They have put nine jigsaw puzzles, with about 100 pieces each, on the Jigidi site. Each puzzle showcases an item in the Special Collections: superb illustrations by artists and cartographers, some famous and others less so. Of course that includes work by the illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian and the colourful illustration of hummingbirds by the great German naturalist Ernst Haeckel.
Visibility
The puzzles are part of an attempt by the library to increase the visibility of the Special Collections. ‘We are better known outside Wageningen than we are within WUR and that is a pity,’ says Special Collections, Heritage & Art curator Liesbeth Missel. ‘Even our exhibitions in the library mainly attract people from outside the university.’
We are better known outside Wageningen than we are within WUR and that is a pity
Liesbeth Missel, curator Special Collections, Heritage & Art
A programme was started this year to do something about this and make more people aware of the collection. ‘For example, in Helix we placed two display cabinets with lifelike plaster copies of fruit.’ The coronavirus put paid to the plans, though. When searching for alternatives, Missel stumbled on Jigidi, a website where you can create online jigsaw puzzles.
The Covid pandemic also means the regular Special Collections exhibitions in the library have moved online. For example, an exhibition is currently available online about the garden designer and plant expert John Bergmans (1892-1980). Thirty-four aerial photos taken by the RAF are also on display.
Mistaken bombardment
They were selected as a contribution to the celebration of 75 years of freedom (which was cancelled due to Covid). The photos come from an extensive collection of over 94,000 RAF photographs from the Second World War that WUR has in its possession. The selection includes photos of the Wageningen neighbourhood of Hamelakkers (De Sahara) after the mistaken bombardment by the Allies on 17 September 1944. The incident with 160 splinter bombs cost the lives of 40 people.
The botanist and artist Merian, mentioned above, not only has her own jigsaw puzzle but is also the subject of a video that has just been posted online. In it, Missel looks at Merian’s visit to Suriname in 1699. Her study of insects there resulted in a famous book with illustrations that was published in 1705. She was the first person to study South American insects, amphibians and reptiles.
