Preface

The museum Pijpenkabinet exists as a collection for over forty years; not really long for a museum, but more than enough to have its own history. Looking back in history, we distinguish three clear phases that mark the growth of the activities. In this presentation, the history of the museum is told in all its aspects and is placed in the image of the times.

The first phase is the start-up period in which the basis of the collection is laid and in which the research into the history of the smoking pipe starts. In the second or Leiden phase, the collection is extended and the Pijpenkabinet establishes its reputation as a museum with national fame. The series of publications and the expertise provide the reputation as a well-informed source of information. Back in Amsterdam, in the third or Amsterdam phase, the museum grew to a national institution with an international collection. Especially the informative website provides global awareness. The fourth phase or the digital phase started in 2010. This is marked by the publication of the digitized collection together with the knowledge files. This gives the museum a position that is barely more local. That last episode is also the exciting phase of the future in which new plans can be made.

From Pijpenkamer via Pijpenkabinet to pipemuseum.nl gives an overview of the professionalization: from a personal hobby to an internationally oriented museum. It shows how a social result is born from a super specialized hobby with a global reach. This story also shows the great professionalization that has taken place in the museums of the Netherlands in the past forty years. Future will learn to what extent the Pijpenkabinet will eventually be allowed to carry the predicate Global Pipe Museum.

The starting phase - 1969-1982

General

As with so many museum collections, the Pijpenkabinet has also emerged from the initiative of one person. In the 1960s and 1970s archaeology received a lot of attention. It is undoubtedly a coincidence that the attention of the Amsterdam amateur archaeologist Don Duco was drawn by the clay pipe. Thanks to his focus, decisiveness and endurance, his commitment has grown into a versatile museum that the Pijpenkabinet is forty years later.

During excavation work on the Keizersgracht between the Utrechtsestraat and the Reguliersgracht, a large cesspit was found in autumn 1969, filled with pub waste from the first half of the seventeenth century. That archaeological discovery led to a study collection of clay pipes. Making the Bijlmermeer ready for building houses was another stimulus for the collection, as massive earthmoving brought many archaeological finds to the surface. Curiosity about the origin and age of the clay pipes led Duco to the archives. The combination of collecting (bringing together examples of the material culture) and research (discovering and uncovering the historical background of production, trade and use) has remained a feature of the Pijpenkabinet over the years.

The archaeological material was soon expanded with historical pipes to offer a more objective comparison. In order to gain insight into the production technique, a collection of pipe maker tools was brought together. With these expansions, research and collecting always went hand in hand. For example, an encyclopaedic collection was created that was strongly focused on inventorying and studying of the material.

Exhibition in Pijpenkamer

A permanent exhibition of this private collection of clay pipes and paraphernalia opened in June 1975 at the back of the Gallery Icon at the Frederiksplein in Amsterdam. The initiator was Don Duco, collector and researcher in heart and soul. Gallery owner Niels Augustin offered him the opportunity to open the exhibition. In a four by six meter room, the walls were fitted with six hanging cabinets that showed an overview of the clay pipe. Arranged by theme and displayed on green jute, about four hundred different pipes provided a picture of the wealth of shapes and decorations of the clay tobacco pipe over Western Europe.

In addition, the history of smoking was shown in a few table show cases with tobacco objects and other curiosities around this use. One wall was reserved for the pipe making technique. Here a complete workbench with pipe maker vice including the associated tools such as drying boards, pipe pots and more illustrate the production process. Prints and photographs behind glass explained the manufacturing process.

The Pijpenkamer in the back of Galerie Icon was free to visit five days a week. In addition to the exhibition, demonstrations were given to show the pipe making craft and visitors could go there for determinations of pipes and tobacco curiosities. The exhibition made an important contribution to the interest in the subject. At that time, the Pijpenkamer was regarded as a leading collection with a wide variety, both in private collector circles and in comparison with museums. The opening of the Pijpenkamer took place shortly after the departure of the Niemeyer Dutch Tobacco Museum on the Amstel in Amsterdam. This made the Pijpenkamer unique in the western part of the Netherlands.

Collecting and researching in the first phase

Little was known about clay pipes in the 1970s. The last Dutch book about the history of the pipe dated from 1942, after which only a few general works on the tobacco appeared. Incidentally, our country was no exception, the tobacco pipe had never been the subject of serious study. The first phase of the museum is therefore characterized by an inventory of materials and knowledge. In addition to acquiring objects, a library was created and all conceivable documentation on the subject was brought together.

