Metadata: Archives of SV Ontwikkeling and Excelsior NV, publisher and printer of the newspaper Volksgazet
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Amsab – Institute of Social History
- Holding institution (official language):
- Amsab - Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
- Postal address:
- Bagattenstraat 174, 9000 Gent
- Phone number:
- +32 9 224 00 79
- Web address:
- www.amsab.be
- Email:
- info@amsab.be
- Reference number:
- AmsabISH-Ghent-534
- Title:
- Archives of SV Ontwikkeling and Excelsior NV, publisher and printer of the newspaper Volksgazet
- Title (official language):
- Archief van SV Ontwikkeling en Excelsior NV uitgeverij en drukkerij van het dagblad Volksgazet
- Creator/accumulator:
- SV Ontwikkeling and Excelsior NV
- Date(s):
- 1906/1979
- Extent:
- ca. 85 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds we find a number of files related to the publishing of books and journals of the philosopher Leopold Flam and the historian Ephraïm Schmidt. File no. 962 (dated 1964-1965) contains correspondence with Flam. In file no. 961 (1958, 1964) we find correspondence, notes and contracts regarding the entrustment, by Flam, of the publication and management of the journals Geschiedenis in het Onderwijs, Clio, Boog, Dialoog and Tijdschrift van de VUB to the publisher Ontwikkeling. The following files concern the publication of works by Flam, notably “Ethisch socialisme” (manuscript; no. 1065), “Ethische grondslagen van het socialisme” (no. 1066; years 1959-1961), “De gefundeerde orde” (no. 1072; 1964-1965) and “De krisis der burgerlijke moraal” (no. 1108; 1955-1957). File nos. 1083 and 1084 (dated 1963-1970) are related to the publication of the book “Geschiedenis van de joden te Antwerpen” by Ephraïm Schmidt; it contains correspondence, manuscripts, notes etc.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Excelsior NV and the cooperative SV Ontwikkeling, both social democratic societies based in Antwerp, published, from 1923, the daily De Volksgazet (as the publishing house and printer respectively). The expansion of the newspaper proved difficult during the interwar period. During the Second World War its infrastructure was taken over by the periodical Volk en Staat of the collaborationist VNV, with Gaston De Vos as Verwalter (just as for SM Het Licht, another social democratic cooperative). The editorial staff published (from May 1941) the clandestine magazine De Werker; the first post-war Volksgazet followed in September 1944. The magazine had a successful start after the war. In the 1950s and 1960s, the organisation established a series of bookshops and began developing publications for various target groups: periodicals (i.a. ABC), brochures, educational works as well as literature (books, but also the famous Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift). The society also published, since 1958-1959, a series of popular scientific journals (such as Boog, Dialoog, Clio, ClioXX, Geschiedenis in het Onderwijs, etc.) under the auspices of a committee of academics from Ghent, Brussels and Amsterdam selected by Leopold Flam. Decline set in from the late 1950s, leading to reorganisations, changes in management and restructuring, despite the financial support of the socialist party and trade union. Attempts at renewal and merger proposals for one Flemish socialist newspaper failed in the late 1970s. Amid a labour dispute with the employees (demanding clarity), the buildings and materiel of the society were sold in public auction, in 1978. (B. Boeckx, Inventaris van het archief van S.V. Ontwikkeling en Excelsior N.V. uitgeverij en drukkerij van het dagblad Volksgazet, AMSAB Werkinstrumenten 9, Gent, AMSAB-ISG, 1999.)
- Access points: locations:
- Antwerp
- Access points: persons/families:
- Flam, Leopold
- Schmidt, Ephraïm
- Access, restrictions:
- Files containing personal information are not open for consultation.
- Finding aids:
- B. Boeckx, Inventaris van het archief van S.V. Ontwikkeling en Excelsior N.V. uitgeverij en drukkerij van het dagblad Volksgazet, AMSAB Werkinstrumenten 9, Gent, AMSAB-ISG, 1999.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium