Friends of the Kong Koan Archives

Friends of the Kong Koan Archives is a foundation which aims to enable and support:

  • the restoration,
  • conservation and
  • exploration
of the archives of the former Chinese Council (Kong Koan) of Batavia/Jakarta (Indonesia).

These archives provide a cultural heritage and a wealth of historic material which the foundation wishes to render accessible to all who are interested in Southeast Asia and the Overseas Chinese.

From the Marriage Register
From the Marriage Register
(Click to enlarge - 56 KB)

The Kong Koan archives contain material concerning various aspects of daily life of the Chinese in Batavia/Jakarta in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. There are records and registers of:

  • meetings of the Chinese Council
  • marriages and divorces
  • deaths, last wills and burials
  • matters of immigration, litigation, financial affairs, etc.
The more than 200 volumes contain papers in Chinese as well as in Malay and Dutch, covering the period from 1780 through the 1960's.

These archives are still a 'closed book'. Help us to open it, for it can tell us much about the past and about the life and times of the Nanyang Chinese communities.