Jan Tinbergen's correspondence has become accessible

The Erasmus University is known as one of the most esteemed universities in the field of economics. It is therefore not surprising that Erasmus University has the correspondence archive of one of the founders of econometrics, Jan Tinbergen.

Jan Tinbergen was the first person to win the Zweedse Rijksbank prize for economy, the ‘Nobel Prize’ of economics. Jan Tinbergen has meant much for the current appraisal of economic issues. Tinbergen obviously maintained a large correspondence archive which was handed over to the Erasmus University.

Correspondence archive

The history of econometrics, post-war reconstruction, the United Nations, and the history of the social democracy in the Netherlands are some of the many topics covered by the correspondence.

The correspondence archive contains about 25.000 images with valuable information about the life and the vision of Jan Tinbergen. Because this correspondence contains valuable information, Erasmus University decided to digitize the collection. The Erasmus University sent a request to the Royal Library to digitize the collection in accordance with the strict Metamorfoze requirements. The Royal Library then assessed the archive and concluded that the archive satisfied the Library’s selection criteria.

Metamorfoze quality

The collection has been digitized by GMS according to the Metamorfoze requirements. Daily measurements of lighting, noise, artefacts and other matters were taken into account in order to ensure the quality of the results. Our photographers were configuring the equipment and the lighting every day in order to achieve the Metamorfoze level of quality. This has resulted in the desired final product.

Final result

Thanks to the digitization project, the Erasmus University has ensured the long-term preservation of the archive. Furthermore, the archive is regularly accessed by internal and external users for research purposes.