This special issue on the Netherlands Indies has been prepared with the collaboration of the Southeast Asia Institute (formerly East Indies Institute of America), 15 West 77th Street, New York City, which enlisted the cooperation of its membership to write all the articles on the Netherlands Indies, as indicated in the introduction to the issue.

Attention is drawn to the Institute's recent change of name, which was made by a majority decision of the membership and which makes it clear that the Institute's area of research and study comprises the East Indies, the Philippines, Malaya, Burma, Siam and Indo-China.