The curious state of Teylers Museum’s scientific instrument collection, roughly speaking after
the demise of the 18th century cabinet and before the advent of science museums in their own
right, is the main topic of this chapter. It will be addressed from the vantage point of Volkert
Simon Maarten van der Willigen’s life and career, which encompassed and reflected many of
the changes that had a bearing on the way instrument collections were perceived and handled
towards the end of the 19th century.
II. Volkert Simon Maarten van der Willigen (I): Early Years
1. Rockanje, Delft and Leiden
Volkert Simon Maarten van der Willigen was bom in Rockanje, a small village about 30
kilometres south of Delft, on May 9th 1822 at 6 o’clock in the morning.12 His father, Johannes
van der Willigen, had been appointed pastor for the Dutch Reformed parish there in 1817
after having previously led a parish in Simonshaven, and was already about 45 years old.13
The newbom’s mother, Johannes’ wife Gerarda Maria Elsabe Bodde, was about 27 years of
age. Volkert Simon Maarten — in all publications and letters he is always referred to by his
full name — was not the couple s first child. He had two elder sisters, and a younger one was
bom seven years later.15 One of his two elder sisters appears to have passed away in 1836 in
Rotterdam. It is conceivable that this had something to do with the fact that Johannes van der
Willigen asked to be retired from his parish in 1837, whereupon he appears to have moved to
Delft with his entire family. According to the 1839 census, the remaining five members of
the family and a young housekeeper lived in Oude Delft 56.17 The family was not rich, but by
no means poor either. When Gerarda Maria died in 1865, her entire estate was valued at about
f42.000. Taking into account that a professor’s annual salary was about f3000,- at the time,
this was no small amount.
The next thing that is known about Volkert Simon Maarten is that he enrolled at the
Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leiden in 1841.19 It is not clear what school he had
gone to before either in Delft or in Rockanje, his matriculation papers in Leiden only reveal
12 “Geboorteakte”, 09.05.1822, StreekarchiefVoome-Putten en Roozenburg, vol. 364, nr. 9.
F.J. Hoogeveen, “Willigen, Johannes van der,” ed. P.C. Molhuysen and K.H. Kossmann, vol. 10, Nieuw
Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek (Leiden: Sijthoff, 1937), 1218.
Her age can be inferred from the age stated in the town registry after the family had moved to Delft. Archief
Delft, “Bevolkingsregister Delft 1839”, Wijk 15, blad 8.
15 27.01.1818: Dina van der Willigen, 18.04.1819: Samuela van der Willigen, 17.12.1829: Maria Arendina van
der Willigen.
On his early retirement see: Hoogeveen, “Willigen, Johannes van der,” 1218.
17 Archief Delft, “Bevolkingsregister Delft 1839”, Wijk 15, blad 8.
^ “Boedeldeling”, 13.02.1866, StreekarchiefVoome-Putten en Roozenburg, Notarissen, vol. 110, nr. 115.
“Volumina Inscriptionum 1816-1862”, 17.07.1841, Leiden, UBL BC, Archieven van Senaat & Faculteiten nr
18.
that he came from Delft. His name does not however appear on the list of pupils of the Latin
School of Delft. It is conceivable that he received private schooling, either at home or at a so-
called Fransche School, a type of secondary school that placed more of an emphasis on
practical and applied knowledge than the Latin Schools did.
That might help explain why he enrolled at the Philosophical Faculty in Leiden. This was
unusual - he was one of only three students out of a total of 139 that signed up in 1841 who
chose this faculty.20 All the others opted either for the faculty of law, theology, or medicine. It
suggests that he already had a strong interest in the natural sciences at this point in his life,
because the only place to study all those areas of knowledge associated with the experimental
study of nature was the Philosophical Faculty. The range of subjects it covered included
physics, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, botany, natural history, and agronomy.
2. A New Methodology
Van der Willigen’s student days coincided with a period of profound change at the University
of Leiden. To paraphrase university historian Willem Otterspeer, around 1840 each of the four
faculties appointed at least one new professor who essentially shook things up. Arguably the
most famous of these was Johann Rudolph Thorbecke at the faculty of law. His name would
soon be associated with the new, liberal Dutch constitution he helped draw up in 1848 in
response to the wave of democratic protests that swept Europe in that year. But at the
Philosophical Faculty, it was the astronomer Frederik Kaiser who introduced some far-
reaching changes.
Kaiser had actually been working at Leiden Observatory ever since 1826.22 He had been a
childhood prodigy, and enjoyed little formal training before coming to the Observatory, where
he worked as a mere assistant for many years before being awarded an honorary doctorate in
1835. It was only then that his career began to take off, no longer hindered by his total
dependence on his direct superior, the professor Petrus Johannes Uylenbroek. One year later
Kaiser was appointed director of the Observatory and in 1840, a year before van der Willigen
arrived and four years before Uylenbroek passed away, he was given a professorship. Kaiser
zealously spent the rest of his long career until his death in 1872 doing everything in his
power to take Dutch astronomy to new levels and to make it internationally competitive. His
efforts were highly successful, and became physically manifest with the construction of
Leiden’s very own, state-of-the-art Observatory between 1858 and 1861.
20 Album Studiosorum, Academiae Lugduno Batavae, 1575-1875, Accedunt Nomina Curatorum et Professorum
(Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff, 1875), 1325—1328.
21 Willem Otterspeer, De werken van de wetenschap: de Leidse universiteit, 1776-1876, vol. 3, Groepsportret
met Dame (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2005), 310-314.
22 For biographical details on Kaiser see: Huib J. Zuidervaart, “Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872), een gekweld man
met een missie,” Studium: tijdschrift voor wetenschaps- en universiteitsgeschiedenis 4, no. 2 (2011): 62-84.