The emancipation of the Dutch woman has made a lot of progression during the last century. Women are now actively engaged in the labour market, in sports and in many other places. Polygoon newsreels made a number of reports on women in a man’s world throughout the years. Special in this case is footage of the female aviation pioneer ms. Beppie Versluys. She was the first woman to receive a Dutch pilot license in 1930. In an article in Het Vaderland she talks in detail about her exam and her preparation for her exam. She understands that people might be a little nervous about a female pilot: “It must be an unsafe feeling for many people that their Dutch sky is traversed by not only a woman, but also one of a reckless age.” It wasn’t always easy being a woman during her exam. For example, when she had to fly for an hour at a height of 2000m she had a hard time: “It was very cold and I cried because of the pain in my fingers. (My colleagues probably never did that).” But nevertheless she passed all the tests and qualified as a pilot:
Ms. Versluys never had the intention to make a profession out of flying. But there were women in the 1930s who started working in professions that were seen as male professions. For example, Dutch women were trained to be a fire fighter. With the impending war they had to be able to take over the work from the men. Even though women weren’t thought to be suitable for the job, this didn’t really matter according to Het Vaderland: “If women are suitable for this job – fighting fire is men’s work – should be disregarded, because there will be no other choice.” Polygoon newsreels filmed a demonstration of the female firefighters of the The Hague fire brigade in 1939. Dressed in firegighter suits the women show among other things how to extuingish a fire:
In 1953 the police in Heerlen also had something new, for the first time they started recruiting women to patrol the streets in uniform. According to the Nieuwe Leidsche Courant there tasks would be “monitoring the youth, teaching the youth crossing guards and supervising movie theatres, bars and other amusements.” In the same year Polygoon newsreels went to Heerlen to see the women at work. Besides their normal tasks the report also shows them taking part in lessons in judo to become more resistant:
A report at the steel company Hoogovens in IJmuiden shows how things have changed in the 1980s. In an industry that was dominated by men for a long time, more and more women were employed. After a training the women could work as crane operator with the same pay and career opportunities as the men in the company:
The 1500th video that was added to Open Images is a report from the Polygoon newsreels on the 60 years existence of Philips in 1951. The electronics company Philips was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik Philips. In 1951 Eindhoven was decorated with thousands of light bulbs to celebrate the 60 years existence. There was also an unveiling of a statue of Anton Philips. This week it is 120 years ago that Philips was founded:
The former Netherlands Antilles celebrated a special day on October 10, 2010. On that day Curaçao and Sint Maarten became constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a status Aruba had since 1986. The other islands – Saba, Saint Eustatius and Bonaire – became a direct part of the Netherlands as special municipalities. The status of the former colonies is laid down in the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which dates from 1954. The alteration made in 2010 wasn’t the first one. In 1974 Polygoon newsreels did a report on a conference on the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in The Hague. Subject of discussion was Suriname’s desire to become independent. This would become a reality a year later, when the charter was altered for the first time:
In the countryside of Groningen they had other things to worry about in 1975. There the village of Weiwerd had to be demolished to make room for the expanding industry of the neighbouring Delfzijl. Polygoon newsreels made a report on the demolition of the village. The first houses had already been taken down by then and many inhabitants had left the village. The school in the village only had 14 students and 2 teachers left and the church in the middle of Weiwerd hadn’t had a service in months. Polygoon interviewed a woman who hadn’t moved yet:
More than 20 years earlier workers were doing the exact opposite in the IJsselmeer. There they were busy building a new city, Lelystad. In 1950 they started working on the construction of a ring-dike for the future Flevopolder from the working island Lelystad. In the first months of 1954 they hadn’t reached the mainland yet and the winter caused problems. Because of the ice they couldn’t reach the mainland with a boat anymore. And after the thaw had set in, the ice wasn’t thick enough to provide the inhabitants with food and mail via that route. Thus the sixty inhabitants of the island were provided with the necessary goods via a helicopter:
After the 1500th video the collection of videos on Open Images will keep expanding gradually. Later this year we hope to make the 2000th video available for reuse. Amongst the themes that will be added in the future is a theme on women with subjects like female football, female police officers and the feminist movement.
