Mockett, Ermina

Ermina Christina Helena Mokett ( fr. Hermine Christine Hélène Moquette ; April 25, 1869 , - December 17, 1945 , Bilthoven, now part of the De Bilt community) is a Dutch historian and archivist.

Born in the family of a priest, great-grandfather Mokett, a French Protestant, moved to the Netherlands from France in 1758. She grew up in the Midden-Drenthe community, graduated from the gymnasium in Sneek and the University of Groningen (1895), defending a doctoral dissertation in 1898 under the leadership of W. L. van Helten on the influence of Samuel Richardson on Dutch writers Agier Decken and Betier Wolf ; Mokett became the third graduate and second female doctor in the history of the university, and her dissertation included, among other things, that female authors are able to write on the same level as men.

After moving to Rotterdam , Mokett began teaching at the girls' school, at the same time in 1899, starting unpaid volunteer work in the Rotterdam City Archive, a year later she took a paid position as an assistant archivist. Here she was involved in the inventory of funds that had been deposited in the archives for centuries, in particular, the foundation of the Rotterdam almshouse, the House of the Holy Spirit ( Dutch Heilige Geesthuis ) and the regional Orphan's Chamber. In 1901, Mokett became the first woman admitted to the Netherlands Society of Archivists. In the 1910-1920s. Mokett wrote about 250 biographical articles about the famous inhabitants of Rotterdam for the first seven volumes of the New Dutch Biographical Dictionary ( Dutch. Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek ); in 1910 published the first survey study on the names of Rotterdam streets ( Dutch: Rotterdamsche straatnamen geschiedkundig verklaard ). For the exhibition “Woman. 1813-1913 "( Dutch. De vrouw, 1813-1913 ), dedicated to the centenary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (after liberation from French occupation), Mokett prepared a study on patents granted to women in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1917, she printed a catalog of the portrait collection of the Rotterdam Archive. Mokett was engaged in archival work until 1929, but she did not receive the post of archivist.

In addition to studies and articles related to archives, Mokett published a two-volume work, “Woman” (1915), which examined the role and place of women in the Netherlands in 800–1800. The first volume was devoted to the family and private lives of women, the second to their contribution to science, culture, art, state building, etc. Despite the fact that critical reviews of this book were mostly negative, G. Kalf noted that Mockett’s research has become pioneering.

After retiring, Mockett lived with her brother in The Hague , then with her other brother in Utrecht . The adversities of World War II led to the death of both Mokett brothers during the famine of 1944 , and she herself survived them briefly.

In memory of Mokett in 1992, a street in Rotterdam ( Dutch Hermine Moquettestraat ) was named .