An important stimulus for the research was the study collection that holds in fact the inventory of the Dutch clay tobacco pipe, as towards shapes, makers marks and decorations. The pipe marks are the key to finding out more about the maker. However, archives mentioned names but did not give any additional information in what pipe makers exactly produced; only their profession is mentioned. The puzzle to combine makers marks and makers names with well-founded evidence started in this period and would not end until decades later. Dozens of private diggers, young and old, contributed to this inventory by showing their finds in the Pijpenkamer. In the course of the years, the inventorization made the history of the clay pipe clear.

In 1975 at the opening of the Pijpenkamer, the start of the quarterly magazine Pijpelijntjes also took place, the first specialized periodical on clay pipes in the world. From news magazine this quickly grew into a magazine with more serious studies about the clay pipe. Ten volumes appeared with a wide range of articles. The index with thousands of keywords is illustrative of the depth of that magazine, especially given the period of publication.

The Leiden phase 1982-1995

General

With the professionalization of the activities and the growing of the collection, the desire for an independent location and a personal face became a logical step. It was sought in the smaller city of Leiden, that was as to museums more active. The municipality of Leiden offered the new museum the gatehouse of Hof Meermansburg for rent to house the pipe museum. In 1982, a select group of invitees were present at the opening of the Pijpenkabinet in the board room. Located on one of the main canals of the city of Leiden, the Pijpenkabinet acquired within a few years a respected position in Leiden museum city (Leiden Museumstad) and fame in Holland as museum country (Nederland Museumland).

The basis of the museum was then formed by the Gouda pipe placed in the national history of pipe smoking. It is not surprising that the opening was done by Georg Brongers, curator of the Niemeyer Nederlands Tabacologisch Museum (Niemeyer tobacco museum) in Groningen. Brongers handed out the first copy of a new publication to the mayor of Gouda. That publication Merken van Goudse pijpenmakers 1660-1940 marked an important step in the national reputation of the museum and its activities. For collectors and enthusiasts, this publication was the key to dating their archaeological pipe finds for two decades.

In everything the Leiden period is characterized by the increasing professionalization. In the first place because Don Duco completed his studies in history of art with a specialization in applied art at the University of Leiden. Second factor of importance was the entrance of Benedict Goes, who, as an art historian, took the opportunity to gain practical museum experience in publicity and public support.

The number of audience-oriented activities was enormous, supported by many press releases and radio talks. Although the opening hours were limited to Sunday afternoon, a visitor rating of around 2,000 people per year was achieved. There was also an exhibition program at other institutions far beyond Leiden. The permanent exhibition in the museum would be greatly improved over the course of a decade through an active purchasing policy throughout Western Europe.

Exhibition in Leiden

The Regentenkamer of Hof Meermansburg, the largest of the more than twenty Leidse hofjes, had a spacious meeting room measuring eight by nine meters. At a height of almost five meters, a huge sun as a central motif in the stucco ceiling looked down on the visitors. The matching white-stuccoed bosom of the fireplace rested on a black marble mantelpiece. When closed, the entrance door of this room was completely incorporated in the blank wood panelling and the dark red velvet wall cover. There were a dozen portraits of former regents and their wives from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A set of twelve fruitwood chairs around a table covered with Leiden cloth formed the centre of this room.

The history of the Dutch clay pipe was shown in a large saddleback display case in which the fineness of the Gouda pipe was clearly visible in all details at a pleasant viewing height: the radiant white of the material, the gossamer stems from the eighteenth century, the ingenious engravings of the decorations and the unexpected richness of the heel marks. Three tall display cases were dedicated to the history of the pipe in a broader perspective. The Gouda pipe from 1850 to 1920, including the mystery pipe and the nineteenth century French figural pipe, were the two most specialized themes. The third display case showed an overview of pipes of non-European origin: from pre-Columbian American to African and Asian.

In a concise way, the worldwide changes of pipe shapes could be shown. In the entrance hall a display cabinet contained the pipe makers tools that, with their brown tones of wood and brass, formed a beautiful, aesthetic whole. Along the wide oak staircase the most beautiful bridegroom pipes in their folk-art cases gave colourful accents. The display at the entrance showed ceramic pipes related to the clay pipe, including the hand-painted German porcelain pipes. In total, more than 800 representative objects were exhibited.

