I am a member of the Association of the Kern Institute in Leiden because of my interest in the Indian – Dutch history. In 1989 I have documented in slides what is left of Indian-Dutch monuments from the Dutch East Indian Company VOC on the coasts of India, see my site  

The Association possesses a collection of objects, and takes care of its management and restoration. Among these objects, most noteworthy are the “Gandhara album”, which contains a number of albumin prints dating from before 1885, some 80.000 pictures as well as a number of palmleaf manuscripts. It is freely accessible online.

The Kern Institute is the national centre of expertise for South Asia and the Himalayan region, more specifically India and Pakistan, Tibet and Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The institute houses the Department of Indian & Tibetan Studies of Leiden University, as well as an excellent library that offers excellent resources for a broad range of approaches to the study of India and surrounding countries.