Postcard from de Veluwe

Postcard from Holland is a regular feature on this blog. On Wednesdays I post a card from my collection of vintage postcards. Today: de Veluwe.

De Veluwe is a region in the province Gelderland. The card shows a Veluwsch Binnenhuisje, an interior photo from the Veluwe region. I don't know if this interior scene is typical for the Veluwe, but whoever lived at this place is certainly well off.

The card was sent in 1933, so the photo is probably from the 1920s.

Postcard from Lichtenvoorde

Postcard from Holland is a regular feature on this blog. On Wednesdays I post a card from my collection of vintage postcards. Today: Lichtenvoorde.

The Rapenburgsestraat street in Lichtenvoorde, province Gelderland. I could not find this location in Google streetview, maybe the buildings have been demolished (or changed beyond recognition).

Postcard from Nijkerk

A lock in Nijkerk, province Gelderland.

Postcard from Ede

A postcard from the Boschpoortstraat street in Ede. The name of the street changed later to Grotestraat. Note the clothes of the people on the street!

The postcard was sent in 1908.

Dutch archive news: June 2010

• New records in Genlias: Birth records from Limburg (Horst, Neeritter, Schinnen, Sittard, Venlo) and Utrecht (Utrecht City), and death records from Limburg (Ottersum, Swalmen, Venlo) and Noord-Holland (Avenhorn, Etersheim, Groet, Haarlemmermeer, Hensbroek, Nibbixwoud, Opdam, Opmeer, Wognum).
• The Utrecht archives will expand the Archiefbank (archive database), on 5 July. There will also be a charge for viewing and downloading scans.
• The National Library of The Netherlands digitized its collection of catchpenny prints and made it available on Memory of The Netherlands: "This collection of catchpenny prints gives a good picture of the topics the population was interested in. For researchers and people interested in the history of the Netherlands this is a real treasure-house containing images and texts from the past. This remarkable heritage is now digitally available so that everyone can become acquainted with it. The catchpenny prints can be regarded as source material for research of text and language; of the daily life of our ancestors plying trades (that have disappeared), children's games, transport, fashion, role patterns, housing and housekeeping; tilling the land, poverty and wealth; of values and standards and pedagogical views and of image with illustration techniques and styles."
• The Gelderland archive opened a new website. Unfortunately, there is no English interface.
• Three new archives on Twitter: the Schiedam city archive, the Utrecht provincial archive, and Westfriesland regional archive in Hoorn. See the complete list of tweeting archives.
• The city archive of Den Haag opened a film database with moving images from their collections, from the period 1905-1983.
• The Zeeland archive is scanning its civil registry. The first scans (BMD records of Schouwen-Duiveland) should be available some time next year.

Postcard from Nijmegen

Postcard from Holland is a regular feature on this blog. On Wednesdays I post a card from my collection of vintage postcards. Today: A postcard from Nijmegen.

I'm not sure (yet) what to make of this card. The label "Nijmegen Stationsplein" suggests the building on the left is the Nijmegen station, but it does not look like other images of the station that I have found. The stoomtram building is probably the terminal of the steam tram, which was indeed used in Nijmegen at the time.

The postcard was sent in 1905.

Online genealogy in Gelderland

• There is no online provincial database for Gelderland, but Genlias has many BMD records from Gelderland.
• Streekarchief Bommelerwaard (Regional archive Bommelerwaard) has many online resources for the Bommelerwaard region. Click Digitale studiezaal, Genealogische bronnen, and Zoeken op naam in the navigation menu on the left to start searching.
• The Noordwest-Veluwe regional archive (Elburg, Ermelo, Harderwijk, Nunspeet and Oldebroek) publishes several indexes on their website. Use Zoek uitgebreid at the top to search, or Genealogie in the navigation menu on the left to browse.
• You can find images of the past in the image database Gelderland in beeld, maintained by the Gelderland library.
• There are also many local image sites, e.g. for Arnhem, Nijmegen, Apeldoorn, and many others.
• The Wageningen city archive has a channel on YouTube.
• For indexes of cemeteries and photos of tombstones visit Graftombe (Tomb) or Online Begraafplaatsen (Online Cemeteries).
• Discuss your Gelderland roots at the Ancestry message board Gelderland or the Yahoo mailing list Gelderland Genealogy.
• UPDATE (thanks, Jane): Genealogie in de Achterhoek has many indexes, transcriptions, and sources for the Achterhoek region. They are also on flickr.

