About
“Hi, I’m Jaap van der Burg.”
“As an 11 year old I was mentioned in the Arnhemse Courant (local newspaper in Arnhem) as the youngest museum director in The Netherlands, after opening my private collection to the public in the form of an exhibition.
Since a very young age I had been collecting Dutch military history focusing on the reasons why traditions and uniforms developed as they did. Being a teenager in the seventies, my interest in military history was unique enough to be invited into several museums and heritage organisations.
At the age of 21, on the threshold of adulthood, I donated my collection to the Foundation Collection Military History, and started my training in Conservation at the Opleiding Restauratoren (now University of Amsterdam) which I finished in 1985. The 4 year training was dedicated to conservation of all organic polymers. In 1984 I registered myself in the Chamber of commerce as Burgcon Conservator.
After nearly a years work in ship archeology I was hired that same year by the Royal Dutch Army and Army-museum.
The museum was part of the Defense-department and in the process of developing into a private foundation. My task was to create a collection management department, oversee the move(s) of the entire collection (300.000 objects ranging from tanks to any bit of clothing imaginable) exhibitions and everything involving collection (items) in the meantime.
In 1993 I was asked by the National Museum of Ethnology (now Museum of World Cultures) to lead its Delta-plan project. For this project I was responsible for registration, packing, moving, storing, exhibiting and general improvement of the conditions of the entire collection (250.000 objects). Establishing a training for the then untrained staff provided by the Delta-Plan project was a big part of the job. (During this project the first drafts for the ‘Eight Step Approach’ developed).
These, by the end of the project well trained and experienced, people tended to become unemployed at the end of the project. In 1993 I started with Collections Care and Consult. ‘CCC’ was a sub of the internationally acclaimed Gerlach Art Packers & Shippers. The prime purpose of this company was to find work for these conservation assistants and provide expertise for everybody who was responsible for (bits and pieces of) cultural heritage. The year 2000 we; me and my then business partner, started our own business, Helicon Conservation support. After another 20 years of working on several thousands of projects we decided to split the company and I continued with Object Care in Belgium. In all these years I have been involved in thousands of projects of which over 500 were disaster recovery related. Now, 55 years later, after being the youngest museum-director and a neat 40 years after registering in the Chamber of Commerce I have decided to go back to my own consultancy under the name ‘Burgcon’ to share my experiences and ‘knowledge’ with everybody who is interested.”