With this blog post we look back on the past year. How did Open Images contribute to an open collection of audiovisual material and stimulate the reuse of it?
In September Open Images launched its open API. Items published on the platform and their descriptions (metadata) and are accessible through an Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). This enables third parties to retrieve the stored metadata and media files in a structured way, making it easy to reuse material from the platform in their own applications (for example to create a mashup).
Video on Wikipedia
Since the start of the project, Open Images has contributed its audiovisual content to Wikimedia Commons to enable reuse of video on Wikipedia, for instance to ‘illustrate’ an article.
At first the ‘donation’ to Wikimedia Commons was a manual process, but in 2010 – in collaboration with Wikimedia Netherlands – we were able to fully automate this process, thanks to the Open Images API. As a resultOpen Images is now responsible for almost 12% of the video content available on Wikimedia Commons, hence being one of the biggest contributors of video that is reusable on Wikipedia.
We are getting more and more insight in the impact of the availability of Open Images material through Wikimedia Commons. We’ve learned that a large proportion is used to enrich over 550 entries on Wikipedia with related audiovisual content. In December 2010, these entries were viewed nearly 1.2 million times. This shows the great potential for the cultural heritage sector to collaborate with the Wikimedia Foundation to reach new and greater audiences within a meaningful context.
New Projects Reusing Open Images
When Open Images was launched in 2009 the material was almost immediately reused within several projects, including the OPEN CITY audiovisual archive of urban life from the Dutch public broadcaster VPRO and the ArtTube video platform about art and design from the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.
In 2010, tens of projects, small and large, were added to the list. Among them Picture War Monuments, a location-aware iPhone app that enriches the on-site visit to war monuments with audiovisual heritage, including newsreel footage and oral history video material on the Second World War available through Open Images. Another notable initiative was Image on a Map (‘Beeld in kaart’), a Google Maps mashup for the educational sector in the Netherlands combining several (educational) video sources – including Open Images – within a map interface. With this interface users are able to filter results based on subject (geography or history), location and time period.
What’s Next?
In 2011 the Open Images platform will receive a major update, with both functional and visual improvements. Part of this update is the realisation of portal functionality, allowing third party content providers to build and manage their own entrance to the platform (think: http://partner.openimages.eu). This will, for example, allow them to highlight their own contributions to the platform and to design their presence on the platform according to their own wishes and branding.
The platform functionality is part of a larger campaign we are organising to attract more third party content keepers to contribute to an even larger and more diverse offering of open audiovisual content through Open Images. This campaign will focus on public broadcasters, regional and local archives and broadcasters, institutional archives and business archives.
The rush on Dutch roads is off all time. Indications of the first blockages find their origin in the twenties from the 20th century. They are the heralds of the well-known frustrations in the morning and evening: traffic jams.
Over the years, the demand for motor vehicles grew, resulting in headaches for many civil servants. This led in 1938 to the establishment of the “Legion of Benevolent Road Users”. An initiative of the Royal Dutch Automobile Club to bring the politeness back in traffic, so that the safety on the street could be guaranteed. Members of the Legion ‘operated’ under the slogan “prepared for politeness on the street.”
Traffic can not just trust in the benevolence of the road users, so in 1965 a number of new traffic regulations got introduced where safety was of paramount importance. Pedestrians in the built-up area should not be hindered during their cross-over by inattentive motorists and mopeds as swift as an arrow. The Polygoon Dutch News shows in a report that the changes of the traffic regulations also restrict the various functions of emergency lanes.
