Historiography
Looking back on the past was part of the university's core curriculum from its inception as the Roomsch-Katholieke Handelshoogeschool in 1927: of the first four professors, Thomas Goossens, the first Rector Magnificus, held the remit of the chair Economic History of the Middle Ages, and the author of the Cobbenhagen vision on education held the remit of the chair General Theory and History of Economics.
All the more remarkable that the institution itself took more than fifty years to reflect historically on its own history. Only in 1978 did the first volume of the official historiography covering the years 1927-1954 (the year of Cobbenhagen's death) appear. Three years later, Part II appeared, covering the years 1954-1977. Author of Part I was Prof. Hans Bornewasser (1924-2010), full professor of Church History at the faculteit Theoologie from 1967 to 1989. Prof. Hans de Vries (1927), author of Part II, was Full Professor of Economic History from 1967 through 1991.
In anticipation of the 75th anniversary of what was then called the Katholieke Universiteit Brabant, Prof. Karel Veraghtert (1944), Full Professor of Economic History (1982-2004) and Social History (1995-2004), was commissioned in 1999 to work on the historiography of the period 1977-2002. In 2002, historical sociologist Dr. Ad van den Oord and Associate Professor of Culture in Brabant Prof. Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld were involved in this project. Given the limited time available, the latter limited themselves to a documentary approach; in-depth scientific research was not possible. Thus, in the spring of 2003—six months after the actual anniversary—volume III of the historiography appeared. Parts I and II were republished with the anniversary motto 75 jaar waardenvolle Universiteit (75 Years of Values-Driven University).
Two School histories have appeared since 2003: on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Tilburg Law School[RB1] in 2013, Prof. Beatrix van Erp-Jacobs wrote the accompanying anniversary book. Dr. Tessa Leesen was commissioned by the Tilburg School of Humanities (partial legal successor to the TFT, which was dissolved in 2006) to write the history of the latter faculty from its inception in 1967 to the revolutionary years of 2004-2007. The history of fifty years of Psychology in Tilburg was published in 2022, a publication that was called "highly recommended" in De Psycholoog "for anyone with an interest in the history of psychology. Above all, it is also to be hoped that this book will inspire administrators of other universities, if they have not already done so, to comprehensively book a history of their psychology faculties.”
Fiftieth anniversary of Tilburg Law School (pictured above)
Fiftieth anniversary of Psychology in Tilburg (pictured above)
More about history and academic heritage
The Tilburg University academic heritage is a very diverse set of archives, visual materials, collections, devices, recorded stories, et cetera that relate to the history of the university.