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Books and their association: The history of the Hector Hodler Library
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- Source: Language Problems and Language Planning, Volume 28, Issue 1, Jan 2004, p. 45 - 72
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Abstract
The beginnings of today’s Hector Hodler Library in Rotterdam go back to the year 1903, when the newly-founded Swiss Esperanto Society started receiving books because of its journal. Officially founded in December 1908, it was sold as early as 1912 to Hector Hodler, director of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA) in Geneva. After Hodler’s untimely death in 1920, UEA became the owner of the collection. For the duration of a dispute about the headquarters of the Association, the UEA Library was successfully stored at the Palais Wilson, in Geneva, where it survived World War II. For personal reasons, the longtime functionary of UEA Hans Jakob held off on transferring the library to Rotterdam, where the Association established its headquarters in 1955. It was not until the period 1960–67 that the bulk of the books arrived. During that time many items of various kinds and various sources had been added. Now the Hector Hodler Library — its exact name as of 1980–serves as a working library for the Association and for many researchers interested in interlinguistics.