Dutch archive news roundup January 2009

• Genlias has added birth and marriage acts from Utrecht, and birth and death acts from Zuid Holland.
• The Amsterdam archive published several new indexes, including a database of descriptions of criminals released from jail (1898-1917). Scans (with photos) are also available, for a fee (see the example scan).
• The Rotterdam death index is now complete for the years 1811-1893.
• The Rotterdam city archive is currently digitizing the passenger lists of the Holland America Line. Eventually, the passenger lists will be published on their website. In the meantime, passenger lists can not be consulted for a few months.

Wilhelminakade 2

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: The Wilhelminakade, the quay where the ships of the Holland America Line started their journey towards Ellis Island.

The photos below are of the former headquarters of the Holland America Line (HAL).

Wilhelminakade 1

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: The Wilhelminakade, the quay where the ships of the Holland America Line started their journey towards Ellis Island.

Cruise terminal

Monument for Dutch emigrants. Sculpture Lost Luggage Depot, by Canadian artist Jeff Wall. Detail.

Monument for Dutch emigrants. Sculpture Lost Luggage Depot, by Canadian artist Jeff Wall.

Rijnhaven / Holland America Line

This photo, titled Entrance to the Rijnhaven, with head-offices of the Holland-America Line, was published in 1928.

Nearly 80 years later I took this photo from more-or-less the same spot.

Lost Luggage depot

Right in front of the former HAL headquarters is the sculpture Lost Luggage depot, by Canadian artist Jeff Wall. The sculpture symbolizes the many emigrants that departed for the New World.

Photo ©2006 by me, contact me if you want to place a copy on your own website.

HAL

Former headquarters of the Holland America Line (built in 1901), on the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam. It is flanked nowadays by two skyscrapers.

If your ancestors left for the New World in the late 19th or early 20th century, chances are they will have boarded here, on the very spot where I stood to take this photo.

In the buiding are now a hotel (Hotel New York) and a cafe/restaurant/terrace (Maaskant).

Photo ©2006 by me, contact me if you want to place a copy on your own website.