In 2010, The Corts Foundation, in partnership with the National Archives of Indonesia (ANRI), launched the DASA Project, the country’s first major heritage digitization initiative. Over 1.1 million pages of 17th and 18th-century Dutch East India Company (VOC) archives were digitized, unlocking invaluable historical knowledge. To support this groundbreaking effort, PT Aliz Dinamika (PTAD) was established in 2013. Since then, we’ve been at the forefront of heritage imaging and digital access in Indonesia.

In the Moluccas (Maluku) we collected more than 400 volumes of baptism, marriage and confession registers from local churches on dozens of islands. The oldest records date back from the times of missionary Joseph Kam (in Ambon 1815-1833). We transported a i2S CopiBook A2 in special flight casings to the island of Saparua where we made a scanning studio. Most volumes were in a very fragile condition and could only be touched once. A total of more than 60.000 pages give acces to thousands of family names. So far the biggest genealogical source in Indonesia!

Old research data (theses), archives, inactive and forgotten book collections, photo albums, analogue card catalogues... every university has old analogue collections. When digitized, suddenly there is a wealth of research data available. We have created a Digital Documentation Centre for the History of Protestantism for the Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana (UKDW) in Yogyakarta including several synodal church archives from churches in Magelang, Salatiga and Malang. Every year the collection is growing with thousands of new images for research. A university is always famous for its collections!

For the start of a paper restoration studio our staff received training at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague and Hoogduin Paper Restorators in Delft. Inspired by our European suppliers, we started the production of quality A boxes and special ropes for the packing of archives. For the import of Japanese paper (in various colours and thickness) we have the necessary import licenses. Our first project concerned the heavily damaged 19th-century archives of the All Saints Anglican Church in Jakarta, founded by the missionary Walter Henry Medhurst (in Batavia: 1822-1842). More than 2.000 pages were carefully cleansed with alcohol, flattened with a small ironer and restorated with Japanese paper.

In cooperation with the Foundation Library Development Indonesia (LDI) in the Netherlands, we started digitizing large collections of (mostly inactive) theology book collections in theology seminaries in Abepura, Ambon, Banjarmasin and Jakarta. The aim is to give thousands of local church ministers and theology students access to thousands of books. After one year the general catalogue is online and at the end of 2025 there will be 650.000 digital pages online. With Optical Character Recognition software, automatic translation tools and AI, a variaty of interesting books in German, English, Dutch and Latin will become more relevant and give a boost to Protestant tradition and thought.