Here are new websites and sources that were announced last month. Sources The Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum added several indexed and scanned notarial records from the east of Noord-Brabant from 1900-1925 to their website. See their announcement for a full list of places and dates. The New York State Archives created a new research guide with links to scans, translations, and published translations of their New Netherland records. The Regionaal Archief Tilburg scanned … [Read more...]
About this website
Creating a website like this is a fun activity. There are so many options, so many choices. What do visitors want? What do I want? In this blog I will describe some of the things I encounter in developing and maintaining this website.
Archives to close again
4 November 2020 by Leave a Comment
Due to new COVID-19 measures, all archives, libraries, and museums in the Netherlands will be closed for a minimum of two weeks from 5 until 19 November 2020. After that, some will reopen by appointment while others will remain closed for the time being. The websites of the archives should remain functional. Check the website of the archives to see what if any other services, like scanning-on-demand, they still provide. … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Spanish Flu in the Netherlands
28 October 2020 by Leave a Comment
The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 hit the Netherlands hard. Researchers have now used the information from civil registration records to analyze the data, including providing maps that show which areas were most affected. Unlike what you might think, rural and less densely populated areas were hit harder than the big cities. Read the analysis of the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic … [Read more...]
Top 10 Websites for Research in the Former Dutch East Indies
23 October 2020 by 1 Comment
Here are my favorite resources for research in the former Dutch East Indies, what is now Indonesia: Nationaal Archief The website of the National Archives of the Netherlands. Items of interest include: VOC: Dutch East India Company finding aid and images KNIL: Muster rolls of soldiers in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army. Finding aid and images. Dutch Sources on South East Asia. Research guide. Afscheid van Indie [goodbye to the Indies] searchable scans of records relating to … [Read more...]
Volunteers wanted! Indexing Dutch East India Company Records
14 October 2020 by Leave a Comment
The records of the Dutch East India Company (1602-1795) are kept at the National Archives in The Hague. The archives span 1.25 km / 0.78 miles. Many of these records are scanned and available from the finding aid. Description of the project To make the records easily findable the National Archives is participating in an ambitious project called IJsberg [iceberg]. The project uses a range of state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technologies. I am involved in the project in a minor role, … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Archives Damage Atlas
7 October 2020 by Leave a Comment
The Metamorfoze program, a Dutch program to preserve and digitize archives and publications, published a damage atlas of archives (PDF). The atlas was published ten years ago but the contents are still relevant today. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for September 2020
2 October 2020 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of the new online sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month. Sources Scans and images of notarial records from The Hague (1861-1935) have been added to the The Hague City Archives website. The Regionaal Archief Tilburg added an index of "borgbrieven" [letters of indemnity] from various municipalities in and around Tilburg to their search engine. Learn more about borgbrieven here. The Regionaal Historisch Centrum Eindhoven has published scans … [Read more...]
Wanted! First families of Pier 21
29 September 2020 by Leave a Comment
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is looking for family members of the 54 passengers who first arrived at the pier, on 28 February 1928. The first ship to arrive was the S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam, which had departed from Rotterdam carrying passengers from the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany, Romania, Russia, Yugoslavia, Finland, and Greece, who were destined for various places in Canada. The museum is now collecting stories of the families that first arrived. See the blog post of … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Image bank at Archieven.nl
23 September 2020 by 1 Comment
The website Archieven.nl presents archival descriptions, genealogical indexes, and image collections of several archives in the Netherlands. I love searching the image collections for places where my ancestors lived. I have found maps there, old photos of the streets where my ancestors lived, even the occasional school photo though unfortunately none where I recognized an ancestor. Some archives even uploaded objects like prayer cards or business letter heads. Try searching for the … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Herfst
21 September 2020 by Leave a Comment
Herfst is the Dutch term for autumn. Autumn was the time to bring in the remaining harvests, slaughter the animals, and prepare for the upcoming winter. Many fairs were held in the autumn to sell surplus crops and proceeds. … [Read more...]
