Gerard Marius came

Gerard Marius Kam (born June 29, 1836 in Oud-Alblas , † December 27, 1922 in Nijmegen ) was a Dutch entrepreneur , local politician , local researcher and collector, and founder of the former Rijksmuseum, named after him, Museum Kam .

biography

Gerard Marius Kam was born in 1836 as the son of the Reformed pastor and local politician Joannes J. Kam (1797-1889) and his wife Cornelia MM van Overveld (1807-1869) in Oud-Alblas, a village in the South Holland municipality of Molenlanden . After being in Dordrecht his high school had made, Gerard Kam came to 1855 in the shipyard of the brothers Smit in Slikkerveer (a village in the municipality of Ridderkerk ) and was for this company steel buyers in England . From 1863 to 1888 he was married to Maria Kluit (1841–1916), the marriage remained childless. In 1869 he and two younger brothers founded their own company in Rotterdam , the iron and steel trade Gebroeders Kam. He lived in Delfshaven , where his father had been a councilor for over 30 years . As an entrepreneur, Kam saw the economic growth potential of Rotterdam and its port. He therefore became a staunch supporter of a union between the municipality of Delfshaven and Rotterdam and published two brochures on this subject in 1884 and 1885. When the merger was finally completed in 1886, he became a member of the new Rotterdam City Council. In this role he worked from 1886 to 1897 on a further expansion of the port. In 1888, Kam got divorced and in 1889 married Johanna Hoekstra (1853–1934), his second marriage, which also remained childless.

Collectors and local historians

In 1897 Gerard Kam retired from business and local politics. Due to an illness of his second wife, he left Rotterdam and settled in Nijmegen on the Berg en Dalseweg between the Hunnerberg and the Kops plateau . The area on the north side, directly opposite his villa, was largely undeveloped at the time and a true archaeological treasure trove. There were two Roman cemeteries with several thousand burials from the first to fourth centuries. Since this area was built on more and more from the end of the 19th century, grave goods kept appearing . The builders sold these finds to dealers and collectors. After Gerard Kam bought four pots for the first time in 1900, he soon became their main customer and collecting antiques became his main activity. He not only bought from dealers or directly from the construction workers, but also excavated land himself that he had leased or bought for this purpose. In a few years he put together an important collection, mainly of Roman grave finds. But he also collected artifacts from prehistory and the Middle Ages, including late and post-medieval pottery from the Rhineland.

Museum founder

Front view of the Kam Museum
(status 2010)

In 1903 Kam had an exhibition room set up in the coach house of his villa and opened his collection to the interested public. In 1904 he decided to maintain the collection after his death, and for this purpose he signed a first deed of donation in 1905. At that time he saw the options of either leaving his collection to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden or a new city museum to be built by the city of Nijmegen. In order to further educate himself about his collection, Gerard Kam went on several study trips and visited museums in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. In 1908 and 1911 he traveled to Italy to visit the ancient remains and great museums of Rome, Naples and Pompeii. From 1904 he joined numerous historical and archaeological associations in the Netherlands and Germany. In 1906 he became a member of the Commission for Ensuring the Proper Conservation of Monuments for History and Art in Nijmegen ( Commissie ter verzekering eener goede bewaring van Gedenkstukken van Geschiedenis en Kunst te Nijmegen ), which directed the local city museum. He soon entered into correspondence with leading scholars at home and abroad after scientific publications had pointed out the scope and importance of his collection. However, he hardly published at all and hardly left any notes. After his death, essential parts of the collection were in a poorly documented condition.

While he was constantly expanding the collection on his estate in the following years, he decided to found a new museum himself, as he had become convinced that the collection should remain in Nijmegen and wanted to ensure that it would remain in full even after his death Scope and would be issued as a whole. This project could only be realized after the First World War. In 1919 he signed a new deed of donation, with which he not only bequeathed his collection, which has now grown to around 15,000 objects, to the Dutch state, but also had a museum built at his own expense based on a design by the Nijmegen architect Oscar Leeuw . The Rijksmuseum GM Kam was opened on May 17, 1922, the idea provider, builder and founder died a good six months later.

Fonts (selection)

• Nadere Beschouwingen naar aanleiding van het voorstel tot vereeniging van Delftshaven met Rotterdam, aangaande de daarmede in verbandstaande plan van gemeentereiniging . Kramers, Rotterdam 1885, ( digitized ).
• Romeinsche Toilet-artikelen In: Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 6 (1905), pp. 52-54, ( digitized ).
• Antieke helmets in the museum "Kam" In: Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond . 2nd Series 8 (1915), pp. 258-266, ( digitized ).

literature

• Machiel André Evelein: 'Levensbericht van GM Kam . In: Levens reports van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden 1923–1924, Brill, Leiden 1924, pp. 3–7.
• Petrus JJ Stuart: Het dilemma van GM Kam. Leiden of Nijmegen . In: Numaga 32 (1985), pp. 5-11.
• Louis JF Swinkels: A splendid example. Vijfenzeventig jaar Museum GM Came 1922–1997 . Vereniging van Vrienden van het Museum Kam, Nijmegen 1997.
• Willem Jan Pantus and Louis JF Swinkels: Een stenige gone. The wisselvallige betrekkingen tussen het Museum Kam en de gemeente Nijmegen. Een terugblik . In: Jaarboek Numaga 44 (1997), pp. 7-25.
• Louis JF Swinkels: Gerard Kam 1836–1922, Staalhandelaar en Verzamelaar . In: JAE Kuys et al. (Red.): Biographical Woordenboek Gelderland, deel 2, Bekende en onbekende mannen en vrouwen uit de Gelderse geschiedenis . Verloren, Hilversum 2000, pp. 46-48, ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerard Marius Kam: Nadere beschouwingen naar aanleiding van het voorstel tot vereeniging van Delftshaven met Rotterdam, aangaande de daarmede in verbandstaande planning van gemeentereiniging . Kramers, Rotterdam 1885, ( digitized ).
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Louis JF Swinkels: Gerard Kam 1836-1922, Staalhandelaar en Verzamelaar . In: JAE Kuys et al. (Red.): Biographical Woordenboek Gelderland, deel 2, Bekende en onbekende mannen en vrouwen uit de Gelderse geschiedenis . Verloren, Hilversum 2000, pp. 46-48, (digitized version).
3. ↑ The only known publications are Romeinsche Toilet-articles In: Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 6 (1905), pp. 52–54, ( digitized ) and Antieke helmen in het museum "Kam" In: Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond . 2nd Series 8 (1915), pp. 258-266, ( digitized ).