Relocation of Koninklijke Johan Enschedé’s Enschedé Museum

Koninklijke Saan relocated the collection of the company museum of Koninklijke Johan Enschedé. The relocation of, among other things, books, bibles, securities, old presses and typecases took a mere 3 months.

Part of the collection, which was located in the basement of the headquarters in Oudeweg in Haarlem, was moved to the North Holland Archive and part to storage in another part of the building in Oudeweg. Johan Enschedé is one of the oldest family firms in the Netherlands. Having started in 1703 as a small book printing works, the business grew into a big Haarlem company. 
The Johan Enschedé company museum reflects the history of the company, its products and its place within the business sector. In the basement of the building was the museum that contained a good 300 years of printing, publishing and type foundry works. The Enschedé Museum housed, for example, an enormous collection of securities and the biggest collection of bibles in the Netherlands. A unique collection, both in its extent and its diversity.

The over three million postage stamps, 59,000 banknotes, 50,000 shares, bonds and Rembrandt and Escher prints, in short, the entire graphical company collection of the Enschedé printing works, was transferred in spring 2015 from the Enschedé Museum to the warehouses of the North Holland Archive in Haarlem. The heavy objects and the enormous collection of dies (4,000 drawers with 6,500 fonts) were moved to a storage area in the Enschedé complex in Haarlem. Excess stocks had to be removed. Saan managed the relocation plan and the project support, preparation, packing, relocation and transportation and the broom clean handover of the basement space.

Saan Relocation was awarded the contract to relocate this special company museum in accordance with a strict selection procedure. It was in fact the experience that Saan has with relocating fragile heritage collections and the associated pricing that was decisive in this choice. Now that the relocation has been completed, Johan de Zoete, the collection manager looks back to an especially expert and well-implemented relocation. “Thanks to the use of the Saan relocation team with experienced and specially trained relocation staff and art handlers, the relocation was carried out with great care and without any damage or items lost. The collaboration and commitment of the relocation team and the Saan project leaders with our project leaders and the collection manager contributed to this excellent result.”