However modest the permanent exhibition was, after the significant expansion compared to the situation in Amsterdam, the Pijpenkabinet presented the leading collection of pipes in those years. In the Pijpen en Aardewerkmuseum De Moriaan (The black amour) in Gouda, the exhibition had not changed since the opening in 1938 and barely more than a hundred pipes could be seen. In the renovated Niemeyer Nederlands Tabacologisch Museum in Groningen the pipe was shown in the light of the smoking culture. There were about 300 pipes included in the exhibition.

Collecting and research in Leiden

With the establishment in Leiden and opening of the museum, a new phase broke out in building the collection. Dutch archaeological discoveries were still collected for the study collection, but now only by purchasing entire collections of amateur archaeologists that shifted their attention after years. A representative overview could be added from various parts of the country, always carefully selected for duplications, variants and, above all, aimed at quality improvement.

Yet it did not stay with archaeology. The objective had for years been broadened into pipes of all types of ceramics, including the historical, also the preserved ones. Contacts with specialized antique dealers in Brussels, Paris and London provided high-quality pieces. Special objects were also found in the antique trade and at curiosity shops everywhere in Europe.

The sub collections of French and Belgian pipes, but also the non-western pipes, were built up during this period. Incidentally, auctions could be visited where large pipes or tobacco collections were auctioned, resulting in exceptional purchases for the Pijpenkabinet. The well-known origin and sometimes even documented age of the object is an added value for a museum collection.

At the same time, one day per week could systematically be used for archive research in Gouda. The Gouda archives were passed on band by band over the period from 1600 to 1940. Each deed about a pipe maker was excerpted, whether it was the guild, a notary protocol or baptism or burial data. Everything is brought together in copy in the Pijpenkabinet, fully indicated by name and period.

The unique combination of collection formation and historical research was the starting point for publications that quickly became part of the basic instruments of the archaeologist. The practical booklet on the Gouda pipe makers marks, the first and only manual and many dozens of partial studies and articles in professional journals saw the light. The quality of the research was recognized in 1988 by the Koninklijke Academie van Wetenschappen (Royal Academy of Sciences) in Amsterdam by awarding the Johan de la Court Prize for scientific research. The publication of the handbook by Duco in 1987 was due to the innovative research to award this prize.

Public activities

In the 1980s, well before the electronic age, archaeology was still a popular hobby for youth. Finding a pipe bowl was often the first physical introduction into history for young people. The numerous determination days in the museum attracted dozens of families to the Pijpenkabinet every time. Also the Antiques Road-Show like days for smokers' antiques were popular activities that were announced nationwide via radio and newspapers. Thanks to the enormous collection of pipe moulds, the Pijpenkabinet was the only one in the Netherlands capable of giving demonstrations clay pipe making with original tools. In the museum as well as in the crafts markets, making the smoke tube in the pipe aroused surprise and admiration time after time.

For the youth, several camps were organized annually during the school holidays in which a combination of archaeology and archival work was offered. Young people between the ages of 15 and 21 could get acquainted with the method of excavating and the way to do archive research. The results of these camps again stimulated the research into the Gouda pipe industry, which was a spearhead in those years.

Despite the limited exhibition space in our own museum, some specialist exhibitions were held. For example, about the French figural pipe Koppen met een eigen gezicht (pipes with their own face). The exhibition Pijpen uit den Vreemde (pipes from foreign countries, 1985) was created with loans from the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (National Museum of Ethnology) in Leiden and the double exhibition Pijpenmakersgereedschap (pipe makers tools) together with Gouda was held on the occasion of an important purchase. Larger presentations were given by the Pijpenkabinet in other museums. Firstly in the Gasthuiskapelzaal of the Stedelijke Musea Gouda. The 1983 summer exhibition was the first and last time that pipe city Gouda has exclusively dedicated an exhibition to the Gouda pipe.

Other exhibitions followed, for example, in the Niemeyer Tabaksmuseum (Niemeyer Tobacco Museum) in Groningen and in the Tabaksmuseum Wervik (Wervik Tobacco Museum) in Belgium. The biggest project was the travelling exhibition on pipes dedicated to the House of Orange that started in the Palace Het Loo and then toured along Hoorn, Breda, Groningen, Rotterdam and finally Wervik in Belgium and Dillenburg in Germany. Numerous smaller exhibitions in regional museums, cultural centres and libraries drew attention to the pipe and the Pijpenkabinet. As a transition at the time of the move to Amsterdam, the masterpieces could also be exhibited elsewhere. A major retrospective exhibition in the Austria Tabak Museum (Austrian Tobacco Museum) in Vienna has so far been the most prestigious exhibition of the Pijpenkabinet.

