Eveline Sint Nicolaas studied Socio-Economic History and Cultural Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She has been Curator of History at the Rijksmuseum since 1998. A key area of focus in her work is the relationship between the Netherlands and Brazil, Suriname and the Caribbean Netherlands. Sint Nicolaas has been involved in preparations for the Slavery exhibition for a number of years. Her book Shackles and Bonds: Suriname and the Netherlands from 1600 was published in 2018, having previously published on the subjects of Gerrit Schouten’s dioramas and ‘the object as a historical source’. Eveline Sint Nicolaas also chairs the Rijksmuseum’s Terminologie working group.
Researcher and curator Dr. Valika Smeulders specialises in the colonial past and its presentation. Her published work on the Dutch slavery past in the Netherlands, Curaçao, Suriname, Sint Maarten, Ghana and South Africa includes Op zoek naar de Stilte and Slavernij in Perspectief. Alongside her position at the Rijksmuseum, Smeulders is a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) and the owner of Pasado Presente. She is a member of the Koloniale Collecties committee, UNESCO Memory of the World Comité Nederland, The Caribbean Literature working group and the Committee for Kingdom Relations (Koninkrijksrelaties). In 2019 Valika Smeulders gave the sixth Rudolf van Lier lecture at the University of Leiden, and received the Black Achievement Award in the Education and Science category.
Maria Holtrop studied History, European Studies and Journalism at the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht, and has been Curator of History at the Rijksmuseum since 2013. She has responsibility for the content of the multimedia tour on the colonial past, and was one of the compilers of the Good Hope exhibition at the Rijksmuseum on the history of the Netherlands and South Africa from 1600. Holtrop has been working on the Slavery exhibition for a number of years, focusing primarily on the slavery past around the Indian Ocean region, and is additionally responsible for the &Slavery project. Previously published writings by Maria Holtrop include work on the Surinamese slave shackle, and the representation of Asian servants in the Netherlands.
Stephanie Archangel studied Sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and joined the Rijksmuseum’s History Department as a junior curator in 2016. Alongside her involvement in Rijksmuseum projects such as Document Nederland and History Night, she is a member of the Terminologie project. Stephanie Archangel is co-author and co-compiler of the exhibitions 80 Years’ War. The Birth of the Netherlands and Here. Black in Rembrandt’s Time.
