (Excel) |
Inventory of sources relating to the history of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean islands
Which sources on the Dutch history of slavery are eligible for digitization? Commissioned by Metamorfoze, Dr. Margo Groenewoud, Dr. Coen van Galen and Dr. Thunnis van Oort have researched this. Their inventory and recommendations can now be read in the report ‘Inventory of sources relating to the history of slavery on the Dutch Caribbean islands’.
Curious about all observations and recommendations?
Metamorfoze projects Slavery and slave trade 2013-2021
From 2013 to 2021, nine heritage institutions from the Netherlands, England, Guyana and Suriname worked together to digitize 1.9 million archival documents on the subject of slavery and the slave trade. For more information, see the overview of the Metamorfoze projects that were carried out in this context.