Contacts with enthusiasts and collectors were maintained with the irregularly appearing Vlugschrift, which succeeded the magazine Pijpelijntjes and was more public-oriented. In addition to news and discussion of acquisitions, this informal magazine provided an overview of the activities from the Leiden museum.

Collaboration

Working from Leiden, the Pijpenkabinet has invested a lot of time and energy in working together with target groups and fellow museums. The longest relationship exists with Pijpen- en Aardewerkmuseum De Moriaan (pipe and pottery museum the Black Amour) in Gouda. Already in the seventies and early eighties there was an agreement that specialist questions received by Gouda were answered by the Pijpenkabinet. This collaboration resulted in an assignment to inventory the entire pipe collection of Gouda. Twelve hundred inventory cards were typed and expert descriptions and determinations were provided by Duco and Goes, of course based on the current state of knowledge.

Until 1992 the Pijpenkabinet provided long-term loans to Stedelijke Musea Gouda to complete the permanent exhibition of Gouda pipes. The presentation of clay pipes in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (national museum of antiquities) in Leiden also consisted of loans from the Pijpenkabinet. Incidentally, the Pijpenkabinet provided loans to other museums, including a number of unique excavated clay pipes discoveries for the overview exhibition Nederland Ondersteboven (Holland upside down). Other exhibitions were 1492 Columbus zeilde overzee (1492 Columbus sailed over the sea) in Rotterdam, Turkomanie (Turkomania) in the Princessehof in Leeuwarden and a major contribution to the large tobacco exhibition in the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam in 1992.

In the archaeological field, the Society for Clay Pipe Research was established in Great Britain in these years. Especially in the early years, the British looked up at the Netherlands, which was a precursor in historical and archaeological research, particularly within the structure of the Pijpenkabinet. A few years later, a similar initiative flourished in Germany, where professional and amateur archaeologists joined together and organized an annual meeting, including the publication of the Knasterkopf magazine. Incidentally, this initiative came from a travelling exhibition organized by the Pijpenkabinet in Soltau, Uslar (1988), Hamburg and Uelzen (1989). Here too, the staff of the Pijpenkabinet was a respected guest, because of the input of knowledge and experience. Incidentally, these exchanges were equally learning and instructive for the Pijpenkabinet.

The bundling of pipe and tobacco collections in the Netherlands was not realized. A proposal for collaboration between the Leiden and Gouda collections was stopped by the museum director of Gouda. A few years later, the merger of Niemeyer with the two pipe collections was again blocked by Gouda. The museums continued to operate independently and did not stimulate each other.

Amsterdam phase - 1995-2010

General

In 1994 the decision was taken to move to Amsterdam because it turned out to be the best location for a specialized museum such as the Pijpenkabinet. A suitable building was found on one of the main canals in the centre. After three hundred years, the canal house was ready for a thorough restoration. The result was amazing: the interior radiated allure and history again. The marble in the hallway was restored, stucco walls and ceilings were repaired meticulously, an original beamed ceiling was restored in oxblood red colour, antique oak parquet floors were re-laid.

This created a double attraction: an open canal house with a unique collection, brought together as a true collector's cabinet. The tasteful furnishings matching the house such as cabinets, a Venetian crown, a standing clock, enhance the atmosphere of the house. The charm of the museum is also the personal welcome because every visitor is shown around. The collection objective had meanwhile been extended to pipes of all materials, including non-specific Dutch meerschaum and wood.

For the functioning of the Pijpenkabinet it was a great improvement that the basement could be used as a shop under the name Smokiana pipeshop. With its own entrance and a shop window on the street, the store could also operate separately and even use more opening hours than the museum. Because of this form of cultural entrepreneurship, the Pijpenkabinet was far ahead of most museums, so that the museum world sometimes looked at the shop function with a crooked eye and some suspicion. Yet this proved to be a right formula, partly because of the choice to also build a sales range of modern smoking pipes. This not only caused an influx of pipe smokers, but also increasingly provided a need as the general tobacco shops stopped selling pipes.

