Chronicle of the Governors’ Association

an Investigation into the Resilience and Longevity of the Co-operative Structure of the Communal Sickness Fund ‘To Our Avail’

Abstract

The project, Chronicle of the Governors’ Association is a combined history and anthropological field research project investigating the sustainability of a so-called ‘Institution for Collective Action’ in The Netherlands. The co-operative association, known as the ‘Governor’s’ Association’ or ‘To Our Avail’, acts as a sickness fund for male entrepreneurs, and is an expression of such an institution. Research into the functionality of this particular association was undertaken by the author during the years 2015–2016, with support from the University of Utrecht. By examining the history, background and workings of this 110-year-old co-operative sickness fund through collating data from many different sources, he identified the qualities that have ensured the long-term existence of this type of commons. The resulting archived data collection underpins the findings of this research.