From suit and tie to jeans and back again

What do you do when your study association turns 100? You celebrate, of course! And if it's a study association for History students, you write about that history. The book is titled De Utrechtse Historische Studentenkring (1926-2026). Een eeuw verenigd door Geschiedenis  (The Utrecht History Student Circle, 1926-2026. A century united by History). 

A cooperation between a lecturer and students
The idea for the book came from Mette Bruinsma, a lecturer in Cultural History. At the end of 2023, she realised that UHSK would be celebrating its centenary in 2026. She approached the association and other students, as well as the fellow lecturer in International Relations, Jorrit Steehouder, and the Professor of Socio-economic History, Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk.

The authors. From left to right: Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk, Mette Bruinsma and Jorrit Steehouder. Photo: Paul van der Lugt

What followed was a collaboration between lecturers, students and alumni, who worked together to bring their history to life – something that proved difficult due to incomplete archives. The lecturers led the research and wrote the main chapters, while the students assisted with archival research and interviews. They also selected initial visual material and wrote several columns for the book.

“It was a lot of fun and really interesting to learn how academic research works as you collaborate with lecturers,” says the Cultural History student Zita Zwart, who worked on the project as an intern.

Reflection of the times
Gathered in a historic room on Drift, the researchers explain that, during the writing process, they became increasingly aware of the significance of study associations such as UHSK for the university. They realised how formative they are for students, and how much study associations reflect the times.

Protesting against the new financing system introduced by State Secretary Klein (PvdA), 1976. Student finance and tuition fees are contentious issues that have frequently led to student protests between the 1960s and 2026. Photo: Peter van den Besselaar, DUB archive

Many faces
UHSK has had many faces. In its founding year, 1926, the association chose not to join the Utrecht Student Corps (USC), of which many students were members. The History students voted on this and decided that the study association should be accessible to all History students, including those who were not members of the corps.

UHSK celebrating its 40th birthday in 1966. Until the late 1960s, young men wore dark suits to UHSK gatherings. Photographer unknown, UHSK Collection

In the two decades before the Second World War, UHSK developed into an active study association that organised lectures, excursions and parties. It was a small and close-knit association, where women were better represented than in other studies from the get-go. At UHSK, the upper middle class set the tone, whereas the study associations of Law and Medicine were mostly composed of the sons of the elite.

UHSK quickly became a central player among History study associations in the Netherlands and Belgium, which jointly organised annual conferences with leading historians such as the internationally renowned Johan Huizinga, from Groningen, and Pieter Geyl, from Utrecht.

A "lustrum" dinner in 1941. Even in its early years, UHSK was a mixed group, with several women. Photographer unknown, UHSK collection

Labour deployment
The German occupation crippled the student society. The vast majority of students refused to sign the declaration of loyalty to the German occupiers, while a small minority did so. The male students who refused had to go into hiding to escape the Arbeitseinsatz, but many did not succeed. As a result, at the end of the war, most UHSK members were female.

This meant that the once close-knit community had been torn apart, and contacts with other associations had to be re-established. That was very difficult, given that the UHSK archive, with all its correspondence addresses, had been lost during the Battle of Arnhem. It was not unusual for the archive to be kept outside Utrecht, as the association's secretary used to keep it in their home.

Miss UHSK: Marietje van Winter
Marietje van Winter, later Professor Van Winter, has been a familiar face at UHSK since the 1950s. She is a historian specialising in Medieval History. As an “assistant” (PhD candidate), she organised excursions at home and abroad, where “cheese, buttermilk and cucumber” were served for lunch.

Later, as a professor, she taught students to cook medieval cuisine. The book's authors discovered that Van Winter remembers UHSK's history more clearly than members themselves do. As a result, she was appointed an honorary member not once, but twice. She knew this, but found it amusing to experience it again.

The anniversary book will be presented on 14 March to Van Winter, who is only two years younger than the centenarian UHSK itself.

Professor Marietje van Winter at a medieval cooking session. Photographer unknown. Photo: DUB archive

While UHSK was primarily an association in which decorum played an important role in the 1950s and 1960s, this changed radically in the 1970s. UHSK then began to interfere in education, believing that it should serve society better. Its members protested against the war in Vietnam and showed concern for the less fortunate in society.

“No 1,000 guilders for the Navokliek”, 1972. Things get tense in front of the Utrecht University Hall, on Dom Square, during a demonstration against tuition fee increases. Photo: Jac P. Stolp, DUB archive

Women's history
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a movement of women committed to the study of women's history emerged within the association. They conducted research, put together their own course, and published a magazine called DinaMiek. Ultimately, many of those who were active in Women's History would later incorporate the field into their work. Student researcher Zwart, who interviewed active UHSK members of the time, said: "It was very impressive that students were so proactive in setting up new courses. You don't see that very often these days."

Student volunteers at the Women's History Event, 1978. Many volunteers, from Utrecht and elsewhere, contributed to the programme. Photo: Adrianne Derckse's private archive

Balance and Perspective
The authors of the book were surprised by the sheer amount of energy that students put into two academic conferences in the late 1980s. One was titled "Balance and Perspective," while the other was titled "Balance and Perspective of Dutch Cultural History." These two conferences were entirely organised by students, with support from their lecturers.

