Ode to Elise van Calcar | So many developments in motion

This text was translated using AI and may contain errors. If you have suggestions or comments, please contact us at info.ode@amsterdammuseum.nl.

Dear Ms. van Calcar,

You must be surprised to be confronted with this letter 120 years after your death. It so happens that the Amsterdam Museum has started a project aimed at putting Amsterdam women in the spotlight and I immediately thought of you. Born, educated and married in Amsterdam. In the nineteenth century, you were a well-known Dutch woman. The problem, however, is that today I have to make it clear who you were. I do that for my contemporaries in the overview below, but I would never dare to do that without first presenting it to you. I hope you will be comfortable with it.

Elise van Calcar (1822-1904)

Very Amsterdam-like does not begin her story. Elise's parents were not originally from the city. Initially she was given her mother's surname: Fleischacker, and after she was married that of her father: Schiotling. Her mother came from a Lutheran family with German roots from Nijmegen; father Schiotling came from a famous family of silversmiths who settled in Amsterdam from Sweden in the eighteenth century. Silverware from his ancestors can still be found at the Rijksmuseum. Her parents gave her much love and development. And although they were not thoroughbred Amsterdammers, their daughter was at least an Amsterdam by birth.

Little Elise attended a small, private school, a so-called Ecole Française, run by three old sisters. There, with great difficulty, she mastered the alphabet and learned to read, write and knit. What she was really good at: telling stories to her classmates. This was a useful and enjoyable activity when the light in the classrooms became too poor to distinguish letters. After a few years' stay in Barneveld, the family returned to Amsterdam in 1836 because she wanted to continue studying to become a teacher, the only secondary education for girls available at the time. She was able to attend the well-regarded school of W. Oostmeijer, the headmaster of a school on what was then still called the Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal near the Korstjespoortsteeg.

Her parents left her free to choose a denomination and in Amsterdam she had the opportunity to orient herself widely: in the Remonstrant church where the famous Des Amorie van der Hoeven preached, with the orthodoxy of the Reveil and its famous leader Isaac da Costa and for a short time with the Christelijk Afgescheiden Gemeente. Finally, in 1842, she made confession in the Reformed Church.

Once she had the certificates for teaching assistant and schoolmistress, a full day of teaching in a crowded classroom without enough fresh air proved too hard on her health. She became a governess, with families in and outside the city, and that job left her enough free time to develop as a writer. She wrote in Amsterdam her first magazine articles for Maria and Martha and the Christian Album, her first novel Hermine and her first volume of religious reflections Blikken in het rond. On May 11, 1849, she witnessed the entry of the new King Willem III into the city; the day before his inauguration in the Nieuwe Kerk. That too was still incorporated into a story. But in the fall of the same year she left the city and never lived there again. She did marry there: on May 6, 1853, to Herman Carel van Calcar, a marriage that was blessed that same day in the Oude Kerk by Reverend M. van Meeteren. 

Even after that she returned to Amsterdam - as 'Elise van Calcar' - to give lectures: in public and for a fee. That first lecture (on fiddling education) was on March 5, 1862 in the auditorium of Felix Meritis for members of the society of the same name. It was new: no woman had ever done anything like that before, so it was met with outrage. To cover up that “disgrace” a bit, the organization had decorated the stage with lots of greenery and flowers. But press reports were laudatory.

The skills Elise van Calcar had learned in Amsterdam: writing, teaching and speaking in front of a large group of people have served her all her life. She developed into a widely known and appreciated writer, and she took it upon herself to spread Frederik Fröbel's ideas throughout the country in word and writing. She went to work for better education for girls and more professional opportunities for women, and this brought her into contact with well-known feminists in the Netherlands, such as Betsy Perk and Mina Kruseman. Finally, after 1877, she became one of the leading figures of religious spiritualism, popular at the time. Again, writing and public speaking were important tools.

Elise van Calcar was not an easy woman. She knew what she wanted and pursued it in a straight line. This did not always succeed: sometimes circumstances were against her, sometimes she wanted to go faster than was possible and sometimes she had no idea of the financial consequences. This sometimes led to heated discussions, which now seem exaggerated or comical to us. Working well with her was sometimes almost impossible. But in all areas in which she moved - literary, educational, feminism and spiritualism - she impressed her contemporaries.

After her death on July 13, 1904, she was quickly forgotten. Only educators still greatly appreciate the work she did for the custodial schools.

So much, ma'am, for this overview. I am - as you will now understand - somewhat uncertain as to whether it meets with your approval. Nevertheless, you will have to accept my initiative: someone who has set so many developments in motion, the fruits of which we, often unconsciously, still enjoy, should not disappear into the past. Receive, Mrs. van Calcar, my heartfelt tribute.

With warm regards, Annette Faber