Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie

The Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie was a museum of geological and mineralogical collections. Up to 1878, geological and mineralogical collections formed part of Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, the National Museum of Natural History. This museum, founded in 1820 and established at Leiden, was closely linked with the University there. One of the staff members used to be in charge of the geological collections. In 1893 the collection was moved into a new building at the Van der Werffpark/Garenmarkt as the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie, representing a great step forward. The RGM thus became completely independent and was no longer regarded as part of the Natural History Museum.

Proposed by the then director of the Natural History Museum, H. Schlegel, K. Martin, a young German geologist, was appointed as ordinary professor of geology at the Leiden University in 1877. In 1878, Martin was also put in charge of the geological and mineralogical collections, which continued to be housed in the Natural History Museum. Under Martin's directorate the collections steadily grew, while increasing in scope and scientific importance. From 1881 onward, most of the fossils collected by the mining engineers of the Mining Survey of the Netherlands East Indies were sent to Leiden for examination by Martin.

Martin's interests were also aroused by the West Indies. During a field trip in 1884-1885 he managed to make extensive collections, comprising well over 800 specimens, in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire as well as in Surinam and Venezuela. The second journey Martin was able to undertake led to the Moluccas in the East Indies. Here again Martin succeeded in collecting much material. According to the entry in the Museum's list of acquisitions for 1892, he brought home a collection of 1063 specimens.

A number of collections have come to the Museum by means of exchange. The material offered in exchange consisted in most cases of duplicates from the Java Tertiary. In this way the RGM was enriched with series of fossils from Australia, Great Britain, Bosnia, Maryland, Paris Basin, and other regions. Apart from these means of extending the RGM collections, Martin managed to buy several important ones: one from the Philippines, collected by C. Semper and another one from Java and Madura.

Moving into a new building at the Van der Werffpark/Garenmarkt in 1893 meant a great step forward. The RGM thus became completely independent and was no longer regarded as part of the Natural History Museum.

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