Gelukkig nieuwjaar

This is the last post of 2009. We wish all readers and their families a happy new year, and we hope to see you all back on Trace your Dutch roots in 2010.

Image: Gelukkig nieuwjaar (Happy new year), Dutch new year card sent in 1935.

Oliebollen

2009 is the Dutch Jaar van de Tradities (Year of the Traditions). At the end of the year of the traditions I will show you how we traditionally end our year: With oliebollen, the number four tradition in the top 100 of Dutch traditions.

Oliebollen (singular: oliebol) are basically deep-fried balls of dough, sometimes with raisins - think donuts without the holes. They are eaten with powdered sugar. Many people make their own (and if they did you can often still smell the oliebollen days later in their kitchen), but in the last few days of the year they are also widely available from bakeries, supermarkets and market stalls.

Around November, stalls like the one on the photo, selling mostly oliebollen, pop up everywhere, and in the first days of January they disappear again. The photo was taken on a quiet morning in mid December. There were no customers at that time, but probably quite a few later in the day. If you visit in the afternoon of 31 December, you will have to wait in line for a long time, even though there are several people serving.

If you want to try to bake your own oliebollen I'll share the recipe with you.

You will need:

• 3dl. (10.14 fl oz) milk
• 20g (0.7 oz) yeast
• 400g (14 oz / 0.9 lb) flower
• 2 eggs
• salt
• optionally: 200g raisins
• oil for deep-frying
• powdered sugar

Mix yeast and lukewarm milk. Add flower, eggs and salt and mix well to make a smooth dough. Optionally add the raisins and stir through the dough. Put the dough in a bowl and fully cover the bowl. Let it rise for at least an hour on a warm place - don't take off the cover while it's rising! Using two wet dining spoons, let small amounts of dough - a spoonful per oliebol - slide into the hot oil. Keep the spoons wet (or slightly greasy) to prevent the dough sticking to the spoons. Deep-fry for about six minutes. For best results use a fork to turn them half-way through.

Serve hot or cold, with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Online genealogy in Noord-Brabant

• The main resource for genealogy in Noord-Brabant is BHIC, Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum.
• A few regions and towns have their own online records: Land van Heusden en Altena, West-Brabant, Eindhoven, Tilburg.
• Find images of the past at BHIC or at the Film- en Fotobank Noord-Brabant (Film and Photo database Noord-Brabant).
• There are also local image sites, e.g. for Eindhoven, Tilburg or Roosendaal.
• BHIC is present on Flickr and YouTube. The Tilburg regional archive is present on Flickr and YouTube.
• For historical maps, visit Beelddatabank Historische Kaarten Brabant (Image database Historical Maps Brabant).
• For indexes of cemeteries and photos of tombstones visit Graftombe (Tomb), Online Begraafplaatsen Land van Heusden en Altena (Online cemeteries, Land van Heusden en Altena region) or Online Begraafplaatsen Noord-Brabant overig (Online cemeteries rest of Noord-Brabant province).
• You can discuss your Noord-Brabant roots on the Ancestry message board Noord-Brabant or the Yahoo mailing list Noord-Brabant Genealogy.

For more information see Genealogy in Noord-Brabant.

Merry Christmas

Vroolijk kerstfeest (Merry Christmas), Dutch Christmas card sent in 1928.

Online genealogy in Zuid-Holland

• For most towns in Zuid-Holland, the best place to find BMD records is Genlias.
• There are, however, many places in Zuid-Holland that are not in Genlias. Places that are not represented in Genlias include major cities like Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden, and Delft. There are regional and local databases you can use for these places: Rotterdam, Den Haag, Leiden, Delft, Vlaardingen, Schiedam, and Groene Hart.
• There is no provincial image database for Zuid-Holland. For images of the past, check out local and regional sites, like Rotterdam, Delft, Leiden, or Schiedam.
• The Schiedam city archive is present on flickr.
• For indexes of cemeteries and photos of tombstones visit Graftombe (Tomb). The website Online Begraafplaatsen (Online Cemeteries) has pages for the regions Alblasserwaard, Delfland, Eiland van Dordrecht, Eiland van IJsselmonde, Goeree-Overflakkee, Krimpenerwaard, Rotterdam, Schieland, Vijfheerenlanden, and rest of Zuid-Holland.
• Discuss your Zuid-Holland roots at the Ancestry message board Zuid-Holland or the Yahoo mailing list Zuid Holland Genealogy.

For more information see Genealogy in Zuid-Holland.

Postcard from De Bildt

The KNMI, Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) in De Bilt (spelled De Bildt on the postcard).

The institute, founded in 1854, moved to De Bilt in 1897. The postcard was sent in 1906, so the observatory was still relatively new then. The KNMI is still in De Bilt. They research climate change and seismology, but in The Netherlands they are best known for their weather forecasts.

Dutch archive news November 2009

• Many archives announced limited opening hours and service around the holidays.
• Genlias added new birth records from Utrecht, new marriage records from Friesland, and new death records from Friesland and Utrecht.
• The National Archive opened an e-depot. Nowadays many government records are only created electronically. These records need to be remain accessible for interested parties and have to be archived and kept for future generations, just like the paper records of the past. Though currently a pilot with just a few records, the e-depot of the national archive will eventually electronically store and archive these records.
• The first selection of audiovisual material for Open Images is now available online. The subjects of the 469 items that can now be found on Open Images are very diverse, such as an item about a caravan that can also be used as a boat, a video about the Tour de France in the Netherlands and about the first residents of Almere city.
• Drenlias is adding tax registers from the 17th and 18th century. The Groningen archive is publishing estate inventories online. So if your ancestors lived in Groningen or Drenthe you can soon find out if they prospered.
• The Amsterdam city archive published pre-1811 burial registers on their website, available here.