Three of the members of the society for theology were prominent Mennonite preachers from
Haarlem: Age Wijnalda, Klaas van der Horst, und Comelis Adriaansz. Loosjes. The other two
that had been nominated by Teyler were Jan Verbeek und Barend Hartmann from Groningen,
both of them Remonstrant preachers. These five then agreed that Frederik Scheltinga, another
Mennonite, should join them as a sixth member. 7
Only one member of the society for the arts and sciences was a Mennonite: Jan Bosch.88
Bosch was a publisher and bookseller. As publisher, he was responsible for the Holland
Society’s proceedings. He was not the only publisher in the new society: Johannes Enschedé
was of the same profession. Enschedé gradually expanded his father’s printing business,
eventually making his sons associates, renaming the business “Joh. Enschedé en Zon.” (This
firm later became a household name in the Netherlands because they printed all Dutch
banknotes.) A third member was Gerrit Willem van Oosten de Bruijn, who had spent many
years researching and writing up the history of Haarlem upon the town council’s request.8 As
most senior member of the society he became the presiding member. He is also noteworthy
because he sympathised politically with the Orangists - both in Haarlem and especially
amongst Mennonites at the time, those sympathising with the Dutch Republic’s equivalent of
a Royal Family were in the minority. As the political conflicts along these lines were played
out over the course of the ensuing years, it became increasingly clear that amongst those
associated with the Teyler Foundation too, a strong majority favoured the Orangists’
opponents, the Patriots. As yet however, all that was in the future, and the most important
point here is again Pieter Teyler’s, and by extension the Teyler Foundation’s, accommodating
spirit: neither religious nor political divisions were evidently supposed to stand in the way of
personal merit. As for the remaining three members — Comelis Elout, Bemardus Vriends, und
Jean le Clé - what is particularly striking about them is their wide range of interests. Elout
was a passionate collector, whose obituary included the sentence: “He was a man of study and
taste, as is also apparent from the collections of books, paintings and natural products he
left”.90 Vriends and La Clé too were engaged in a wide range of activities. La Clé had been a
secretary to the board of directors of the Haarlem drawing academy during Teyler’s lifetime,
and remained in this position until 1782.91 Vriends on the other hand appears to have been
interested in physical phenomena, as it was recorded that he helped other members of the
society conduct experimental research.92
After having met in June, the societies only reconvened some months later, while the
Foundation House was being renovated. The minutes of the society for the arts and sciences
87 Ibid., 343-344. On Wijnalda and van der Horst see also: Verheus, Naarstig en vroom: Doopsgezinden in
Haarlem 1530-1930, 114-116.
88 On Bosch see: Mijnhardt, Tot heil van ’t menschdom: cultúrele genootschappen in Nederland, 1750-1815,
353.
89 On Oosten de Bruijn see: Comelis van de Haar, “G.W. van Oosten de Bruyn, stadshistorieschrijver van
Haarlem,” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 61 (1954): 209-223.
90 “Hij was een man van Studie en smaak, ook blijkens zijne nagelaten verzamelingen van boeken, schilderijen
en natuurvoortbrengselen”; Abraham Jacob van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden, vol. 5
(Haarlem: J.J. van Brederode, 1859), 96.
91 Sliggers, Augustijn Claterbos, 1750-1828: Opleiding en werk van een Haarlems kunstenaar, 18.
92 Trevor H. Levere, ‘Teyler’s Museum,” vol. 4, Martinus van Marum: Life & Work (Leyden: Noordhoff
International Publishing, 1973), 49.
refer to the “extensive repairs that were needed and which had been begun at the Foundation
House”.93 But once October had come they wasted little time in taking on the tasks they had
agreed to shoulder. One of the first tasks was to agree on names by which the two societies
could refer to themselves when announcing the first prize essay competitions. The theologians
informed the Foundation that they wished to be known as as “Teylers Theological Society”
{Teylers Godgeleerd Genootschap) on October 9th 1778.94 The members of the society for the
arts and sciences were initially unsure what to call their new group, and seriously considered
referring to themselves by five different names, each incorporating one of the five “arts and
sciences” Teyler had stipulated they were to hold the competitions on, and one of which was
to be used whenever a competition on that particular branch of knowledge was to be held.
Because Teyler had stipulated that the first competition was to concern the study of nature
(:natuurkunde), they initially referred to themselves as Teylers Natuurkundig Genootschap,
until settling on the more universal “Teylers Second Society” (Teylers Tweede Genootschap),
to be used on all occasions, in December 1778.95
Other formalities needed to be attended to as well. The members of the Theological Society
for instance were not entirely sure how to interpret Pieter Teyler’s somewhat ambiguous
definition of their main purpose, and sought assurances from the trustees that they agreed with
the Society’s interpretation of the testator’s words. Teyler’s instructions that the Theological
Society should “discuss all kinds of topics and matters concerning and respecting freedom in
the Christian Religion and in the Civil State” was rephrased to say that the Society’s
publications (the Verhandelingen) “should concern various topics relating to Natural and
Revealed Religion, amongst them such essays as are suited to defend the Freedom of Religion
and the Civil State against all oppression, i.e. to oppose the inclination to persecute and to
advance the rational freedom of thought.”96 The members of the Second Society, too, had
some questions about Teyler’s precise intentions, and asked whether all sciences expressed
in the Will shall be retained, and in the same order as the Testator has arranged them”. They
were informed that “they were undoubtedly bound to this formulation.
Further formalities concerned the meetings themselves. Apparently not enamoured with the
idea of meeting every single week, as Teyler had requested, the Second Society was soon
granted permission by the Foundation to meet just once a month. Another issue was the
service to be provided by the caretaker. Although he was explicitly exempted from having to
cater to the members of the Societies by the trustees, he agreed to help them with any
93 “zwaare reparatien welken aan ‘t Fondatie-Huis noodig en begonnen waren”; “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”,
19.06.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
94 “Directienotulen”, 09.10.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
95 “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”, 23.10.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
96 “verhandelen allerhande stoffen en materien tot de vrijheid in den Christelijken Godsdienst en Burgerstaat
specteerende en behoorende”; “zullen gaan over allerhande Onderwerpen, die tot den Natuurlijken en
Geopenbaarden Godsdienst betrekkelijk zijn waaronder dan ook behoren zulke Verhandelingen die geschikt zijn
om de Vrijheid van den Godsdienst en den Burgerstaat tegen aile Overheerschinge te verdedigen, dus de
Vervolgzugt tegen te gaan en de redenmatige Vrijheid van denken te bevorderen.” “Notulen Tweede
Genootschap”, 09.10.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
97 “[o]f men alle de weetenschappen, in het Testament geëxpresseerd zal behouden, en in denzelven rang, zoo als
de Testateur die heeft gerangeerd”; “men, buiten twijfel daar toe is gehouden.” “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”,
23.10.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.