Collection strategy National Maritime Museum Amsterdam

Summary

In 2009 the National Maritime Museum Amsterdam layed down a new collection-strategy that supports the museum's mission statement:

With its outstanding collection and unique 17th century building the NMMA offers its guests -young and old- a surprising, moving and inspiring experience of Dutch maritime history and culture.

Devolopment of the collections contains acquisition and deaccession, research and publications.

The museum wil develop its collections starting from 5 main themes:

The Dutch and the world: the internationals scope on the collection and its relation to maritime history.
The Netherlands as a maritime nation: the national scope on the collection.
The sea as source for inspiration:the history of art and the sea.
The sea as a new challenge: post-modern perspectives on the sea and the oceans (watersport, sea-side culture, natural environment).
Amsterdam as a port city: history of Amsterdam, its port and maritime people since 1275 AD.

These 5 themes support the museum's policy to contribute to public discussions about history and present. To evaluate or even reconsider the maritime history of the Netherlands and stimulate debates about a national identity.

The museum wants to know and interpret its collections on an academic level - to be able to develop its programmes for its audiences according to the highest standards and to pass on knowledge about the collections in a lasting way to a next generation. The museum will foster research onto the collections on an academic level, by its own curatorial staff as well as students and academics from universities, museums and other institutions.

This active approach on collection development will support the museum's ambition to be a 'Museum of Excellence'.

This Collection Strategy was approved in May 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the 'Stichting Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam' and the Board of Trustees of the 'Vereeniging Nederlandsch Historisch Scheepvaart Museum', the formal owner of the collection.