She contributed to the cause of women and had a great influence on the development of children's literature in the 20th century.

Her parents, David Porrey (1818-1864), a state tax official, and Sophia Frederika Juliana Wilhelmina Neirinckx (1828-1909) were devout members of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Despite financial difficulties, she attended a boarding school (1866-1869) where she studied to become a teacher, not by vocation, but to meet her needs and those of her family (her mother, grandmother, brother, and her half-sister).

[3] She worked for several years as a teacher (1871-1876), notably in Baarn and then at the Hernhütters boarding school for girls in Barby, Germany.

[4] She did not like her life in the Dutch East Indies, as she regularly noted in her diary: "With my thirst for higher knowledge, I have to teach the alphabet to children.

Van Kol published articles in the Dutch magazine Evolutie and took a stand on issues such as sex education, the monarchy, feminism, and socialism.

[1] In 1893, with the Ghent socialist Emilie Claeys, van Kol found the Hollandsch-Vlaamsche Vrouwenbond (Union of Dutch and Flemish women).

[2] As a result, the paper took on a predominantly Dutch connotation, which displeased the editors of Evolutie, especially Wilhelmina Drucker, who feared this competition.

In 1900, Nellie van Kol resigned as editor-in-chief of De Vrouw to devote more time to children's literature.

Van Kol founded the magazine Ons Blaadje, with the aim of offering good literature at affordable prices to working-class children.

In 1897, Henri van Kol was elected a member of parliament for the Democratic Workers' Party in the Netherlands.

Nellie van Kol became interested in religious socialism, the Rein Leven Beweging [nl], theosophy, and spiritualism.

[1] From 1901 onwards, van Kol turned to Christianity, joining The Salvation Army in 1908 and publishing regular articles in their magazine De Strijdkreet.

[1] Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis called van Kol a "lost sheep", but continued to see her as an ideal woman working for the good of the people.

[2] The Nellie van Kol Archive is kept at Atria Institute on gender equality and women's history[6] in Amsterdam.