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5. Letter from Reinier van der Meulen to C.H. van Schooneveld, Leiden, August 13,1952. [Inv. No. 14] Van Schooneveld was appointed professor of Slavic languages and literatures in Leiden in 1952. He was the successor of Reinier van der Meulen (1882-1972). In this letter Van der Meulen, then residing at Witte Singel 63, gives his successor an overview of his courses: Het aantal eigenlijke “Slavisten” is onder mijn leerlingen om begrijpelijke redenen (geen of weinig vooruitzicht op een betrekking) gering geweest. 5 dames die zich daarvoor opgaven zijn na verloop van tijd getrouwd en naar elders vertrokken. Nu zijn er nog twee dames die het eerste jaar Russisch hebben gevolgd. Het tweede jaar (onder Uw leiding) kunnen zij dit dus voortzetten en met Oudksl. beginnen. [...] Mijn overige leerlingen waren van andere vakken en wilden alleen Russisch leren, een enkele Pools.’ [‘The number of real “Slavists” among my students has been small for under standable reasons (no or little prospect of a job). 5 women who had signed up got mar ried after a while and moved to somewhere else. There are two more women who have had first year Russian. They can now continue in the second year (under your direc tion) and begin Old Church Slavonic. [...] My other students came from other depart ments and just wanted to learn Russian, and a few wanted Polish.’] Then follows an overview of the teaching materials used by him, class schedules, and the names of stu dents and auditors. The collection includes three more letters from Van der Meulen to Van Schooneveld, the last one dated January 14,1959 and written from Emmen from a ‘centrum voor bejaarden in dit ultima Thule’ [‘center for the elderly in this ultima Thule’] where he and his wife moved after having lived ‘bijna 47 jaar’ [‘almost 47 years’] in Leiden. The collection offers much relevant material for a historiography of Slavistics in the Netherlands, including correspondence with many other colleagues, among whom are Bruno Borisovic Becker (1885-1968) and Karel van het Reve (1921-1999).