unemployed painter, but had built a reputation of his own and came from a long line of
accomplished artists. His Mennonite family’s association with Haarlem can be traced back to
the second half of the 16th century, when forebears of his settled there.78 Vincent had been
trained by his father Jan, who in turn had been apprenticed to his father, Laurens.79 The post
Teyler had created also came with the handsome annual salary of f800,-. The only condition
was that the caretaker had to look after and keep an inventory of the Foundation’s collections,
and that he had to ensure that the premises were equipped and available for meetings. In
practice, the last point would not have constituted much of a burden for the caretaker himself:
although he was ultimately responsible for the smooth running of the meetings, he soon took
on two housemaids and was provided with another servant by the Foundation. These three —
the servant in particular - would have seen to it that there was enough paper, ink, tobacco and
drink available in the house and, if necessary, that the premises had been heated ahead of any
meeting.
4. Room for Improvement
The only initial drawback would have been the condition of the Foundation House. The
trustees soon found that it was not shipshape. As the minutes of the trustees’ meetings of
September 1778 read,
“[...] it was found that [the house] was very dilapidated, and everywhere in need of large and
extensive repairs if it was to be made into a good dwelling, a suitable repository of documents
and curiosities and a meeting place of the trustees and the societies as is implied in the will of
the deceased.”80
One specific problem that is subsequently mentioned is that the cellar was damp. Dampness
was an issue that was to recur some years later when it inhibited van Mamm’s electrical
experiments, so it was obviously not solved by the major refurbishment of the Foundation
House that the trustees decided on in 1778. This included replacing the windows towards the
street, laying out the entrance hall with a marble floor, and re-furbishing the two rooms on the
ground floor that had been designated meeting rooms. It was already mentioned in the
previous section how the design of these rooms - and the main meeting room in particular -I
was strikingly similar to that of “Regentenkamers” in almshouses, and how this can be taken
to reflect the trustees’ self-perception and how they were rooted in the traditions of Haarlem’s
78 Bert Sliggers and D.F. Goudriaan, “De Haarlemse kunstenaarsfamilie Van der Vinne,” in Jaarboek van het
Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, 41 ( ’s Gravenhage: Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, 1987), 150.
79 Pieter A. Scheen, Lexicon Nederlandse Beeidende Kunstenaars 1750-1950, vol. 2 ( ’s-Gravenhage: Pieter A.
Scheen, 1994), 515.
80 “[...] heeft men bevonden [het huis] zeer vervallen te zijn, en alomme groote en zware Reparatien nodig te
hebben, zoude het tot eene goede woning, geschikte bewaarplaats der Effecten en Liefhebberijen en
vergaderplaats van HH. Directeuren en der Collegien strekken kunnen [unreadable: komen?] zo als de wil des
Overledenen medebrengt.” “Directienotulen”, 04.09.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
Mennonite community. Just how far this similarity went becomes clear if one compares the
main meeting room in the Foundation House with a recent description of “regentenkamers” in
Mennonite orphanages in Haarlem. In these rooms, the description reads,
“the trustees [...] assembled for their meetings, in which unanimously decisions were made
about financial policy, personnel policy, the admission and custody of the orphans, and daily
matters in the house. This is also where the accountants or administrators, financial brokers
and agents were received for consultation.”
According to the description, each of these rooms also contained a cabinet in which to store
important legal and financial documents as well as the minutes of the meetings that were held.
These minutes would usually only contain the final decisions taken, and very little
information on any discussion preceding that decision.
With the exception of the admittance of new orphans and the fact that all paper work was
stored on the first floor, this description could easily be taken to describe the Grote
Herenkamer in the Foundation House. The minutes of the trustees of the Teyler Foundation’s
meetings for instance contain very few traces of discussion - their primary function was to
regard the decisions taken. And even the passage on the admittance of new orphans is not too
far off the mark if one remembers that Pieter Teyler had also tasked the Foundation with
running the Hofje, or almshouse, which bore his name. Little discussion concerning new
occupants of this almshouse would have been necessary, because the trustees soon agreed on
a system according to which they would take turns selecting the next widow who was allowed
to move into the almshouse whenever a room became available - but the final decision would
still have been taken in the trustees’ meeting room. 82
Significantly, when a new almshouse was constructed by the Teyler Foundation in 1787, this
included a large meeting room for the trustees. This clearly underscores the point made
previously of how they saw themselves as governors, i.e. regenten. Incidentally, the trustees
are also sure to have used the new venue after its completion. Unfortunately, the minutes of
their meetings do not record which of the available rooms was used on what occasion.
The fact that they constmcted a new almshouse so shortly after Teyler's death in turn provides
an indication just how strong a priority this particular part of their overall task formed for the
trustees. In fact, had it not been for practical problems and their inability to obtain the
equivalent of modem planning permission, they would have constmcted a new almshouse that
could accommodate more widows than Teyler's original Hofje even earlier. In December
1779 they had already asked the caretaker at the Hofje to vacate one of the rooms of his living
quarters in order to make room for another widow. They then seem to have developed plans
for refurbishing or perhaps even rebuilding the almshouse, even having the architect Leendert
81 „kwamen de bestuurders [,,.] bijeen voor hun vergaderingen, waarin bij algemeene stemmen besluiten over het
financieel beleid, het personeelsbeleid, de opnamen van en de voogdij over wezen, en de dagelijkse gang van
zaken in het huis werden genomen. Daar werden ook de boekhouders o f administrateurs, de makelaars in
financiën en de rentmeesters voor overleg ontvangen.” Visser, Wezen en weldoen: 375 ja a r doopsgezinde
wezenzorg in Haarlem, 123.
82 “Directienotulen”, 27.11.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.