News
Travelling to Sumatra
The Dubois collection contains a photograph that slipped our attention for many years but turns out to be of a location Dubois visited on Sumatra, the Ajer Mantjoer valley. Apparently the valley is renowned for it's waterfall (on the background of the image) and, from a paleontological point of view more importantly, for its caves. The Dutch build a railway there which might have disclosed these or at least made them accessible. Dubois' friend Max Weber went there a couple of years before Dubois and no doubt related the paleontological significance to him. Upon arrival however Dubois fairly soon concluded the remains to be found in these caves were to young to possibly contain a human predecessor and turned to Java instead.
_500x605.jpg "Ajer Mantjoer valley")
Martin Monnickendam got married...
Internet discloses evermore information and you never know what you are going to find. Here we have a congratulation to the marriage of a Martin Monnickendam, and yes, amongs the people signing this is Eugène Dubois. Who is Martin Monnickendam you might wonder. It is not a name that has cropped up in Dubois research before. Martin Monnickendam was, at the time for certain, a well known artist as can also be deduced from other names present such as Wienecke and Mondriaan's. Also the card has been custom designed by yet another well known artist from that period: Albert Hahn sr. Monnickendam and Dubois must have befriended in the time they studied together in Amsterdam before Dubois went to Indonesia, and there friendship must have lasted well beyond as the marriage was in 1906. As most of Dubois' personal letters got destroyed after his death this gives us just another glimpse of his scarcely known personal life and the circles in which he moves...
The original can be found in the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam.
Chrismascard
Dubois sent a 'portrait of his grandsons' as a Christmascard to them in 1921. A new find from amongst the family archives...
Responses to published photographs online
Find them via this link
Radio Interview
On the 11th of Februari Rob Buiter has interviewed Paul Albers on the new book, 'Through Eugène Dubois' eyes', for Hoe?Zo!, Teleac, Radio 5. You can listen to this interview (in Dutch) via this link.
A new Dubois letter has emerged.
In a response to an article in the newspaper, mr Henk Willems has send us a copy of a letter dated the 30th of Juli 1918 that Dubois send to the 80 year old Jan Truijen (former member of parliament and former mayor of Meijel, and member of the Provincial Government of Limburg) requesting him for more information or possibly a guide to visit the moors of the Peel. This letter fits in with Dubois' interest for the hydrology of the Dutch underground.
The Dubois exhibition "De aapmens van Eugène Dubois, de vondst die Darwin gelijk gaf." can be visited at the Natural History Museum of Maastricht from December 13th 2009 until May 30th 2010
A new book on Dubois has come out: “Through Eugène Dubois’ eyes, stills of a turbulent life.”, by Paul Albers and John de Vos. The book contains an ample choice of photographs from the Dubois collection, and important letters that have been discovered recently and which shed a light on the book that Dubois wanted to write about his fossils, but which he never finished. The first exemplar of the book has been presented the 12th of december at the opening of the exhibition in Maastricht to the crew of the 'Beagle' at that moment sailing between Valparaiso and Callao. The book is available at the museum stores both in Maastricht and Leiden or via the publishers offices, Brill in Leiden.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012