Royal visit for ESA history archive
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands visited the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence recently, and viewed historical documents related to ESA’s largest centre, ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
Accompanied by members of her family, Princess Beatrix paid a private visit to the Archives in July. The Director of the Historical Archives (HAEU), Dr Dieter Schlenker took the Princess to the reading room where she was shown a selection of archival papers referring to the Netherlands.
The documents included several files, which documented visits of Her Royal Highness to the Presidency of the European Commission, photos of Queen Wilhelmina on stage as host at The Hague Congress in 1948, and papers on the contribution of the Dutch Royal family to the European Movement.
The presentation ended with documents of ESA’s archival deposit on the inauguration of the ESTEC. These files are just part of the collection of records older than 15 years on European collaboration and joint undertakings in space that are preserved at the European University Institute (EUI). Historical archives that are in the public domain now include more than 35 000 files. The catalogue can be consulted online.
ESA has deposited its archives with the HAEU since 1989. The ESA History Project has drawn on these resources to publish two large volumes and several monographs covering the histories of ESRO and ELDO, and an up-to-date history of ESA for the 50th anniversary of European cooperation in space in 2014.
Drawing on the archives of the Member States, the project has also compiled a history of national space programmes. This led in particular to the publication of eight additional monographs. An ESA oral history project is also part of this initiative.
