First women’s organization: Arbeid Adelt (the Nobility of Labor)
Betsy Perk (1833-1906) was a multifaceted woman. She wrote novels, plays and worked as a translator.
In 1872, she made a renowned lecture tour together with the all-round feminist Mina Kruseman.
But she didn’t stop there. In 1871, she founded the first rural women association in the Netherlands: Arbeid Adelt (the Nobility of Labor).
The aim of Arbeid Adelt, which the title of this brochure refers to, was according the statutes: ‘The improvement of the destiny of poor women from the civilized class by encouraging and promoting industriousness’. Arbeid Adelt seeks to develop and improve female industriousness and to trade the fruit of that labor by selling and reselling and establishing warehouses and depots, by organizing fancy-fairs and jumble-sales, lotteries and more.
The archive of Arbeid Adelt contains letters which have been written by, to and about Betsy Perk.
Source: Library and Image Archive IAV (original photograph in the Letterkundig Museum in The Hague)
