To offer a
presentation of the Æquatoria archives, in the form of a survey description
of its holdings and origins.
To allow others to consult the complex catalogue of the Æquatoria archives
in an electronic, browse-through format. The Catalogue component of this site is a web page where they can conveniently walk through the hierarchical
organization of the catalogue, which in hard-copy counts about 160 pages, and where they can locate individual
documents of interest to their own research.
To make it possible for researchers who don't wish to make the trip to Ghent,
to obtain their own copy of individual archive documents.
To share a considerable part of the preparations, on-going analyses, and
research results with like-minded scholars. (Other parts are made public through more customary channels of scientific
publication.) This primarily consists in posting some of the editions and analyses, and to encourage other researchers
to use them or to comment on their quality. This is referred to as the Edition & Analysis component
of the web site.
This
web site aims at making extensively annotated editions as well as systematic interpretive analyses of documents
from the archives of the Centre Æquatoria — in particular those documents that are relevant to the historiographic
study of linguistics and ethnology in colonial times.