Dutch Genealogy News for February 2024

Here is an overview of the new sources, websites, and  other news from the Netherlands last month.

Sources

• The notarial records of Hilvarenbeek, Geertruidenberg, Baarle-Nassau, Oisterwijk, and Raamsdonk from the 1700s have been automatically transcribed. The results can be searched on the Transkribus website.
• Various Utrecht tax records can now be searched at the Rijnstreek en Lopikerwaard archives.
• Court records of Berghem, Kessel, Lith, Oss, and Ravestein in North Brabant can now be searched at the Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum website.
• Accounts of the scholten (approximately: sheriffs) of Zutphen for the 1540s have been published at Genealogiedomein.
• A collection of Dutch chronicles from 1500-1850 have been automatically transcribed and can now be searched or browsed.
• The first archives are beginning to publish scans of the records that became public on January 1st. For example, the Regionaal Archief Tilburg has published the  scans of birth, marriage, and death records that became public at their website. They will be indexed by the end of the year.
• Several civil registration records from the west of Overijssel have been indexed and are now available via Open Archives.
• A 1912 film showing cultivation of land in Brabant has been rediscovered. This is the oldest known footage of common people in Brabant.  The footage was used in a larger film in 1934 that can be viewed on  YouTube.
• The recently deceased photo journalist Kees Blokker donated his photo collection to the Noord Hollands Archief. His photos show 35 years of everyday life in the IJmond are in North Holland. 10,000 of his photos are now online. They may be used for any purpose, with attribution.

Mill with the sails marked for mourning, 2013. Credits: K. Blokker, collection Noord-Hollands Archief. (CC-BY).

Projects

• A project has been started to index Curacao death records 1880-1910. Volunteers can report to Het Volk.
• A collection of records Friesland 1940-1945 is being digitized. The records are temporarily unavailable in the reading room. [Source: Tresoar].
• Gelderland marriage records 1943-1947 have been indexed and will be published at the Gelders Archief website soon.
• Gelderland death records 1961-1972 are being indexed. Volunteers can report to Vele Handen.

Archives

• The Regional Archives Gooi en Vechtstreek and the Municipal Archives Gooise Meren have merged. The new regional archives, Archief Gooi en Vechtstreek, manage the records of the municipalities of Hilversum, Huizen, Gooise Meren, Wijdemeren, Blaricum, and Laren.
• Fragments of a book from the 11th century have been found in at the Regionaal Archief Alkmaar. The strips of parchment were reused in the 1600s to bind books. The book is a Latin psalter or book of psalms. Other fragments of this exact psalter have been found in books iin England, Germany, and Poland.

Book with the fragments. Photo courtesy of Regionaal Archief Alkmaar.