zij-aanzicht van een scheurkalender toont hoe de pagina's van de kalender aan elkaar zijn bevestigd met een band en tegen een kartonnen achterzijde zijn geplakt. Te lezen zijn het jaar 1920 en de tekst 'God geef mij zielen'
zij-aanzicht van een scheurkalender toont hoe de pagina's van de kalender aan elkaar zijn bevestigd met een band en tegen een kartonnen achterzijde zijn geplakt. Te lezen zijn het jaar 1920 en de tekst 'God geef mij zielen'

Help wanted: The KDC is looking for the first edition of the Algemeene Missie Kalender

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As part of a digitisation project the Catholic Documentation Centre (KDC) of Radboud University in Nijmegen is looking for a copy of the Algemeene Missie Kalender from the year 1920, published by the Sint Claverbond, preferably in good condition. The team already has one copy, but is looking for a second. This will enable one tear-off calendar to be carefully dismantled, so that all the individual calendar pages – both the front and back – can be digitised in full without any loss of information.

What is the Claverbond?

The Sint Claverbond (or Saint Claver Society) is a missionary organisation founded in 1898 by the Dutch Jesuits and is active in Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East. The Claverbond began as an association comprising the men’s congregation of the Jesuit College, the Roman Catholic Mission Society in Maastricht, and all the Marian congregations under Jesuit leadership. Its aim was to provide organisational and financial support for the mission in the Dutch East Indies – later Indonesia – and to promote it vastly. They achieved this by publishing the magazines Sint Claverbond and Berichten uit Java, as well as the annual Algemeene Missie Kalender  (translated: the General Mission Calendar), which the association distributed from 1920 to 1955. The mission calendar continued to be issued by other publishers until 1995. 

How to recognise the mission calendar?

The calendars from the early years can be recognised by their large cardboard backs, which feature an image relating to the catholic mission. The calendar pages are attached to these. The pages themselves are fragile, of newsprint quality, and contain daily stories, prayers and anecdotes relating to missionary work. The photograph below shows the 1920 edition, which the KDC team is specifically looking for. The year 1920 must be clearly readable on it.

Vooraanzicht van de missiekalender: een kartonnen plaat met daarop een tekening van een priester die inheemse mensen zegent. In de kaders staat de tekst 'Missie-kalender' en 'Heer geef mij zielen' en '1920'
Algemeene Missie Kalender of the Sint Claverbond, 1920 edition. This copy is held in the KDC collection. The team is looking for a duplicate copy for digitisation purposes.

Why does a tear-off calendar need to be taken apart?

The KDC’s collection preserves the mission calendars as part of the Claverbond’s archive. From a conservation perspective, we aim to keep these calendars as intact and in their original condition as possible. At the same time, it is important for researchers that the content of the calendar pages is also accessible and searchable. We have therefore decided to detach the pages and digitise them, so that researchers can consult the calendars online.

However, this presents a dilemma. For a complete digitisation, the pages of the tear-off calendar must be detached, which causes irreparable damage to the calendar. In practice, it has proved impossible to scan the pages whilst they are still attached to the calendar, as this results in the loss of some of the information – sometimes as much as 30% – (see example below).

For this reason, the KDC is seeking duplicate copies of mission calendars that can be dismantled for digitisation. We have now succeeded in doing so for most volumes. However, we have not yet been able to find a second copy of the 1920 edition in good condition.

Close-up van de missie-kalender, waarbij een hand een pagina opent, om te illustreren dat deze lastig te scannen zijn. Te lezen is '25 woensdag. H. Mathias', maand is eraf gevallen.
A close-up of the mission calendar shows how difficult it is to scan a page in its entirety: as you can see in this example, the month is illegible and some of the text is missing. And the later in the year, the more difficult it becomes.

How can you help?

Are you, or do you know someone who owns a copy of the Algemeene Missie Kalender for the year 1920, and would you be willing to donate it to the KDC for digitisation? Perhaps you might come across one whilst clearing out your own or a family member’s attic or archive? Perhaps you could ask around in your network or share this message? Or do you have any further information?

Please send us a message via the contact form below, for the attention of archivist Ramses Peters. 

Contact information

Organizational unit
Catholic Documentation Centre
Theme
History, Religion

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