For more information see Genealogy in Gelderland.

Dutch archive news, September 2009

• Genlias added birth records from Limburg and death records from Gelderland and Limburg.
• As part of Images for the Future, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision and Knowledgeland launched Open Images. Open Images is an open media platform that offers online access to a selection of audiovisual archive material to stimulate creative reuse. Access to the content will be based on the Creative Commons model.
• The Central Bureau for Genealogy in The Hague presented Roots Karibense, a research guide for people with Netherlands Antillean roots. It is the fourth book in the series Voorouders van verre (Ancestors from far away). The books are only available in Dutch.
• Over 60 documents from the Dutch National Archive, including the famous Schaghen letter, are on display in the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, where the exhibition New Amsterdam. The Island at the Center of the World opened on 12 September.
• Several documents from the Amsterdam city archive are on display in the Museum of American Finance in New York, where the exhibition Actiën Handel: Early Dutch Finance and the Founding of America opened on 8 September. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the testament of Peter Stuyvesant.
• The Rotterdam city archive started the blog Dochters van Kaat Mossel (Daughters of Kaat Mossel), a genealogy blog about the female descendants of famous Rotterdam inhabitant Kaat Mossel (1723-1798). The blog aims to show what is available on their Digitale Stamboom (Digital Family Tree) website. Unfortunately the blog is only available in Dutch.
• Anne Frank now has her own channel on YouTube, with, among others, the only existing film images of Anne. The channel is created and maintained by the Anne Frank museum.

Postcard from Groesbeek

A postcard from Groesbeek, sent in 1928. Groesbeek was (and to some extent still is) a rural village in the province Gelderland, just southeast of the city Nijmegen and on walking distance from the German border (see map). The area saw fierce fighting during Operation Market Garden, destroying much of the village, but the photo on this card was taken long before that.

News from the Dutch archives, August 2009

• We all know by now that in 1609 Hudson stumbled upon Manhattan and claimed it for the Dutch Republic (which eventually led to the foundation of New Netherland and its capital New Amsterdam). But did you also know that in the same year the Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu signed a trading pass, giving the Dutch East Indies Company permission to trade with Japan? For well over 200 years (from 1639 to 1858), The Netherlands was the only country in the world that was allowed to trade with Japan. The Dutch National Library and the National Archive opened an exhibition, From here to Tokyo - 400 years of trade with Japan, to celebrate, well, 400 years of trade with Japan. One of the documents on display is the famous trading pass (see image).
• Het Geheugen van Nederland (Memory of The Netherlands), in cooperation with the national libraries of The Netherlands and Japan, opened a new collection The Netherlands – Japan to commemorate 400 years of trade with Japan.
• A surprising addition to Genlias: Baptisms (1639-1800) and marriages (1639-1801) from the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam and New York.
• The Dutch National Archive evaluated its flickr pilot and declared it a success (a million page views, 2000 comments, 6800 tags). The flickr activities are promoted from "pilot" to "regular activity".
• The National Archive also announced the website Mapit1418, a collection of photos from the great war, often taken on an unknown location. The public is asked to geo-tag the photos (i.e. put them on a map) and add their own (modern) photos of the same location. Technical information: mapit1418 is a mashup of flickr's open API and OpenStreetMap (OSM). The website is part of the Beelden voor de Toekomst (Images for the Future) project.
• The Gelderland Archive is now on Twitter.

