As chairman of the Advisory Council of our Foundation, I am naturally proud and prejudiced about the value and importance of our Mongui Maduro Library. I am proud not only that we are today celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of our Foundation, but I am especially proud that the foundation has been firmly laid for many, many more decades of this unique institution.

If today we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Foundation, it is this year also 40 years since Daphne Labega-Schendel, then director of our Public Library, convinced the late Shon Mongui that his private collection and archives constituted a priceless collection for historians and for the population of Curaçao.

And we recall today also that this year it is 35 years since the late Shon Lou agreed to have Shon Mongui’s collection move from their house at Scharlooweg and to give it a permanent home in the beautiful surroundings of Landhuis Rooi Catootje.

Thirty years after it was first opened to the general public, the Mongui Maduro Library has become an invaluable source of information for untold numbers of historians and students. I have already told you that I am prejudiced, so let me read to you instead what four users of our Library have said about the Mongui Maduro Library in testimonials that you will be able to read yourselves in their complete texts in the book that Ena will be talking about in a few minutes.
 
First, Liza de Laat, a student.
“Het doen van sociaal historisch onderzoek is vaak alleen maar mogelijk met de hulp van anderen die je kunnen helpen om aan de juiste gegevens te komen. Dit geldt des te meer op Curaçao, omdat hier in tegenstelling tot bijvoorbeeld Nederland, (nog) weinig institutionele voorzieningen zijn. De Maduro-bibliotheek is een belangrijke hulp voor studenten en onderzoekers die historische studies willen doen en daarom mag het gevierd worden dat het nu dertig jaar geleden is dat deze bijzondere collectie open is gesteld voor iedereen die nieuwsgierig is naar de geschiedenis van Curaçao.”

Aart Broek is known to you all and he writes:
“For any researcher the most rewarding experience is to hit on information that is so unexpected and unique that it will change the course of your research. Shon Mongui’s Library continued to dazzle with surprising finds and consequently to correct the course and results of my research. It should not come as a surprise that I cherish scores of pleasant memories of lengthy stays in Shon Mongui’s Library.”

Jennifer Smit, our 2003 winner of the Cola Debrot prize, says:
“Een ongelooflijk rijke bron en vindplaats voor de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Antillen in al haar facetten, die haar weerga niet kent. Een absolute must voor iedere onderzoeker die zich verdiept in het verleden en het heden.” [Jenny gebruikt het Duitse woord Fundgrube  om deze rijke bron aan gegevens te typeren en ik laat het aan U om haar straks te vragen het woord Fundgrube  aan U uit te leggen.]