Judith Brouwer
The Organisation of the Correspondence Network
Before a network can be employed for the creation of knowledge it needs to be
well established. The ZGW appointed Justus Tjeenk (1730-1782) as its first secre
tary. He was a preacher and only arrived in Zeeland in 176s.68 He joined a French
Reading Society, from which the ZGW would develop. Mijnhardt even demon
strated that Tjeenk was the one who proposed the idea of establishing the ZGW.69
Tjeenk was responsible for maintaining the network by conducting the corre
spondence of the ZGW. The correspondence to the ZGW that is archived starts
in 1768; between 1768-1770 Justus Tjeenk conserved 222 letters. Thus, it is not
surprising that Justus Tjeenk had the highest Degree Centrality within the ZGW's
correspondence network as he had 110 direct ties within the network.70 Others
with a high Degree Centrality were Isack Winckelman (10), Martinus Slabber (9),
and Pieter Boddaert (7). Justus Tjeenk's duty was to not only keep in touch with
ZGW members, but also to recruit new members. Between 1766-1771, the ZGW
was creating its interregional and international correspondence network, so re
cruiting new members was essential for its social standing. The ZGW had one
advantage compared to the many other learned societies in the Netherlands: its
official recognition by the States of Zeeland gave them a prominent status even if
the academy was still relatively young.71 As such, the ZGW held a good starting
position for recruiting members for its network.
There was a practice among members to nominate new members for the ZGW
from a member's personal network. Different ways of recruitment emerge from the
correspondence, which displays that some members took a very active part in the re
cruiting of new members. Right at the start, the ZGW (through its secretary) directly
approached candidates for membership. However, as soon as the first members out-
107
68 Peter van Druenen, Oprichting van het Zeeuws Genootschap der Wetenschappen in Vlissin-
gen in 1769: Incident of Implicatie? In: Arjan van Dixhoorn, Henk Nellen en Francien Petiet
(eds), Een Hoger Streven. Bouwstenen voor een Geschiedenis van het Zeeuws Genootschap,
1769-2019. Archief. Mededelingen van het Koninklijk Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschap
pen, Middelburg: KZGW, 2019 75; J.G. Frederiks and F. J. van den Branden, Biographisch
woordenboek der Noord- en Zuidnederlandsche letterkunde. Amsterdam: L. J. Veen, 1888, 788.
https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bran038biog01_01/bran038biog01_01_4081.php (accessed May 31,
2020).
69 W.W. Mijnhardt, Wetenschapsbevordering onder het Ancien Régime: het Zeeuwsch Genoot
schap der Wetenschappen 1765-1794. In: Archief. Mededelingen van het Koninklijk Zeeuws
Genootschap der Wetenschappen, 1985, note 14.
70 See Appendix II, Figure 2.
71 Arjan van Dixhoorn, Henk Nellen, and Francien Petiet, Inleiding. In: Arjan van Dixhoorn,
Henk Nellen, and Francien Petiet (eds), Een hoger streven, 20.
