Conducts research and collects data on the global history of labour, workers, and labour relations

Staatsarchief - archive of the squatters' movement

'Staatsarchief' is a large collection of materials on the squatters movement in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The Staatsarchief is housed at the IISH. The collection contains a wealth of information about the transition of the squatters' movement from a regular movement for housing for young adults into an oppositional movement, with squatted buildings as experiments in residential and occupational forms and lifestyles.
The collection is accessible through the website of the Staatsarchief, which also presents many photos, recollections of squatters and a bibliography on the history of the squatters movement. The Staatsarchief collection contains archives, periodicals, posters, photographs, audiovisual materials, garments and objects. Materials may be requested via the IISH Reading Room.

As the creative spirit behind the archive, Eric Duivenvoorden started gathering material about squatting in his own neighbourhood, the Staatsliedenbuurt in Amsterdam in the early 1990's. Driven by enthusiasm and historical awareness, he added material from other squatters' movements in and outside Amsterdam to the archive.Eric Duivenvoordens book Een voet tussen de deur. Geschiedenis van de kraakbeweging 1964-1999 ['Foot in the door. History of the squatters' movement'] is online on the Staatsarchief website. ,

The arrival of the Staatsarchief on 1 May 2000 made the IISH the most important source in the Netherlands of material on the squatters' movement.