Special Collections

The Maastricht University Library is responsible for housing several important cultural heritage collections:

Jesuit collection

In the early 1970s, the library acquired the extensive Jesuit collection. This serves as the basis for the current library and is an important source for research and education at a large number of Maastricht University (UM) faculties.

Pierre Kemp library

In 1994, the Pierre Kemp Foundation has lent the personal library of the Dutch poet Pierre Kemp (1886–1967) to Maastricht University. This collection is now fully available for research and education.

Pierre Kemp's letter and handwriting collection

In exceptional cases, Pierre Kemp’s letter and handwriting collection is available for research and education (for the time being). The collection is acquired by the UM in 2002.

Charles Eyck documentation collection

In 1996, UM purchased the entire documentation collection of the Maastricht painter Charles Eyck (1897–1983) from publicist Wim Aerts. The collection, which is fully available for reference, reflects the character of Limburg’s artistic environment in the 20th century as well as Eyck’s development as a person and an artist.

Prize volumes collection

In the course of 2007, the prize volumes collection (part of the Jesuit collection), was fully delineated and described as a separate subset. The prize volumes phenomenon is an interesting object for research into the historic development of pedagogy in the Netherlands.

Peter Debye collection

A special division of the cultural heritage collections at the Maastricht University Library is the personal book collection of the Maastricht physicist Peter Debye (1884-1966), Nobel laureate in chemistry in 1936.