Dutch Genealogy News for September 2017

Here is an overview of the new sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month.

Online Dutch records

30,000 scans of records about the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and Dutch East India Company (VOC) from the archives of the States General have been added to the gahetNA website of the National Archives. View the scans in the finding aid of the States General.
These records are especially valuable since many of the early WIC records were sold for scrap paper, so the records in the States General records are sometimes the only surviving copies. The records include Adriaen van der Donck’s Beschrijvinge van Nieuw Nederlant [Description of New Netherland] from 1655, that was an important source for Russell Shorto’s famous book Island at the Center of the World.
Population registers of Het Bildt, Gaasterland, Harlingen, Hennaarderadeel, Menaldumadeel, and Tietjerksteradeel have been added to AlleFriezen.
Population registers of Abbekerk, Avenhorn, Berkhout, Blokker, Bovenkarspel, Enkhuizen, Grootebroek, Hensbroek, Hoogkarspel, Hoogwoud, Opperdoes, Oudendijk, Spambroek, Twisk, Venhuizen, Westwoud, and Wognum were added to the West Archief website.
Registers of participants of the Vierdaagse van Nijmegen [annual four-day march] from 1921 to 1939 were added to the Nijmegen City Archives website. Select “Personen” and search in “Inschrijvingsregisters Vierdaagse.”

Arrival at the finish of the Nijmegen March, 1966. Credits: Harry Pot, collection Nationaal Archief (public domain)

The Royal Library and Google announced a new collaborative digitization project to digitized Dutch 80,000 books published before 1900 from different libraries in the Netherlands. Combined with the results of the prior projects, this will make 500,000 Dutch books available via Delpher and Google Books. [Source: KB Website]
Several Dutch genealogical societies have collaborated to create a list of a wishlist for records that they would like to have prioritized in digitization projects. The list was presented to the archives that keep the records. [Source: NGV website]
The Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden [National Museum for the Antiquities] is looking for volunteers to index the collection of letters belonging to the museum from 1818 to 1923.
The Regoinal Archives of Tilburg report that their volunteer project to index the scans of notarial records is making great progress. 2500 scans have already been indexed by 115 volunteers. The records of Hilvarenbeek and Moergestel have already been completed. The records of Terheijden, Raamsdonk, and Hooge en Lage Zwaluwe are currently being scanned and will then be indexed too. The first results will be published later this year. [Source: Regionaal Archief Tilburg website]

Public notary in his office. Credits: Job Berckheyde, collection RKD.

The Royal Library in The Hague acquired a medieval manuscript showing the coats of arms of the Nassau ancestors of the Dutch royal family. The book was presented during a conference in September. It was probably made in the 1480s and belonged to the circle of Count Engelbrecht II van Nassau (1451-1504). The book has been digitized and is available online. Go the the (Dutch) explanation page and then click on “Bekijk dit digitale topstuk” to browse the manuscript.

Coat of Arms in the Nassau manuscript. Credits: Royal Library of the Netherlands (public domain)