Johannes François Snelleman


Johannes François Snelleman was a Dutch zoologist, orientalist, ethnographer and museum director. He was a son of Christiaan Snelleman and Sara Lacombe. Snelleman was married three times, to Josepha Hendrika Dupont, Catharina Johanna Elisabeth Augusta Inckel, and Theodora Maria Beun.

Expeditions and publications

Between 1887 and 1889 Snelleman participated as zoologist in a scientific expedition to Central Sumatra, with the objective to map the Hari River basin to do research into the natural environment and the people. The expedition, organised by the Royal Netherlands Geographical Society, was led by lieutenant Johannes Schouw Santvoort, Royal Dutch Navy, with members D.D. Veth and :nl:Arend Ludolf van Hasselt|A.L. van Hasselt. Snelleman wrote a book about the expedition.
After the Sumatra Expedition Snelleman and Veth senior and junior kept a close contact. During a later KNAG expedition in Angola in 1884/'85, :nl:Daniël David Veth|D.D. Veth died of exhaustion. Together with his father :nl:Pieter Johannes Veth|P.J. Veth Snelleman wrote a book about :nl:Daniël David Veth|D.D. Veth and the expedition in South West Africa. Later, Snelleman would cooperate in a book series published by Veth, and titled Java, geographisch, ethnologisch, historisch.
Snelleman was editor of the four volume Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië, started in 1896 with :nl:Pieter Anthonie van der Lith|P.A. van der Lith as sole editor. Snelleman cooperated with Van der Lith on volume two and became joint editor for volume three. After the death of Van der Lith in March 1901, Snelleman completed the final volume as sole editor.
Together with :nl:Herman Daniël Benjamins|H.D. Benjamins, Snelleman published the :nl:Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indië|Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indië
With the same Benjamins, Snelleman started the journal :nl:De West-Indische Gids in 1919.

Museum director

In the 1880s and 1890s, Snelleman was curator of the Museum voor Volkenkunde National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
In 1901 Snelleman was appointed director of the :nl:Wereldmuseum Rotterdam|Ethnologisch Museum in Rotterdam and the :nl:Maritiem Museum Rotterdam|Maritiem Museum 'Prins Hendrik' in that city. These two, thematically unconnected museums, were placed under a single directorship in 1885. He kept this position until early 1915, when he took his retirement due to ill-health.

Footnotes