OVN board members

There have been some changes in the board of the OVN Foundation earlier this year. Drs. Anat Harel stepped back as board member on 1 January 2009. Her PhD fellowship at the Leiden University was concluded. Harel is currently working at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam on a project which will integrate the collections with the Digital Monument for the Jewish Community in the Netherlands. This is why she has taken a break from the subject of freemasonry for now. The remaining board members are very gratefull for her support in previous years and wish her success in her new endeavors.

The vacancy has since been filled by André Hanou, emeritus professor at in Early Dutch Literature at the Nijmegen University. Hanou specializes in Ditch literature of the Enlightenment, including the works of Johannes Kinker and Jacob Campo Weyerman. His publications on the history of freemasonry within that context include:

- De Naakte Waarheyt der Vrije Metselaars. Teksten van de 18de eeuwse schrijver Jacob Campo Weyerman over de Vrijmetselarij (The Naked Truth of Free Masons. Texts by the 18th century author Jacob Campo Weyerman), Introduction by André Hanou, Fama Masonic Publishers 2004;
- ‘Aandachtspunten bij onderzoek naar vrijmetselarij in Nederland’ (Focus points in research of freemasonry in the Netherlands), in: Andrea Kroon (ed.), Vrijmetselarij in Nederland. Een kennismaking met de wetenschappelijke studie van een ‘geheim’ genootschap, (Conference 14 March 2003, University of Leiden) Stichting OVN, Den Haag 2003, 51-58;
- 'Weyerman en de Vrijmetselarij, Een bouwsteen’ (Weyerman and freemasonry. A building block), Mededelingen St. Jacob Campo Weyerman 26 (2003) 49-58;
- ‘Kumpels adem. Ontstaan en vergaan van Concordia Vera, 1787-1790’ (Kumpels breath. The emergence and fall of lodge Concordia Vera, 1787-1790), Acta macionica 7 (1997), 375-385;
- Onder de acacia. Studies over de Nederlandse vrijmetselarij en vrijmetselaarsloges vóór 1830 (Beneath the acacia. Studies on Dutch freemasonry and masonic lodges before 1830), Astraea, Leiden 1997 (Paddemoesreeks 3);
- ‘De Vrijmetselarij in stukken’ (Freemasonry in pieces), in: D.P. de Graaf, E.P. Kwaadgras, D.C.J. van Peype (red.), De stijl der Vrije Metselaren, Een maçonniek platenboek, ‘s-Gravenhage 1996, 20-23;
- ‘De Loge Parterre’ (The lodge on ground level), in: Anton van de Sande en Joost Rosendaal (red.), ‘Een stille leerschool van deugd en goede zeden’. Vrijmetselarij in Nederland in de 18e en 19e eeuw, Verloren, Hilversum 1995, 41-61;
- ‘Drift en deugd. Literatuur van vrijmetselaars in de loge Vicit Vim Virtus voor 1830’ (Vice and virtue. Literature of freemasons in the lodge Vicit Vim Virtus before 1830), in: W. van den Berg/Henk Eijssens/Ton van Kalmthout (red.), Haarlemse kringen. Vijftien verkenningen naar het literair-culturele leven in een negentiende-eeuwse stad, Hilversum 1993, 27-46;
- Sluiers van Isis. Johannes Kinker als voorvechter van de Verlichting, in de vrijmetselarij en andere Nederlandse genootschappen (The veils of Isis. Johannes Kinker as a champion of the Enlightenment, in freemasonry and other societies), Deventer 1988 (Dissertation Nijmegen, 2 dln);
- many articles in the masonic study magazine Thoth, including the series ‘Beelden van de vrijmetselarij’ (Images of freemasonry).

Hanou is co-founder of the journal Spektator (1971), the Jacob Campo Weyerman Foundation(1977) and Astraea Publishers(1994). He writes columns for AmsterdamFM radio station and the Herkauwer blog. His knowledge and experience in the field of study are a welcome addition to the board of the OVN.