Turning to the history of Indian industrial labour conditions from a first degree in British and European history, with their wealth of first class literature on the industrial revolution, was something of a disappointment. The majority of Indianist historical studies in this field concentrate on the more institutional sides of unionisation, or on economic aspects, while much of the sociology of industrialisation (especially the material produced in the 1960's) to which I turned appeared to consist largely of blueprints for the distortion of whole cultures in the name of modernity and progress.

The Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology of Leyden which was founded in 1851, has as objective ‘Furthering the study of the languages, geography, ethnology and history of Southeast Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean and adjacent areas’ (article II of the Institute's statutes, 1976). This objective it tries to achieve through:

a. the establishment, maintenance and extension of the necessary scientific and administrative apparatus, in particular the library and other scientific departments;

b. the publication of a journal entitled Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, and other works;

c. the stimulation of scientific research, particularly in consultation with the Minister of Education and Science;

d. the maintenance of relations with other scientific organisations and institutions, inter alia through an exchange of publications.

In 1975, the eighth volume appeared in the series of publications of the committee 1900–1942 (CBNI) (of the Dutch historical association) for the publication of sources on the history of the N.E.I. The earlier publications of this series, which is now nearing completion, were arranged around the following themes: government policy on education, the People's Council and constitutional development, the nationalist movement till 1917 and the economic and financial policies of the NEI government. It was the job of drs. R.C.Kwantes (like dr. Van der Wai and mr. Creutzberg, a former official of the NEI government) to collect Dutch archival sources on the nationalist movement since 1917. With his first book he has brought his subject up to the middle of 1923. Two more volumes will be needed to cover the period till 1942. One of them may be expected in the course of 1978.

Prof. Eberhard Schmitt (University of Bamberg, Germany) has initiated an ambitious project: the publication in German of a great number of documentary sources on early modern European Expansion. His proposal was made before an international scholarly committee in Bamberg on 6–8 Septermber, 1977, and received its full support. Concerning his project, Prof. Schmitt wrote the following article:

Anyone who is even superficially informed about source publications concerning early modern history will quickly remark that publications are urgently needed about the history of the European Expansion. Especially in the German-speaking world is this need obvious. There are publications on various themes, as for instance the ‘Bauernkrieg’ or the Reformation, but very seldom do we find published sources on one of the most central developments of the history of the 15th–18th century, European expansion overseas and the reaction it caused on Europe itself.

Studies in Portuguese on the Dutch period in Brazilian history are scant; in fact several important works by historians of other nationalities such as ones by Aldenburgk, Netscher and Wätjen have been translated into Portuguese. However, we shall limit this survey to Portuguese and especially Brazilian authors. We thought you might be interested in what has been written by them on a topic of interest to expansion studies.

In recent years, there has been an increase in attention devoted to the study of the Indonesian Revolution from the perspective of the various parts of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago rather than from the national stage at Jakarta. Such studies are of course very feasible. Many of the participants in the Revolution are still alive in their fifties or sixties or even older. Regional studies of the Revolution have also been given a further boost when most of the Dutch archival records for the period till 1950 were declared open in 1969. I believe that in addition to field work in Indonesia itself, a research stint in the Dutch archives will be of tremendous assistance. However most researchers cannot afford to stay in the Netherlands for months on end for one reason or the other. To ease the researchers' task of having to spend time exploring the archives themselves, I thought it would be useful to highlight some of the archival collections that would be relevant for the study of the Indonesian Revolution.

The publication of the Oost-Indische Spiegel by Rob Nieuwenhuys in 1972 was not only a heart-warming event for many former inhabitants of Indonesia in Holland. It was also a valuable addition to historical knowledge about a particular aspect of Dutch overseas expansion. The Dutch Indian belles lettres offered a glimpse on the sociologically curious society of those days, on colonial relations and conditions within indigenous society. This last element is particularly present in Maria Dermouts writing on the Moluccas, that of S.Lulofs on Deli and a figure such as Tjoet Nyak Dien, and of Dubekart on the region of Kediri around 1870.

In 1974-5 I had the opportunity to travel throughout South Sulawesi to read historical documents and to record oral traditions from different areas. During this period I was continually impressed by the openness of the people and the pride with which they discussed their history, customs and culture. Even the smallest village possessed its own unique history and traditions which have been jealously preserved by the elders of the community as a heritage of the ancestors. For these people to neglect their history is tantamount to disregarding their ancestors and surrendering their identity.