Blad 130 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1940 - 1941

This is page 130 from the register of students at the Colonial School for Girls and Women in The Hague, dating from between 1930 and 1949. A document like this allows us to glimpse the inner workings of a specific educational institution in the Netherlands. We can see how these young women were trained for roles within the Dutch colonial project, likely destined for positions in administration, healthcare, or education in places like the Dutch East Indies. The neat, ruled columns reveal the bureaucratic nature of colonial governance, classifying individuals and tracking their progress through the school. By researching the curriculum and institutional history of the Colonial School, we can understand more about the ideas, attitudes, and assumptions that shaped the Dutch colonial project, and the gendered division of labor that upheld it. The study of this register reveals how institutions create and reinforce power structures, and reminds us that art and archives are not neutral, but products of social and institutional forces.