LinkedIn in the year 1770: the Utrecht friends book of Simon Brand van Someren
In your student days you build a network with your fellow students. That was no different in the 18th century. The friends book of Simon Brand van Someren gives us a glimpse into the network of a student of Theology with poetic aspirations.
In January 2026 the Utrecht University Library obtained a beautiful friends book: the album amicorum of Simon Brand van Someren, who graduated in Utrecht in 1774. In his album 38 persons, mostly fellow students, wrote a message of friendship. Often it was a text, poem or quotation in Dutch or Latin, sometimes a quotation in Greek or Hebrew.
The friends book of Simon Brand van Someren shows us who belonged to his social network when he was a student. They were mostly other future clergymen who studied Theology in Utrecht, some of them were also members of the Utrecht poets society Dulces ante omnia Musae. But we also find students of Arts, Law and Philosophy, and in 1794 the German army captain Wolhelm von Dörnberg added a message. This adventurer would later make a name for himself as insurrectionist against Napoleon.
The friends book has been digitised and can be consulted via WorldCat. A description and the table of contents can be found in the Repertorium Bijzondere Collecties, Collectie Alba amicorum. (in Dutch only).