The Tropenmuseum has been one of the first big institutions that cooperated with Wikimedians and this has been documented on this blog. It is not the first time the Dutch government has the Tropenmuseum in its crosshairs.
The problem with the Tropenmuseum is that it is the repository of artefacts where the Dutch are only its custodians. Irreplaceable artefacts where the continued existence and a continued public presence ensures that we can source our history and learn how history is not as we know it.
The Tropenmuseum has been brilliant in its cooperation with us Wikimedians and the collection of imagery they have shared with us has been happily received and is extensively used. There is however so much more we can do with the Tropenmuseum, we plan to do with the Topenmuseum...
GLAM are essential to ensure that the sum of all knowledge we aim to share is encyclopaedic and truthful. The Tropenmuseum has been so important to us. This news is awful and it begs the question how the Dutch government intends to meet its continued obligation as the custodian of the world class heritage that is the Tropenmuseum collection.
Thanks,
GerardM
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