Special collections

Our collection boasts unique heritage pieces and exceptional sources. Discover some hidden treasures and the fascinating stories behind them – all available digitally in our catalog.

Amsab-ISG has built up considerable expertise in digitizing newspapers and archives over the past few years. This section also provides insights into a selection of these sources, which are full-text searchable wherever possible.

1896-1904

De Vlasbewerker (The Flax Worker) was the magazine of the Socialist Association of Flax Workers of Ghent. It was first published in 1896 by Karel Hannick and Karel Beerblock.

The Flax Processor 01(1896)008
The Flax Processor 01(1896)008

The Socialist Association of Linen Workers of Ghent was founded in 1875. Weavers and cotton workers also had their own unions. In 1898, these three merged to form the National Textile Workers' Union, but this merger was initially purely formal. Only later did they converge and actually merge into a single union.

De Vlasbewerker was the communications organ of the Ghent flax union. The magazine's purpose was to expose the abuses in the sector and to educate workers and raise their awareness of their situation. The first issue appeared in 1896, and despite the merger of the three Ghent textile unions, the magazine remained independent until 1905. Only then was it incorporated into De Textielarbeider , the journal of the Belgian Textile Federation.

The "Vlasbewerker" (The Flax Worker) was digitized with the support of the Jules Deconinck Fund and the ABVV Textiles, Clothing and Diamonds Association. The files were made full-text searchable using OCR.

Go to the collection The Flax Worker (1896-1904)