Nearly 30 years after the establishment of the Legion of Benevolent Road Users, the situation on the roads are often still an awful affair. The undesirable behavior of many road users was not yet nipped in the bud. Especially in the busy capitol city of Amsterdam, motorists are a major problem, their pride possessions are anyway. Cars are double-parked at the strangest spots. However, it is not only the citizens where the finger should be pointed to. There is not enough parking space available in the city. The picturesque bridges that connect the canals do briefly serve as parking lots in 1967. It soon becomes apparent that this solution is unnerving to other road users, so the Amsterdam city council sets foot on the street armed with yellow paint.
In addition to addressing anti-social driving and parking, a car-free city centre of Amsterdam is becoming a more prominent issue. In reply to this, the industrial designer Luud Schimmelpennink in the early 70s came with an innovative concept for environmentally friendly transport: the Witkar. A three-wheel electric vehicle for two persons that could go up to 30 kilometers per hour. This electric tricycle is designed for the collective: subscribers don’t have to worry about a parking lot because the Witkar could be ‘hovered’ in a charger at five locations in Amsterdam.
Fourty videos on sports have now been added to Open Images. These items from the Polygoon newsreels give an overview of different sports in the Netherlands. Besides well known sports like football, hockey and cycling, there are also videos on lesser known sports. One of these is a sport that orginated in the USA, pushball. In a game of pushball two teams try to push an enormous ball across the line of the side of the opposing team. A large crowd of spectators in traditional attire watches a pushball game in Volendam in 1927. A report of this match shows how falling players frequently get run over by the enormous ball:
Falling down and getting up again also seems to be the motto during a cross-country of the Royal Military Sports Club. In a report by Polygoon newsreels we can see how the mounted soldiers have to ride a course with ditches, fences and slopes. This doesn’t always go smoothly: horses refuse, go through instead of over the fences or fall down with their rider:
The participants of the 4th Amstel Gold Race in 1969 also had a hard time. The weather conditions were far from ideal. The participants of this cycling classic in the hills of Limburg had to deal with cold and wet weather. Many cyclists had to give up. Only 34 of the 170 cyclists finished the race. Eddy Merckx was the favourite for the win, but his fellow countryman Guido Reybroeck eventually won the sprint:
The water skiers on the Bosbaan in 1962 had better weather. The participants of the Northern European and also Open Dutch Championships Water Skiing particpated in two categories: trick skiing and ski jumping. The 14-year-old Dutch Conny Dane won the Dutch as well as the Nothern European title in the category trick skiing. The jumps of the Danish waterskier Glasner didn’t go as smoothly. He came 9m short of the eventual winner in his first jump. During his second attempt he fell, but luckily he was “not discouraged” according to commentator Philip Bloemendal, but “he was wet”:
As small as the Netherlands may be, as big the freedom has been for the performing artists, most of the time. Throughout the years a free rein has been given to many artists within different art disciplines to unfold their talents in front of a large audience.
As early as in 1958, the 14-year-old violinist Dick Bor was given the opportunity to perform as soloist within the Dutch Youth Orchestra during a concert at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen. This concert was held within the scope of the Holland Festival, an event that is held annually in Amsterdam and acts as a platform for the Dutch, as well as the international performing arts.
The Dutch Youth Orchestra has not been the only breeding ground for performing artists. Since the establishment in 1888, the notable Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) has brought forth many talented musicians. The RCO is known throughout the world for being a celebrated symphonic orchestra, so it’s not surprising that international performing artists throughout the years have been eager to cooperate with the orchestra. As early as 1946 the well known German choirmaster Bruno Walter took off to Amsterdam at the age of 71 to rehearse with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Having been the confidant of Gustav Mahler for years, Walters’ choice of repertoire for the cooperation with the RCO was easy: Mahlers Fourth Symphony.
The harmonious teamwork between different artists inspired not only the sector of the performing arts. The government also understood the significance of the fine arts and by the end of the forties the Raad voor Cultuur (Arts Council) is established with the intention to advise the government on the field of ‘art management’ in the sectors of film art, theatre, music, expressive arts and literacy. In 1956 the council is installed in a celebratory way in The Hague by Jozelf Cals, the minister of Education, Arts and Science. The positions within the board are being occupied by prominent people from the five sectors of the fine arts. Hence ballet dancer Sonia Gaskell became head of the sector of theatre.
