The Huygens Institute for Dutch History was formed on January 1 2011 as a merger of the Institute of Dutch History a research institute

Research institute

A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research...

 of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and the Huygens Instituut of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organisation dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands...

 (founded in 1808).
The institute is located in Hague, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, in the building of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands. The History part of the institute was established in 1902 as "Commissie van Advies voor de 's Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatien" (Advisory Commission for Publications in the History of the Empire) under the directorship of the historian Herman Theodoor Colenbrander

Herman Theodoor Colenbrander

Herman Theodoor Colenbrander ) was a Dutch historian, the first director of the Commissie van Advies voor 's Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, which has become the Institute of Dutch History....

.