Treasurer Brandy Sanmoeradi

Why does Scapino need an inventory?
An inventory is needed to make the archives accessible and findable for the wider user. We can use it, for example, to serve a researcher who wants to make a documentary or ask the general public to enrich the archive with stories. But it can also serve staff and creators. A lot also needs to be remediated, cleaned up. To save space. An inventory is therefore also necessary to know what you have and what you don't have.

"Now we describe things very briefly, because it involves a lot of pictures and because we are minimally occupied. This is now described at collection level, so per show. For example, we have 20 photos of a show and that gets one number. Variety is very important. Not only in the actions, such as folding boxes and cutting twill tape, but also in terms of content. So we alternate between paper archives with lots of text and photo material, which is visually appealing. We regularly come across unique material, which also makes the work very beautiful and interesting. For instance, we have old handwritten scores by various composers and original designs by costume designers. Archiving is really hard work, but the idea that you are contributing to history makes it rewarding work. "

Read the rest of the interview here (only available in Dutch).