Our History

The Expatriate Archive Centre (EAC) grew from an idea suggested by a group of Shell wives living in the Netherlands in 1992, when the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company was preparing to commemorate its centenary. They wanted to recognise the contributions and worth of expatriate families. Certain issues of a lifetime on the move were common to many expatriates, such as leaving friends and family, schooling, medical care, learning new languages, adjusting to new cultures, dual careers and much more: a rich mosaic of life centred around an increasingly connected global community.

By 2001 the original contributions had been carefully filed, but remained in limbo. The writings were not Shell company property, nor was it possible to return to the authors, many of whom had moved on. Judy Moody-Stuart was introduced by Glenda Lewin to an American professor of social history named Dewey White. Dewey recognised their unique value as source material. It was this valuable collection of original writings which was the inspiration for these three women to create the Outpost Family Archive Centre in 2003, originally as part of the Shell support organisation Outpost in The Hague.

When the foundation Outpost went through structural changes and morphed into Shell’s Global Outpost Services, it became clear that the archive should become separate. The original foundation was revised, reduced and renamed to deal solely with the preservation and expansion of the growing collection of expatriate writings.

The collection was still without a permanent home. Judy Moody-Stuart and her husband donated premises in the historic Archipel district of The Hague in March 2007. Shell also provided a generous endowment to the foundation. The Expatriate Archive Centre, now independent from Shell, was formally launched by the Mayor of The Hague in April 2008.

In 2008, a new book was published: The Source Book, An Expatriate Social History, 1927-2007, Shell Lives Unshelved. Containing material from over 250 contributors, this anthology was intended as a way to share excerpts from the growing collection of the EAC.

Since 2008, the EAC has gone from strength to strength. The collection has broadened and diversified to include a wide range of writings, diaries, letters, memoirs, photographs, videos, blogs, and oral history recordings about the lives of people living and working abroad. The EAC aims to become a hub for the research of expatriation within migration history.