On 1 June 2021, the Philippus Corts Fund (PCF) was established to provide support for research, improve source accessibility and enable publication. The fund has the following remit: To preserve and make accessible in both territories original source materials (in local languages and Dutch) pertaining to the shared history between Indonesia and the Netherlands from 1602 to 1949, with special attention paid to the era of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Second World War in Asia. More information.

In response to an initial call for proposals for financial support, the selection committee received a good number and a wide range of project proposals from various academic and social partnerships. Two applications were accepted in the 2021 round:

• The ‘Independence, Decolonization, Violence and War in Indonesia, 1945-1949’ research programme run by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies the Netherlands Institute of Military History (NIMH) and the KITLV Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies is to receive a contribution of €6000 for the cost of translating Indonesian literature and sources for the publication entitled ‘Onze Revolutie. Bloemlezing uit de Indonesische geschiedschrijving over de strijd voor de onafhankelijkheid, 1945-1949’ [Our Revolution: A collection of Indonesian historiography relating to the struggle for independence 1945-1949].

• Maarten Manse (Leiden University) and Simon Kemper (National Archives of the Netherlands) are to receive a grant of €7500 for their project entitled ‘Recognizing Subaltern Scribes in the margins of Colonial Archives: How low-ranking Asian and European scribes, translators and secretaries shaped the treaties of the Dutch East India Company, 1672-1682.’ Through the further development and application of digital handwriting analysis techniques, this project will look at the hitherto unstudied administrative practice of description and narration in the drafting of treaties in early modern Asia.