Pictura was requested to do two more Metamorfoze projects. For the ReclameArsenaal (AdvertisementArsenal) we will digitize over 70 years of specialist journals for the world of advertising and for Regionaal Archief Zutphen we will digitize the entire personal archive of Nederlandsch Mettray (Dutch Mettray), one of the first correctional eduction homes for adolescents.

In the eighties, the National Preservation Office of the Netherlands (CNC, Coördinatiepunt Nationaal Conserveringsbeleid) was founded by the National Library of the Netherlands and the Rijksarchiefdienst (State Archive Services). Its assignment was to chart which library collections were threatened by decaying paper. The CNC reported in 1991 that paper from between 1840 and 1950 had the lowest quality. This would threaten several kilometers of archive material from both institutes.

Following the results of the CNC the policy was made to save as much library material from that era as possible. From this Metamorfoze was founded. Thanks to grants from Metamorfoze, each year many meters of Dutch history can be saved. Two institutes that received a grant for vulnerable sections of their collections found their way to Pictura.

Advertising journals
Het ReclameArsenaal (The AdvertisingArsenal), which collects cultural historical heritage from Dutch advertising, wants to preserve and digitize some 80,000 pages of advertising journals from the period between 1911 and 1983. The collection comprises publications of De Ark, De Bedrijfsreclame, De Reclame, Revue der Reclame, Meer Baet, De Bureau Adverteerder and the VRI information journal. After preservation and digitization the advertising journals, filled with work of artists and designers and filled with unique advertising material, will be made accessible through the website of the AdvertisingArsenal.

Mettray Archive
In 1858 Nederlandsch Mettray (Dutch Mettray) was founded. It was a protestant correctional education home for non-criminal adolescents with behavioral problems. The home was built thanks to Willem Hendrik Suringar, who interested himself in behalf of adolescent criminals in the Netherlands. He visited a home in Mettray in France, where abandoned and criminal adolescents were straightened out in a farming colony. Thanks to donations the first children could be housed in Nederlandsch Mettray in 1851. Pictura will digitize about 4.5 meters of archive of the home so the Regionaal Archief Zutphen can make the digital version available and safely store the originals.

If you would like to find out more about digitizing valuable or fragile pieces and would like to know how we will treat your material, you can find more information elsewhere on our website or contact Jeroen Bloothoofd, our account manager digitalization.