cultural life — and the Teyler Foundation, together with all its associated institutions, was
essentially a local organisation. News could therefore travel fast, and on at least one occasion
the trustees’ secretary Hovens went to every member of the Second Society’s home in order
to relay a message from the trustees. As much at least can be inferred from reading between
the lines.112 It has also already been pointed out how closely knit the Mennonite community
in Haarlem was, and that only underscores how likely it was that people associated with the
Teyler Foundation would have met outside formal meetings as well. At the same time
however, all this did also not guarantee that news travelled fast. On one occasion in 1781 for
instance the members of the Second Society were extremely annoyed that they only heard that
a paper had been submitted for their essay competition on poetry when Oosten de Bruijn,
“accidentally passing by the house of the Trustee, Hugaert, had happened upon that
Gentleman on his doorstep and accosted him”.113 On another occasion, about a year later,
Oosten de Bruijn again reported
“that he, on the Sunday eight days before, being in the company of the Burgomaster, Mr
Kuits, had incidentally been informed by this Gentleman that two essays, one written in
French, the other in Dutch, in response to the Historical question of this Society for the year
1781, had been received by the Trustees of this Foundation”.114
At any rate it is likely that the “certain reasons” for ending work on the inventory had
something to do with the plans for Teylers Museum. Before taking a closer look at these,
some last words on the catalogue of Teyler’s prints and drawings are called for: it is only
mentioned again six years later, when van der Vinne resigns as caretaker in 1785, and hands
over “the Catalogue of the Prints and Drawings” alongside the keys to the Foundation House
and a list of the furniture it contained.115 It is doubtful whether the catalogue referred to at that
point was comprehensive, or in fact that it had much to do with the one being prepared six
years earlier. By 1785, all - or at least most - of Teyler’s prints and drawings had been sold to
van der Vinne, while he himself had acquired many new works of art for the Foundation on
the trustees’ behalf. Either way, neither the catalogue nor any draft version of it has been
preserved in the museum’s archives.
11 As much can be inferred from phrasings such as “Dat ook, den volgenden dag, dezelve Heer Hovens aan ‘t
huis van [...] Van Oosten de Bruijn tot bescheid hadde gebragt, dat [,..]”.“Notulen Tweede Genootschap”,
12.01.1781, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
“toevallig het huis van den Directeur Hugaert passeerende, dien Heer op zijn stoep en aan zijne deur
gevonden, [en] aangesproken had” ; “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”, 20.04.1781, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
“dat hij, op voorleeden zondag voor agt dagen, in gezelschap zijnde met den Heer Burgemeester Kuits, van
deezen Heer, bij toeval hadde verstaan, dat er twéé verhandelingen, d’eene in de Franse taal, d’andere i n ’t
Nederduits geschreeven, in andwoord op de Historische vraag van dit Collegie voor den jaare 1781, bij de
Directeuren deezer Fondatien waren ontvangen”; “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”, 05.04.1782, Haarlem, ATS,
vol. 1382.
115 “de Catalogus van de Prenten en Tekeningen”; “Directienotulen”, 21.10.1785, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5. The
trustees confirmed the receipt o f all these items in writing a little later: “Directienotulen”, 25.11.1785, Haarlem,
ATS, vol. 5.
11 Van der Vinne was, for example, asked to acquire items at an auction in October 1780: “Directienotulen”,
06.10.1780, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5. The sale o f items from Pieter Teyler’s collection to van der Vinne was
discussed in January 1782: “Directienotulen”, 04.01.1782 & 11.01.1782, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
9. Birth of a Musaeum
Having now learned more about the Teyler Foundation’s origins, its tasks and how the
Foundation’s trustees saw their institution’s role within Haarlem, we can turn to Teylers
Museum itself.
The first time any mention was made B in writing - of what was to become Teylers Museum
was on April 23rd 1779. Under the heading “Bookhall” {Boekzaal) the trustees recorded in the
minutes of the meeting they held on this day that they had instructed the carpenter J. van Ee to
measure up some of the properties behind the Foundation House, “so that headway could be
made towards taking a decision about the Construction of a Hall as Library” 117 Two points are
striking about this. Firstly, this matter had obviously been discussed before, and the trustees
were now hoping to make some “headway”; secondly, the primary aim at this stage of the
p lanning appears to have been to construct some sort of library. No further details, however,
are provided.
These plans matured over the course of the following months. Within two weeks, the trustees
had bought a house behind Teyler’s town house with the aim of demolishing their new
acquisition, because that would allow them “to make the yard situated behind this house
square and thus make the building much more regular, more spacious and better”.118 The
issue was obviously no longer whether a “Bookhall” was to be built, but rather what shape it
should take. It was Bamaart who had negotiated with the owner of the house on the
Foundation’s behalf.
Rather than provide the trustees with enough space to build their “Bookhall”, this first
acquisition appears only to have whet their appetite. At their next meeting one week later, the
decision was taken to make “attempts” (poogingen) to buy two more neighbouring houses.
Within another week Bamaart could report that he had managed to buy both houses for a total
of fl00,-. But the trustees did not stop there. At the same meeting, Bamaart had evidently
already set his sights on a fourth neighbouring house, and had already started negotiating a
sale with its owner. As the owner was reluctant to sell, Bamaart was forced to pay f250,- to
acquire it “although this price very much exceeds the value”.119 Perhaps the owner was not
only reluctant to sell - it wasn’t he who had to move out but his tenant - but had also realised
how eager Bamaart and the Foundation had become to acquire the neighbouring properties.
As much at least can be inferred from their subsequent purchase of another four adjacent
houses for a total of f2025,-. Aware that this was no small amount of money, they recorded
that they were making this investment “so that in future there won’t be complaints that this
opportunity was allowed to slip past”, and in order to be able to “acquire the yard behind this
117 “op dat men zoude kunnen vorderen om een Besluit te neemen wegens het Timmeren eener Zaal tot de
Boekerij”; “Directienotulen”, 23.04.1778, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
118 “het Erf welk agter deezen Huize ligt, vierkant te maken en dus de betimmeringen ongelijk regelmatiger,
ruimer en betere konde worden” ; “Directienotulen”, 30.04.1779, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5. The deal to buy the
house had been struck by May 7th: “Directienotulen”, 07.05.1779, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
119 “schoon deeze prijs de waarde verre te boven gaat”; “Directienotulen”, 04.06.1779, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.