This collection mostly consists of Dutch language civil and military administrative documents from the career of André Lauwrensius van Assenderp, who was a Dutch colonial administrator in the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) and Suriname from 1932-1946. Some documents date from WWII and its immediate aftermath 1) when André served in Suriname from November 1941 to November 1943 as the District Commissioner and Commissioner of Police in Paramaribo, the colony’s capital, and 2) when he served in the Netherlands East Indies from April 1944 to November 1946 as an assistant-resident and military administrator in the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) and the Netherlands Indies Army (KNIL). Photographs include: Netherlands Indies Government Information Service (NIGIS) photos of Merauke, Dutch New Guinea (1944-1945) and the Allied invasion of Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo (July 1945), as well as personal photos of André, his American wife Carol Johnson van Assenderp, and their children. Artifacts include André’s Royal Netherlands Indies Army (KNIL) officer’s dress uniform with hat and ceremonial sword, a WWII Japanese sword, a sword machete, a British pith helmet, individual portrait paintings of André and Carol, and Carol’s hollow chain Javanese bracelets. The collection also has André’s KNIL military training booklets, Carol’s written recollections of their first years in the NEI, and personal letters from family members in Holland (1940 and 1947) and the US. There are also papers from André’s teaching career at the Florida State University (1949-1958).

For more information, see the collection's finding aid.