Dutch archives on flickr and YouTube

Several Dutch archives are now present on the photo site flickr or the film site YouTube. I made a (probably incomplete) list.

Archives on flickr:

• Dutch National Archive
• Tresoar (provincial archive of Friesland)
• BHIC (provincial archive of Noord-Brabant)
• Schiedam city archive
• Tilburg regional archive

Dutch archives with a channel on YouTube:

• Dutch National Archive
• Tresoar
• BHIC
• Wageningen city archive
• Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden, the Leeuwarden city archive
• Tilburg regional archive

Let me know if I missed an archive.

Image credit: Zeppelin bridge, St. Michielsgestel, 6 November 1934. BHIC on flickr, from the set Vught in beeld (Images of Vught).

Reader's question: From Holland to Australia in the 1960s

Scott asked me:

Could you suggest other on-line sources that can aid me in searching for my Partners grandparents whom migrated to Australia in the 1960's, as Genlias doesn't have them listed I just need their parents and I could go from there.

Marriage acts become public after 75 years, so you won't find any marriage acts from after 1934 on Genlias (or elsewhere on the internet). I expect your partner's grandparents married later than that? Most post-war archives are not accessible (and not published on the internet) due to privacy regulations. The usual way to reconstruct a family tree over this period is from memory or with family papers from the family's archive.

There are a few things you can try:

• Do you know when and where they married? You should be able to order a copy of their marriage act from the town hall in the municipality they married (for a fee). If you know the town, you can find the municipality on the regional genealogy section of this website. You may have to prove you are related and that your grandparents passed away - contact the town hall for details. If you know when and where they were born you may also try to obtain a copy of their birth act in the same way. Both the birth and the marriage act will list the parents.
• If your partner's grandparents migrated back to The Netherlands and died here, you should order their persoonskaarten from the Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG).
• Search the collections of the CBG, in particular their collection of birth, marriage and death announcements (partly available online).
• A final tip: Don't forget to ask relatives. Someone is bound to have some document that provides a clue. Does your partner (or their family) still know relatives here in Holland? If so, write (or call) them!

If you have any further question, contact me or leave a comment below.

Related articles:

• What should you do if your ancestors are not in Genlias?, in the January edition of the Trace your Dutch roots newsletter.
• Destination Australia
• Post-war emigration
• Persoonskaarten
• Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie (a review of their online resources)

Photo: Farewell of emigrants to Australia, 1953. Spaarnestad Photo/SFA001009985, on flickr The Commons.

Do you also have a question about Dutch genealogy that you want me to discuss? Leave your question in the comments below this post, or use the contact form.

Archive news roundup: February-March 2009

News from the Dutch archives

• Genlias added new birth acts from Gelderland and Limburg, marriage acts from Limburg, and death acts from Gelderland, Utrecht and Limburg.
• The Dutch National Archive created an exhibition to commemorate Hudson's voyage, exactly 400 years ago. The exhibition is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and will move to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York in September. See my earlier blog post.
• Several archives from Friesland participate in the new website Alle Friezen (All Frysians). The website aims to bring scans of BMD acts of the Frysian civil register online.
• The Brabant archives revamped their online database. There is no English interface, though.

Return to Manhattan: 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage

The Rijksmuseum, our National Museum for Art and History in Amsterdam, opened an exhibition earlier this week to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage:

"Starting on 1 April, Rijksmuseum in collaboration with the Dutch archives service Nationaal Archief will exhibit various documents related to the establishment of the Dutch colony New Netherland and the trading post New Amsterdam – which later became New York City – at the beginning of the 17th century. One of the highlights of the exhibition Return to Manhattan (Weerzien met Manhattan) is undoubtedly Nationaal Archief’s Schaghenbrief letter from 1626. One of the earliest documents to mention the purchase of Manhattan, the island on which New Netherland was established, the Schaghenbrief letter is not only evidence of the agreement concluded between the local population and the Dutch in 1626, but also of the first children born to the pioneers in the Dutch colony. Henry Hudson’s discovery of Manhattan Island 400 years ago, as an explorer working for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), will be celebrated this year."

The exhibition will be in the Rijksmuseum until 1 June. In September, the exhibition will move to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, under the title The Island at the Center of the World.

Image: View on New Amsterdam, Johannes Vingboons, ca.1665, Dutch National Archive