History, Memory, and Archives of Disaster
Alicia Schrikker, Director of Research at the Leiden University Institute for History shed light on the importance of preserving archives of natural disasters. Her lecture titled History, Memory, and Archives of Disaster looked at the 1883 Krakatoa eruption through archival records of the colonial government at the time, newspaper articles, illustrations and later photographs about the birth of Anak Krakatoa.
The archives help us reconstruct what happened during the disaster and the aftermath, not just victims, but also the loss of natural habitat and the fundraising efforts held in Europe. Although there are abundant historical records available, there is little information to be found about the Indonesians victims in the formal written records. Two valuable sources are one poem written in Arabic-Malay telling the story about victims in Lampung and a book by Sartono Kartodihardjo which tells a story of the long aftermath of the disaster in Banten.
Alicia Schrikker’s research show that there is a need to document natural disasters not just from official sites, but also from people who are victims of the disasters and approach it from a multidisciplinary view. Records on the history of disasters will be important sources of knowledge for policy-making and for understanding modern environmental history, intercultural communication, and risk perception for the global communities.
The lecture was delivered on Tuesday, 6 January 2026 at the office of the National Archives of Indonesia (ANRI) and online for its staff across the country. The event was opened by ANRI Director Dr. Mego Pinandito.
ANRI has once more submitted disaster archives for UNESCO's Memory of the World. The Krakatoa eruption of 1883 is depicted in these archives. According to Mego, these archives are among the first and most thorough records of a transnational natural disaster, making them of great worldwide relevance. Additionally, these are a valuable resource for the worldwide community's comprehension of contemporary environmental history, intercultural communication, and risk perception.