10 April 2026
Anita Kartika Pasaribu
FIB USU PR - On Friday, April 10, 2026, the Undergraduate Program in History, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara (FIB USU), organized a guest lecture titled “Reactivation of Indonesian Archives in the Netherlands.” The lecture was conducted via the Zoom Meeting platform and featured an archivist from the International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Dr. Rika Theo.
The guest lecture was moderated by a lecturer from the History Department of USU, Junaidi, M.A., who also teaches the Source Language course. The session was officially opened by the Chair of the Academic Senate of Universitas Sumatera Utara, Prof. Dr. Budi Agustono, M.S. In his remarks, he stated that the speaker is one of the Indonesian archivists who has dedicated herself in the Netherlands to preserving and exploring Indonesian archives that have not been widely studied, particularly those related to political violence and legal violations.
Junaidi explained that the topic, Reactivation of Indonesian Archives in the Netherlands, is highly important and relevant, especially in understanding the study of Dutch as a source language and archival studies. With Dr. Rika Theo’s expertise, the lecture provided in-depth insights for students of the History Program. In addition to archival studies, Dr. Rika Theo’s areas of expertise include information studies, digital curation, international mobility and development, journalism, media analysis, and storytelling. She has extensive experience in research, and her works have been published in newspapers, journals, and books.
In her presentation, Dr. Rika Theo provided information about archival institutions in the Netherlands and the locations where Indonesian archives are preserved. She also explained how to access these archives, both directly and through online searches for those that have been digitized. She encouraged students to be more aware of archives, emphasizing that a vast amount of information about Indonesia remains buried and undiscovered. She described this activity as “bringing voices from silent archives to life.” Dr. Rika Theo also expressed her openness to assisting USU History students who wish to conduct archival research in the Netherlands in the future.
This guest lecture provided significant benefits for History students, particularly in understanding archives and their management, so that information long “silent” and forgotten in old documents can be rediscovered and shared more widely. Students are expected to become more aware of utilizing archival sources, enabling deeper historical research and broader understanding.
In the future, it is hoped that academic collaboration can be established, allowing History students conducting archival research to benefit from Dr. Rika Theo’s knowledge and access to Indonesian archives in the Netherlands.
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