Exhibition in Amsterdam

Comparable to the permanent set-up of the collection in the Regentenkamer in Leiden, the pipe collection has also been fitted into a historic interior in Amsterdam. However, the exhibition surface has multiplied, while the number of showcases has more than doubled. This was also necessary to be able to show the strongly grown collection in full width. The choice was made for a thematic exhibition and not for an educational one because the building was too small for that. Thanks to a suitable device, two thousand objects could be given a place in the permanent exhibition.

A double showcase wall was designed for the main hall, finished in celadon green. Behind ten large show windows, an important aspect or culture area of the pipe is permanently displayed. The subjects include pre-Columbian America, Dutch smoking culture including accessories from the rich eighteenth century, early meerschaum pipes, porcelain figure pipes, water pipes or ceremonial pipes from Cameroon. In the centre of the room, a table with twelve leather chairs provides space for groups of visitors by appointment. Interested visitors get an explanation of the collection while a cup of coffee or tea will be served. Groups of pipe smokers also use this facility.

In the front room, a beautiful eighteenth-century display cabinet contains the most surprising curiosities in the smoking area: artfully made pipes made of glass, deer's horn, shell, agate and more unexpected materials. In this room on the canal are also more than one hundred beautifully painted German porcelain pipe bowls. Built-in showcases in the corridor and on the landing show the sub collections of opium pipes from China and tobacco pipes from the Far East. The conservatory overlooking the courtyard is reserved for the handmade pipes from Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast. In a separate room in the secret annex, four showcases are dedicated to the clay pipe, both the archaeological finds and the nineteenth-century pipes with their entertaining design. In this room the Leiden atmosphere revives of super specialization.

Colleting in Amsterdam

In the Leiden period, the collection area had already been broadened to international, but with a restriction that the pipes were made of ceramics. From the move to Amsterdam in 1995, expansion of the collection fields took place: smoke pipes from all cultures made from all materials. The catch-up in this area was possible because in that period many private collections and museum collections came onto the market. When individuals offer a collection, they prefer one single buyer for everything. For the Pijpenkabinet, the process of studying and selection will follow, sometimes with the result that only ten percent will be retained for the museum. Of course, that is the most interesting part.

At auction, a choice must be made quickly on the spot, initially on quality and cultural value, then in relation to the price. Due to the thorough expertise and knowledge of the market, curator Don Duco is able to assess these factors quickly. Especially in the period 2000-2005 countless auctions took place through which the Pijpenkabinet could purchase a lot of material; in several cases pipes that have not been traded or have been barely traded for half a century.

For the Pijpenkabinet, the origin or pedigree is part of the cultural value of an object. Famous collections became so represented in the museum, including Dunhill, Wills & Co, Austria Tobacco, Seita and numerous private collections that never sought publicity but made name in expert circles. The presentation about Verzamelaars en hun passie (Collectors and their passion) on this website tells more about the sources the collection of the Pijpenkabinet has used.

By selling out numerous museum collections, both in the Netherlands (Utrecht, Kampen, Gouda) the relative importance of the Pijpenkabinet has only increased. At the same time, it can be concluded that the Pijpenkabinet collection has improved in quality to such an extent that it belongs to the top on a European scale. The combination of collection and documentation is completely unique within the theme of pipes and tobacco.

Research function

With the expansion of the collection area, logically broadening the research followed. From 2000, the Pijpenkabinet published its new expertise mainly in articles on the web. For example, publications about Ashanti pipes, the iconography of tobacco packages, system pipes, corncob pipes and the meerschaum pipe were published.

A major step outside the traditional research area was the publication of the book Opium & Opiumschuiven (opium and opium taking), a source book in connection with the renewed study of this sub-collection of the museum. The basis for this collection was laid in 1994 during a sabbatical of Don Duco in Southeast Asia. The addition to the museum library of many dozens of books from the sold property of Boudewijn Büch gave an extra boost to the sources used.

Archaeological research received a strong impetus from the Malta Convention, which required research and publication. The number of excavations increased explosively, but also the need for specialist material research. Thousands of pipes were presented to the Pijpenkabinet, where our expertise was not restricted to determining age and origin, but was mainly situated in the well-founded interpretation of the use and social position of the pipe at the time and social level in question.

Traditional clay pipe research was continued as usual, resulting in a groundbreaking book on the European development of the clay pipe in the nineteenth century entitled Century of Change. The multi-year project around the history of the pipes and ceramic factory Goedewaagen was completed in three parts: the family history, the pipe industry and the company including its product history. The latter established Duco's name in the circle of ceramic connoisseurs.