Image: Trading pass. Coll. Nationaal archief (Dutch National Archive). On display at the exhibition From here to Tokyo - 400 years of trade with Japan.

Dutch archive news: July 2009

It's summer, and that means holiday season here in Holland. Archives have fewer visitors (visitors are on holiday), limited service and limited opening hours (staff are also on holiday). Summer also means there is hardly any news to report.

• Genlias added birth acts from Groningen, Utrecht and Curaçao, marriage acts from Utrecht, and death acts from Utrecht.
• The regional archive of Achterhoek (Gelderland) placed scans of church books of several towns on Flickr.

Postcard from Arnhem

Rosendael castle, Arnhem. Postcard sent in 1903. Only the donjon remains from the original late-medieval castle, the house in front dates from the 18th century. The park was redesigned in the 19th century.

The castle and park were heavily damaged in the second world war and neglected afterwards. It was restored in the 1980s, and house and park are now open to the public.

Look here or here to compare the postcard with the current situation.

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).

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.

Dutch archive news roundup: News and announcements from Dutch archives, September 2008

News from the Dutch archives:

• The annual Landelijke Archievendag (national archives day) will take place on 11 October. Most archives have some activities that day, like lectures and guided tours.
• The new three-volume Geschiedenis van Groningen (history of Groningen) will be available on 9 October. On 13 October, several authors and editors of the book will visit the Groningen archive for an evening of presentations and discussions about the book and about Groningen history.
• The Historic Centre of Overijssel organizes a one-day seminar on Familiegeschiedenis als literair genre (family history as literary genre), on 11 October.
• The Gelderland archive celebrated the tenth anniversary of its participation in Genlias last month. Volunteers indexed almost 1.6 million acts in those ten years.

Dutch archives news roundup - June 2007

News from the Dutch archives.

• Several Dutch archives have limited opening hours during July and August. Check their websites for details.
• The Drenthe Archive presented the book In de versnelling, about cars in Drenthe in the last 100 years. There is also an exposition on the same topic in the Drenthe Archive (until August).
• The Gelderland Archive announced a major overhaul of their website. The new website will launch in July. The archive also announced that one million Gelderland death acts are now indexed in Genlias.
• The National Archive announced a new website about Zuid-Holland history: www.geschiedenisvanzuidholland.nl, a cooperation of several institutions in Zuid-Holland. The new website seems to be available in Dutch only.
• It was already possible to search for gezinskaarten on the website of the Amsterdam Archive, but you can now also see the scans online. A great service if you have relatives in late-19th or early-20th century Amsterdam. This is a paid service: Searching the index is still free, but you have to pay to see scans.

Dutch archives news roundup - April 2007

April was a quiet month at the Dutch archives - I found only two news items worth mentioning.

• The Gelderland Archive announced the publication of the sixth part of the Biografisch Woordenboek Gelderland (Biographical Dictionary Gelderland), published by Verloren.
• The Zeeland Archive added many new sources to the Zeeuwen Gezocht database, including Emigrants to America from the westpart of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Emigrants to the United States of America from Walcheren, and Emigrants to the United States of America from the middel part of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. See also my recent post on Zeeuwen Gezocht.

Dutch archives news roundup - March 2007

• The National Archive announced the addition of records from the Netherlands antilles to the Genlias project. See my earlier post on this topic.
• The Amsterdam City Archive closed its doors on 30 March. They will spend the next few months moving to a new location. The new location will open to the public on 7 August.
• A researcher discovered a hand-written letter by Voltaire in the Friesland archive. It is the only known Voltaire letter that is written in Dutch.
• The Gelderland Archive discovered a 16th century album amoricum in a private collection that they have currently on loan. The album dates from before 1556 and is the oldest known Dutch album amoricum.
• The Noord-Holland archive completed their refurbishment and reopened on a new location.