The students worked on them for a year and a half and received credits for their efforts. According to the authors, such an opportunity is virtually unthinkable for students today. "These days, everyone must be guided through the curriculum quickly and effectively. Students today are also more likely to have jobs alongside their studies," says author Mette Bruinsma.

Pink walk through Utrecht, 2022. This city walk, organised by UHSK, took students past LGBTQIA+ landmarks | Photographer unknown | UHSK website

Party money for the Strike Fund
When asked which period she finds most appealing, author Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk mentions the “left-wing and activist 1970s”, when students threw off their suits and ties and walked around in ripped jeans, much to the horror of Marietje van Winter. "I knew they were socially engaged, but I was surprised that they also started designing and leading their own seminars." 

Steehouder recounts an anecdote that captures the atmosphere of the time. The students organised a successful party that generated considerable profits. They then decided to deposit this money into a strike fund. In the 1970s, students campaigned for more classrooms, which were desperately needed as the number of students was growing rapidly at the time.

Komité Heen en Weer, 1976. Third-year history students stage a playful protest to get the university to reimburse them for travel expenses incurred while visiting archives for a compulsory course | Photographer unknown | DUB archive

The UHSK archives may have suffered another loss during those turbulent 1970s. There are rumours that Marxist UHSK members threw part of the archives into the canal, says the student researcher Zita Zwart. "If that’s true, it’s something historians would consider a mortal sin."

De-ideologisation
The second half of the 1980s and the 1990s were characterised by a significant number of parties. There was a history party every month in the Catacombenkelders on Oudegracht. Students also started travelling abroad more frequently. They produced several magazines, including Aanzet, Quark and the aforementioned DinaMiek. For many students, the experiences they gained while organising activities for UHSK proved to be formative in their lives. Those who put women's history on the map in the 1980s are still incredibly proud of this, as they recount in the book.

The 1980s were also marked by de-ideologisation. UHSK once again became an association for everyone, trying to be politically neutral — something that today's students aim to maintain. From the second half of the 1990s onwards, the decorum of the period just before and after the war also returned: the suits and ties were back in fashion, as Marietje van Winter noted with approval.

Beer cantus, 2013. From the 2010s onwards, UHSK adopted elements of a more corporate association culture, such as the annual beer cantus and a board dressed in suits and ties. Photographer unknown | Facebook UHSK

The board now even has its own official attire: blue trousers for men and women, blue blazers with a sash and badge, and a white shirt. The women wear black low-heeled shoes, and the men wear brown shoes. Zwart: "It has become more of a corporate study association again, not comparable to the Marxist trade union they wanted to be fifty years ago." The logo, introduced in the mid-1990s, features Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek mythology. 

The authors write that the activism of the 1970s has now completely disappeared. Whereas UHSK students at the time encouraged both the department and the faculty to make changes in education, in 2025, the lecturers struggled to get the students to join in a protest against the budget cuts at the Faculty of Humanities.

The UHSK board of the centenary year, 2025-2026 | Photo: Broddi Gautason | UHSK collection

Gems under pressure
With 1,700 members, 20 committees and 800 alumni, UHSK is still a thriving association. The university can learn a lot from its history, according to the authors of the anniversary book. Study associations like this "are gems for the university", says Jorrit Steehouder. "They have an emancipatory effect on students. They can come together and practise for the world after their studies."

Dancing in the UHSK room, 2002. In the early 1990s and 2000s, the UHSK room was located at Kromme Nieuwegracht 66, where smoking was still permitted | Photographer unknown | UHSK collection

Steehouder is concerned about the growing pressure to perform, which limits the scope for active participation in study associations. According to the authors, an equally problematic issue is that study associations are becoming more and more physically separated from lecturers. "The UHSK room is no more. Since 2013, student associations have been in a different building from the lecturers. Increased security in the buildings has further reduced contact between students and lecturers," say the three authors. "The cross-pollination that was so characteristic of this study association is becoming rarer."

Students seek an explanation from Ad van Kooyk, the Faculty of Arts' secretary, in 1991. The students protested that UHSK was not taken into account in the relocation plans of 1990-1991. Photo: Maarten Hartman, DUB archive (The author of this article can be seen in the background, on the left).

Sense of belonging
That's a shame, says author Mette Bruinsma. After all, what these study associations offer above all else is a sense of belonging, not only for students who have just arrived in Utrecht and are finding their way in the city, but also for senior students and lecturers. “Thanks to the existence of study associations, lecturers always know who to turn to when they want to organise something with students.”

Co-author Steehouder, who was himself a UHSK member, adds: "When I was a student, the study association gave me access to the department. We were still in the same building at the time, so it was easy to see what was going on everywhere. That certainly helped me find my way around the university and may even have put me on my current career path."

This has since become more difficult. All Humanities study associations are located at Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 80, a building slated for disposal. "Please reintegrate the study associations into the buildings of the programmes themselves. This promotes interaction between students and lecturers," the authors plead.

The book will be launched on Saturday, 14 March, at the Library on Neude (you can register through the link). 150 people have registered to attend so far, most of them likely former UHSK members. A few spots are still available. If all goes well, the attendants will witness the presentation of the first copy to the emeritus professor Marietje van Winter. At 98, she has been awarded honorary membership twice.

The Utrecht Historical Student Circle (1926-2026). A century united by history. Published by W Books and available in bookstores from 16 March.