19

VAN SCHOONEVELD’S ADMINISTRATION AND MOUTON

This proposal did not appeal to De Ridder. 38 Mouton’s international character is also evident from J.H. Docter’s letter of September 25,1969 to Van Schooneveld. He writes that there are some times problems with the mail handling in The Hague because of employ ees’ interest in stamps. [..] de inkomende Mouton-post is uit het oogpunt van filatelie interessant. De gewoonte was gegroeid om bij het selecteren van de brieven postzegels er af te halen. Dit leidde ook bij ter attentie van personen, al of niet in Mouton-verband, gerichte brieven van tijd tot tijd tot het bij vergissing geheel of gedeeltelijk ope nen of aantasten van een envelop. Strenge instructies zijn gegeven die hieraan een einde moeten maken, die wellicht de filatelisten niet geheel bevredigen [...]. 39 [..] Mouton’s incoming mail is of great philatelic interest. Employees had gotten in the habit of taking stamps off while sorting the mail. It came to some people’s attention, whether in connection with Mouton or not, that from time to time let ters were accidentally completely or partly opened, or the envelope disturbed. Strict instructions have been issued to end this practice, probably not to the com plete satisfaction of the philatelists [...].

The Mouton activities in the meantime had led to the streamlining of Van Schooneveld’s own administration. From the mid sixties on Van Schooneveld had at his disposal a strictly systematized editor’s archive. The practical real ization of this system was in the hands of the secretaries who worked for him. After he had bought the farmhouse in 1970 in Vozérier-Amancy, a secretary would accompany him to France when he spent the summer there. A dupli cate of the Bloomington archive was started in France. An undated stencil (from after 1970) offers a look behind the scenes of Van Schooneveld’s office. The stencil was created by the above-named Daniel Armstrong and was prob ably intended as a guide for job interviews. The stencil will be cited exten sively, since the instructions given there were to have strong repercussions on the structure of the files as they were received ultimately in Leiden: GENERAL INFORMATION The position for which you are being considered is as Professor van Schooneveld’s private secretary for his work as editor for Mouton and Company in The Hague, and for his various other editorial and scholarly activities. You would be paid by the University as a regular member of its staff, and you would receive all basic office supplies from them.