Finally, there was the renewed and greatly expanded version of the monograph on pipe makers marks titled Merken en merkenrecht van de pijpenmakers in Gouda (Marks and ordinances of the pipe makers in Gouda). This bulky book is the crown on the work of Duco, a standard work that could be completed after more than twenty years thanks to the digitation of the enormous data files of makers and marks that had been collected and processed since 1969.

Public activities

In the 21st century, the website has been by far the most important public service. Established from 2000, the website of the Pijpenkabinet has grown over the last ten years into an extensive information source of hundreds of pages and more than 2000 illustrations. Completely in line with the worldwide web, the website has always been completely bilingual. Yet the information remained rather flat in the sense that it was a succession of digital leaflets, brochures, articles and pictures with a chat. Visit figures increasing to over 50,000 unique persons per year proved the need for information about the culture of pipe smoking. The electronic Newsletter Pijpenkabinet is a support of the website and a necessary means of communication to the various target groups.

In the Amsterdam phase, however, museum visits lagged behind expectations. Group visits from Dutch target groups, from smokers' clubs to housewives, were substantial alongside the motivated foreign tourist. As the discussion about the smoking ban became stronger and more discreet, the museum visit went back. The Pijpenkabinet has responded by temporarily stopping the publicity.

In 2004, the Nederlands Openlucht Museum (Dutch Open Air Museum) in Arnhem was interested in setting up a exhibition with pipes for a period of ten years in the so-called Spaarstation Dingenliefde. In the middle of two hundred special pipes from the Pijpenkabinet, the visitor can sit comfortably watching a film on which the curator tells about the often remarkable backgrounds of some of the top pieces. This created an outbuilding on the other side of the country.

The initiative of the Pijpenkabinet to publish a joint brochure with all museums for pipes and tobacco in the Netherlands was received enthusiastically. It was the first way of collaboration in which the visit to the Dutch collections on pipes and tobacco was stimulated by a collegial referral. After a few years, however, the definitive closure of three of the nine museums followed. This was also a symptomatic phenomenon that was recognizable abroad.

In order to respond to the social fact that pipe smokers disappear from the streets, the Pijpenkabinet has developed two initiatives. With a course for pipe smokers, a group of novice and aspiring pipe smokers is initiated every month into the ritual of pipe smoking. This unique service appears to meet a need, especially among young people up to 35 years. In 2000, the establishment of the Amsterdams Pijprokers Genootschap (Amsterdam Pipe Smokers Guild) followed. On the website www.pipeclub.nl you can read how animated the monthly evenings are under this group of serious pipe smokers.

The digital phase - 2010 and later

General

With the launch of the pipemuseum.nl website, the possession of the Amsterdam museum is being opened up and the great wealth of knowledge has been made available over the years. After 40 years of collecting, researching and presenting, an even larger part of the work becomes visible. From the first phase, the museum displayed its knowledge in publications, from the year 2000 also via an extensive website www.pijpenkabinet.nl with dozens of specialist articles. Virtual visitors can now search themselves in the reserve collections for objects of their area of interest. Every target group can find what they need: archaeologists browse our excavated finds, pipe smokers through the collection of briar pipes, genealogists trace their ancestors, exhibition makers make unexpected finds among the museum objects, film producers inform themselves about smoking in a certain period.

With the web-based data files the possibility opens up for the first time to show various documentation files that the Pijpenkabinet manages. The combination of object information with archive data, literature and documentation forms a heritage-wide approach that is unique in museum digitization. The only obstacle to the provision is the copyright on the publication of numerous sources. A suitable solution will certainly be found for this in the future. The web facility was built in 2009-2010 with support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the VSB fund. The digitization and insertion of all available information is a process that will take years to complete.

Thanks to the global collections and internationally oriented databases, the museum has now acquired a place in a much larger knowledge infrastructure via the modern media. While most tobacco and pipe museums are threatened with closure or have already fallen prey, the museum in Amsterdam is gradually expanding and is increasingly taking an international position.

Precisely because the Pijpenkabinet has cherished and expanded the flow of the Zeitgeist in its collections in the field of smoking, the museum has now become a world leader. The virtual presentations show that. In the digital phase, the display of the wealth of global smoking culture will continue. As a counter-movement in the digital age, the Pijpenkabinet continues the opportunity for the authentic experience to behold the original object. A screen says a lot, in the end the object itself says everything, especially when that acquaintance runs through such a charming canal house museum!