In December Father Winter showed his face in the Netherlands. People put on their skates again and went skating, snowmans were made and in some places they were even skiing. But the frost wasn’t always fun, it also caused a lot of problems, especially in traffic. A selection of videos that show winters in the Netherlands in earlier years has now been added to Open Images.
The videos show that large amounts of snow have caused problems before. In the notorious winter of 1979 parts of the Netherlands were completely snowed in. A snow storm caused the blowing snow to pile up, sometimes several meters high. This gave problems in traffic: cars broke down, Schiphol Airport had to be closed temporarily and railway traffic became almost impossible. The army had to help clear the snow to make parts of the Netherlands accessable again. This report from the Polygoon newsreels gives an overview of the problems:
The snow and frost were not only the cause of problems, they also gave a lot of joy. How Dutch people enjoyed themselves in the snow and on the ice can be seen in several items of the Polygoon newsreels. We can see people sleigh riding, ice skating, ice sailing and even skiing in the Netherlands. In 1929 the ice was thick enough to have a funfair on it. People are dancing on the ice, there is a barrel organ and even a swing:
But winter isn’t really winter in the Netherlands unless their has been an Elfstedentocht. A report on the Elfstedentocht of 1933 has now been added to Open Images. This race had two winners that finished at the same time, Sipke Castelein and Abe de Vries. After the finish the Polygoon reporter asked them a few questions:
Besides several videos on snow and ice, there is also a video on winter fashion. In a Polygoon newsreel from 1959 some women show the latest fashion for the coming skiing season. We see a lot of stripes, the elastic trousers, a divisable hood and a jacket with icicle design. Not only fashion for on the slopes is shown, but also clothing for the après-ski. According to commentator Philip Bloemendal this ‘will make everyone look their best in the ski resorts’:
Tags: Polygoon, winter
This entry was posted by Evelien Wolda
on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 10:49 am and is filed under Content.
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On the occasion of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage and to celebrate the 1000th added video, a few special videos have been added to Open Images. These videos from the Polygoon collection of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision are about the arrival of the first Polygoon newsreels with sound.
From 1922 the audience was able to watch the Polygoon newsreels in the Dutch cinemas. The first years the Dutch audience had to watch these newsreels without any Dutch commentary. The Dutch news was silent and the reports that were imported from abroad only had foreign commentary. Almost ten years after the first Polygoon newsreel this changed. On May 29, 1931 Polygoon showed the first Dutch film with sound in the cinemas. Soon after that, Dutch commentary was also added to the well-known Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (Polygoon Dutch News). Before the first Polygoon Hollands Nieuws with sound was made a few test films were shot. As a test for the sound-film, the director of the film factory Polygoon, mr. B.D. Ochse, read a couple of texts aloud:
To add lustre to the arrival of the first Polygoon Hollands Nieuws with sound, a few prominent figures from the film industry were asked to deliver a speech. Mr. D. van Staveren, chairman of the Centrale Commissie Filmkeuring (Central Film Censorship Board), spoke on film about how delighted he was with the arrival of the sound-film. He thereby also spoke of his displeasure with “all kinds of foreign influences creeping into the Dutch language”, which he mainly blamed on the American sound-film:
Besides mr. van Staveren, the chairman of the Dutch Union of Cinema Proprietors, mr. David Hamburger jr., was also asked to speak about the arrival of the sound-film. He was delighted that he could now understand the foreign news reports just as well as the German, French and English speaking inhabitants of the country. According to him the arrival of the Polygoon Hollands Nieuws with sound was “a real boon”:
Finally, a recording of mr. Ochse in which he announces the sound-film and contemplates on the added value this will have for watching football matches. These will now “enter the cinema with the richness of it’s buzzing sounds”:
Tags: Polygoon, UNESCO, wdavh2010
This entry was posted by Maarten Brinkerink
on Thursday, October 28th, 2010 at 11:26 am and is filed under Content, Events.
