Dutch Genealogy News for November 2017

Here is an overview of the new sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month.

Sources

• The National Archives of Curacao launched a new genealogy section on their website.
• Court records of Nijmegen from 1596 until 1811 are available at the Nijmegen Regional Archives website.
• 38,700 records of Amsterdam notaries were added to the online index of notarial records of Amsterdam.
• Notarial Archives of the following Frisian towns are now available at AlleFriezen for the period 1809-1860: Akkrum, Ameland, Augustinusga, Balk, Beetsterzwaag, Bergum, Bolsward, St. Annaparochie, Harlingen, Leeuwarden.
• Indexes of the death records from 1963-1966 of the municipalities of Achtkarspelen, Ameland, Dantumadeel, and Heerenveen have been added to AlleFriezen. These records are being digitized as well.
• Abstracts of notarial records of the north-east of Noord-Brabant (1811-1860) have been added to the Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum website.
• Genealogist Ger Klein published several transcriptions of early court and notarial records from the West-Brabant towns of Breda, Etten, Klundert, Oosterhout, Rucphen, Rijsbergen, Terheijden, Zevenbergen and Zundert on his Genea Databank Klein website.
• Over ten million records from World War II have become available at the Oorlogsbronnen [War Sources] website. This portal allows you to search the collections of different archives, museums, library and documentation centers.
• The battle reports from May 1940 are now available via Archieven.nl. These reports describe how the Dutch military responded to the German invasion.

German troops riding into Rotterdam (1940). Credits: Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia (CC-BY-SA)

Projects

• The Amsterdam City Archives announced a project for Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR). The project’s goal is to automatically transcribe handwritten records. The first attempt will be for notarial records. Source: Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief.
• The Rotterdam City Archives made a larger part of their genealogical records available as Open Data, so that over 11 million records are now available. Websites like Open Archives use this data to provide access to all open genealogical data in the country. Source: Stadsarchief Rotterdam.
• A new crowd sourcing project was launched at VeleHanden to describe thousands of photos from the Het Vrije Volk newspaper.

Archives

• New finding aids were created for record groups at the Gelders Archief: the manor of Heumen and Malden, House Wilp, Guardianship council in Arnhem, Civil servant’s court in Arnhem. The finding aids are available via Archieven.nl. These finding aids catalog the contents of these record groups, so researchers know what is available. Source: Gelders Archief.
• A new finding aid was created for the Aldermen’s Court of Tilburg and Goirle (1408-1811). Five meters [about 18 feet] of records were read by a volunteer to understand their meaning and to catalog them properly. The finding aid is available at the Regional Archives of Tilburg website. Source: Regionaal Archief Tilburg.
• The municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn now has its own archive. Their new website provides access to almost 1 million genealogical records. This information was already available via Archieven.nl.
• The Epe, Hattem and Heerde Regional Archives has a new website.
• The National Archives won a silver medal at the IDCA Awards for their exhibition De Wereld van de VOC [The World of the Dutch East Indies]. Source: Nationaal archief.