From Marken:Every hour a word, a deed
Description
The board of the History of Technology Section has the pleasure of inviting you to attend a lecture by Jan van der Mast, entitled:
"Jacques van Marken: every hour a word, a deed"
Jacques van Marken (1845-1906) was a visionary, who embraced all new technical inventions, such as the telephone, electric light, automobile, air yeast method, rollers gramophone, etc. In 1897 - soon after the premiere of Lumière's first films in Paris - he showed these films to his workers and made the first films of the Netherlands in his photo studio. He thought TU should train a new kind of engineer: social engineer. He wrote a pamphlet about this in 1893: 'Him is the future!' His term 'social engineering' became a household word in America.
Jacques, together with his wife Agneta, created a magical, unique world in Delft in the late 19th century. The couple created jobs with the establishment of the Gist factory and Calvé, but also built Agnetapark - a green oasis in the city - and went there to live among their workers. This factory colony functioned as a welfare state where 'mum and dad' Van Marken watched over the workers' families.
Writer Jan van der Mast published the novel 'Agneta' in 2015, in which he chronicled the industrialist's wonderful 'double life' and described the alliance Agneta made with the mistress Maria. The reason for writing this novel was the discovery of a secret diary, which may not be revealed until 2040.
Impressed by Jacques van Marken's social entrepreneurial ideas - he is the Henry Ford of the Netherlands - Jan then decided to write a biography about this visionary: 'Every hour a word, an act.
Jacques van Marken's life is like a rollercoaster: the clergyman's son was the first technologist to graduate from TU (1867), wanted to be a poet, but decided to 'make himself useful to society', founded large factories and grew into a well-known industrialist who e.g. talked to the French president about profit-sharing. He was hailed as a 'model entrepreneur' by the national press, but dismissed by social democrats as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'. They wanted a violent revolution. Van Marken, however, wanted to reconcile Labour & Capital and cooperate and share prosperity with calm deliberation.
You and your introduces are most welcome. There is no charge to attend the lecture.
Please register no later than 7 April via e-mail pthlmvanwoerkom@gmail.com or phone 070-3070275
Speaker(s)
Jan van der Mast (1961) studied urban planning in Delft, completed his studies in Barcelona, but soon chose to become a writer. He wrote plays, novels and won several literary prizes. In recent years, he has concentrated on historical novels. Meanwhile, he is busy getting a Van Marken Museum off the ground in Delft on the spot where villa Rust Roest once stood - centrally located in Agnetapark - and where Jacques and Agneta lived.
For more info: www.janvandermast.com
Location
Mijnbouwstraat 120, 2628 RX Delft
Organiser
History of Technology
Name and contact details for information
Paul van Woerkom