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Polygoon newsreels were shown in Dutch theatres from the 1920’s onwards. Subjects of the daily life in the Netherlands supported with compelling visuals were central to its (nowadays) typical format. To keep the audience interested Polygoon had to renew itself throughout the years. The latest inventions on communication, technology and innovation served the newsreels well as interesting subjects. Further, attention was paid to the mass consumption of the Dutch people in the ‘age of automation’. Innovations and developments which offered new opportunities in solving problems concerning the increasing use of energy, often found their way to the Polygoon newsreels.
These new techniques and innovations were often announced with great optimism. Take for example the introduction of a new sort of an electricity factory, the atomic power station in Dodewaard, announced with quit some enthusiasm. As where nowadays nuclear energy generally appears in an unfavourable light, in a news item from 1966 no attention was paid to the possible dangers entailing nuclear energy. The emphasis lay on the new possibilities: the station would supply the people with all the conveniences they needed in a time of mass use of energy.
Not only new methods to meet the growing need for energy among the Dutch were searched for. The need for better communication techniques became relevant in an age of mass communication. More and more people found their way to Schiphol airport and air cargo traffic grew continually. These developments put much pressure on the air traffic controllers. With the introduction of the radar, the Dutch airspace could be mapped in great detail so that the air traffic controllers had a better overview of air traffic approaching and leaving the Dutch air space. A Polygoon newsreel from 1951 shows how an air traffic controller from Schiphol ‘talks an airplane down’ with the assistance of a at that time new radar technique.
Attention was also paid to remarkable ‘close to home’ innovations which would make life much easier. As early as in 1963 Polygoon made a news item on the precursor of the contemporary late-night shops: the automatic store in Boxtel.
The ever more industrializing Netherlands provided its inhabitants not only with more energy, but also with new consumer goods. Many of these products came onto the market thanks to new technological innovations. New techniques were often shown in the Polygoon newsreels, and in retrospect can now give an indication on how fast new technologies follow each other up. For example, in 1978 a precursor of the contemporary DVD, the videodisc, was shown in a Polygoon news item. As was often the case with Polygoon news items, this particular item had a highly educative character, but with a comic flavour. In the item is demonstrated how with videodisc equipment connected to a regular television, among other things, images can be winded back in slow motion. Thanks to this new technique the bottom of a model walking on the catwalk can be seen again in slow motion. Putting the news in this ‘visual’ way, Polygoon continually captured the attention of its viewers.
Sound and Vision has been preserving, digitalizing and opening up Dutch audiovisual heritage together with 5 other institutions since 2007 for the Images for the Future project. In 2010 the central theme for Images for the Future will be Indonesia. Therefore almost 50 items with this theme from the Polygoon collection have been added to Open Images.
Polygoon newsreels did several reports on the former Dutch East Indies and Indonesia over the years. In these reports the Dutch viewers got an impression of the day-to-day life in the Dutch East Indies, for example of the market in Batavia in 1946:
Besides the day-to-day life, Polygoon newsreels also captured the difficult road to independence. Reports were made on the politionele acties (police actions) as well as the diplomatic negotiations. One of these was the signing of the truce agreement on the American ship ‚Renville’ in 1948 (from 00:46):
In the Netherlands there was also interest in the rich Indonesian culture. In 1948 the youth of Zeeland, Brabant and Limburg could get acquainted with the Indonesian culture at a traveling exhibition, showing a.o. wayang puppets and the gamelan:
After the independence of Indonesia, reports about the life in Indonesia were still made. For example a report about the opening of a new research institute for tea and cinchona with development aid from the Netherlands and the World Bank in 1975. In this report are shown beautiful images (in color) of the tea and rice fields in West Java:
