The 'Philippus Corts Stichting', working abroad as 'The Corts Foundation', aims to contribute to the preservation of the Dutch past in Eastern and South-East Asia. To accomplish this goal, the foundation works on two projects at the moment: “sustainable digital preservation of VOC-archives in Jakarta” and “translation of Japanese sources about the war in the former Dutch East Indies”.

The unique preservation project on VOC archives concerns the early modern history of Indonesia. The period that the “Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie” was active in the region. In these unique archives, part of the “Unesco Memory of the World Register”, and estimated in total to about ten million pages, we find a treasure of information about the people, the land and culture, but also the maritime trade and shipping in South-East Asia. The ambition of the Foundation is to digitize and publish as much as possible parts of these VOC archives that are selected by historians, within our financial and technical abilities. We have been in successful with this since 2009.

A number of archival series have been scanned and published online, like the Daily Journals of Batavia, Diplomatic Letters, Letters from local rulers, Resolutions of Batavia. In this way we contribute to the long term digital preservation and dissemination of world heritage archives and promotion of research of the history of Indonesia and the VOC. A second project concerns the translation to English of the official Japanese records of the war in East- and South-east Asia, and in the Pacific. 

The Foundation is a non-profit organization for the general benefit. The Foundation worked from 2003 until 2021 to secure the legacy of Kees Corts and to realize his initiatives regarding scientific research of the second world war and preservation of the VOC archives in Jakarta.

The Foundation is registered in the Netherlands as so called “Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling (ANBI)” according to article 633 of the Dutch fiscal tax legislation van de Nederlandse belastingwetgeving van 2001. In Japan The Corts Foundation works according to the national legislation that applies to a 'Non Profit Organisatie' (N.P.O). In Indonesia The Corts Foundation was recognized as a 'Non-Governmental Organization' (NGO).

As the foundation formally is in liquidation and adapted goals and capital have been transferred to the Philippus Corts Fund, part of the Learned Society KITLV, the secretary (J.C. Snellen van Vollenhoven, Mozartweg 3 1323 AV Almere,The Netherlands, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) has been charged for all remaining legal obligations and duties in the required next seven years.