This map shows the plans for a new railroad connection for the municipal slaughterhouse in The Hague in 1913. To build the new railroad, several pieces of land had to be acquired by the government via eminent domain. The land in question is marked in brown, future developments of the area in salmon pink, the existing waterways are in light green, and the new waterways in teal. If your ancestors owned land and were dispossessed by the government, this could have left interesting records. You … [Read more...]
Dutch Archives that provide Free Scanning on Demand
23 June 2017 by 10 Comments
[last update: 14 May 2025] In the Netherlands, archives provide their already digitized records available online for free. But several archives go a step further, and also allow you to request documents to be scanned free of charge. These archives have allocated budget for digitizing their collection. Part of this budget is used for larger projects, and another part is used for scanning-on-demand where the users determine the order in which the records get digitized. The resulting scans … [Read more...]
Signed, Sealed, & Undelivered: Amazing Collection of 17th Century Letters Rediscovered
13 November 2015 by 1 Comment
The Museum voor Communicatie discovered an amazing treasure in their vaults: a box that belonged to a postmaster in the 17th century, filled with 2600 undelivered letters, 600 of which have never been opened. The letters came to The Hague from France, the Southern Netherlands and Spain. Dr David van der Linden, from the University of Groningen, says: "The collection contains unique letters sent between Huguenot family members, evincing the emotional strains of exile and separation. These … [Read more...]
