This digital collection includes a wealth of exceptional documents from the 19th and 20th century literary archives of the Deventer Municipal Archives and Athenaeum Library (SAB), numbering a total of some 37,000 pages. It consists of the correspondence, manuscripts and other records of six prominent Deventer authors.

The gifted young Professor P.O.C. Vorsselman de Heer (1809-1841) maintained correspondence with scholars and men and women of letters throughout Europe.

Professor Johannes van Vloten (1818-1883) was a prolific writer and a notoriously quarrelsome man. He maintained contact (either friendly or not-so-friendly) with all noted 19th century literators and scholars, including Conrad Busken Huet, Nicolaas Beets, Multatuli, the well known lexicographer J.H. van Dale, J. Kneppelhout (Klikspaan), E.J. Potgieter, A. Winkler Prins and many others.

L.A.J. Burgersdijk (1828-1900) was a teacher and the principal of the Deventer high school, but he is primarily remembered as the highly gifted translator of the works of Shakespeare. His translations were used in theatrical performances until far into the twentieth century.

The librarian of the Athenaeum Library, the Rev. J.C. van Slee (1841-1929) compiled major catalogues, though he is remembered most of all for his scholarly work on regional and church history.

J.A. Rispens (1889-1962) was a Protestant poet and an outstanding literary critic. He maintained correspondence with Adriaan Roland Holst, Willem de Mérode and many others.

Herman Korteling (1898-1994), a Deventer man in heart and soul, published novels and short stories in Dutch and in the Deventer dialect. He played a key role in the revival of the regional dialect in the 1950s.