The Municipality of Roermond has archived the archive of Joep Nicolas in the conditioned archive space of Archive-IT. Joep Nicolas is best known for the manufacture of stained glass windows for churches, town halls, hospitals and businesses. Two archives have been preserved: the company archive of the studio taken over and continued by Max Weiss, donated to the Municipal Archives in Roermond. The second archive of Joep Nicolas is located in the Social Historical Centre for Limburg in Maastricht and was recently transferred to Archive-IT. This extensive archive contains so-called cartons, which are working drawings of the life-size stained-glass windows. The cartons are used for exhibitions, repairs to stained-glass windows or research.
Conditioned storage
2019 is the year of glass, which means that a lot of attention is paid to glass in Roermond. Joep Nicolas and Max Weiss were the greatest glass artists in the Netherlands. Hans van de Mortel, Municipal Archivist of the Municipality of Roermond explains: “There is a great deal of interest in this unique collection, which is why we have to be very careful with it. The archive in Maastricht will be returned to the Municipality of Roermond, but due to lack of space, the Municipality of Roermond has chosen to store the cartons externally. The cartons are very sensitive to damage, which is why we opted for conditioned storage.”
Archive-IT offers unique value
Hans was already familiar with Archive-IT and is very pleased with the added value that Archive-IT offers: “The constant temperature, the extinguishing gas installation, the humidity and the security are top notch. Because the cartons have different sizes, it was difficult to store them in our own archive. That would mean that we would have to rebuild the entire archive. Archive-IT filled a gap here and helped to find a solution. At Archive-IT, they rebuilt the racks to archive the cartons. That way we don’t have to rebuild anything, that saves us a lot of money!”
Pleasant communication
“I’ve had a lot of contact with Archive-IT, face-to-face, but also over the phone. We went to Maastricht together to look at the collection and to discuss the possibilities for transport. I don’t like doing business with someone I don’t know. I enjoy sitting around the table with a cup of coffee and going through everything. It’s those contacts that are real plus points. If there was something wrong, I could immediately call Archive-IT, or Archive-IT immediately called me. The communication was very pleasant, fast and clear. If you combine that with the facilities that are in good order and you match the price, then you’re actually there.”
Thank you Municipality of Roermond for allowing Archive-IT to archive this unique piece of history in Reuver!