Collecting and research in the digital phase

Nobody can look into the future. Whether the collection of the Pijpenkabinet can and must continue to grow cannot be predicted. However, the aim of the Pijpenkabinet Foundation is to consistently continue to pursue the deployed line. In the meantime, the collection is complete in many ways, although the market always offers extensions. Gaps are filled where possible, especially in some encyclopaedically collected sub-areas. The majority of the purchase budget will, however, be used for special pipes of high quality that deserve a prominent place both in the museum and on the website. In this way they are globally visible and contribute to the story of smoking culture.

In order to make the collection expandable, the Pijpenkabinet Foundation will make every effort to acquire private donations or even private patronage. A business setting is also a requirement for the museum in a time of ongoing privatization. The recently formulated business plan that, in addition to the museum tasks, also highlights the business side, is an important instrument in this endeavour. In this connection it is good to mention that the Pijpenkabinet has far exceeded the new standard of 17% of its own income for years. For decades, the museum has been financed almost entirely from its own resources, without a penny of institutional subvention.

In the future, the Pijpenkabinet will also focus on research into specific facets of the world's smoking cultures in relation to its own collection. This means that the research on sub-aspects of the collection will be continued. Publishing results in web presentations or virtual exhibitions offers optimal opportunities to reach the public at a global level. For example, web publications will gradually replace the printed books, although some titles are being prepared that will still appear as a traditional book.

Public function

The Pijpenkabinet will continue to be distinguished in the coming years as a unique and, in a certain sense, quirky museum. As a specialized museum without the lusts and burdens of government support and intervention, the Pijpenkabinet can sail its own course. While the door is open to everyone, the museum/canal house remains a certain exclusivity for the visitor, individually or in groups. We are convinced that the appreciation for the confrontation with authentic objects comes back. Electronic gadgets during the museum visit are fun for some but stand in the way of independent observation. The personal welcome and tours are also part of our unique service. To this end, a greater use of volunteers will be made. It will be investigated whether a more target group policy is useful in attracting visitors. The global collections offer many starting points to feed a meaningful dialogue about typical Dutch versus cultural diversity.

Through the museum in Amsterdam, the stimulation of museum visits is taken up again now that the sharp edges of the anti-smoking movement have been removed. In this light, the shop function will also be strengthened. It can be observed that the interest in smoking enjoyment is increasing, especially among young adults. As a private foundation, it is important to respond to this trend. All this forms part of the business plan and the sensing of meaningful possibilities of a pool of volunteers.

The digital innovations and the vastly increased supply of knowledge about the collections of the Pijpenkabinet via the web will stimulate a new dynamic with society. External interested parties are enabled and even challenged to respond. The Pijpenkabinet wants to contribute to the professionalization of these target groups that belong to a completely new audience category. Incidentally, our response will in the first instance depend on the personnel capacity. If necessary, the museum will look for expansion with volunteers.

The future

The Pijpenkabinet is now the only and therefore national museum for the pipe in the Netherlands and also fulfils the role as platform for the culture of pipe smoking. The different aspects such as history, design, use and enjoyment can come together here or find their place. The Pijpenkabinet is convinced that in-depth knowledge and ultimate expertise remain important. In addition to the physical collection, this is the second pillar of the museum. We can offer this expertise about the collections and we offer access to a huge knowledge base on the smoking culture in the broad. The exchange with existing and new target groups will be intensified, but will not replace the knowledge accumulated and recorded in years.

There is a strong trend in the museum world to generate large visitor flows with temporary exhibitions, in many cases even at the expense of permanent presentations. This is not in the reach of the Pijpenkabinet. Instead, the museum will focus more strongly on the contribution of loans to exhibitions elsewhere, temporarily or (semi-) permanently. The long-term presentation in the Nederlands Openlucht Museum (Dutch Open Air Museum) as an advanced post of the Pijpenkabinet is a good example of this. Exhibitions that can also be developed in-house can be placed in museums with a collection-related content.

The historiography of the Pijpenkabinet as a collection and open museum is never finished. It stops at the present, while the future still has all the promises. All factors that together determine the museum's functioning, such as collecting, studying, preserving and displaying for the purposes of study and pleasure, must in any case continue. In what form and to what extent that remains to be seen. This depends on both its own priorities and the social space that is provided for this.

© Benedict Goes, Pijpenkabinet Foundation, Amsterdam, 2010.