GLAM/Newsletter/May 2021/Contents/Netherlands report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XI, Issue V, May 2021

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Netherlands report

Over 15,000 images available from Elsinga Collection, 1.9 million records on slavery and slave trade digitally accessible

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Over 15,000 images available from Elsinga Collection - Regionaal Archief Alkmaar

In November 2019, during the Wiki Techstorm, participants started writing a script for upload of the Elsinga Collection of Regionaal Archief Alkmaar to Wikimedia Commons. Due to technical challenges, this did not succeed easily. We are happy to report that through the efforts of volunteers over 15,000 images of photographer Joop Elsinga are now available at Wikimedia Commons. About Joop Elsinga:

An Alkmaar (municipal) photographer in heart and soul- (by Regionaal Archief Alkmaar)
Photographer Joop Elsinga (1944) began working for the municipality of Alkmaar in 1967 as an (assistant) supervisor during the construction of various apartment buildings and schools. He then moved on to the Department for the Preservation of Monuments where he remained until his retirement, almost forty years later, as restoration supervisor. In this function he was involved in various projects on historical and iconic monuments such as the Accijnstorentje, De Waag, the Stadhuistoren and the Grote Kerk. Since Joop has been a keen photographer since his youth, the municipality of Alkmaar asked him soon after his appointment to take photographs for them as well.
Of course Joop grabbed this opportunity with both hands. Eventually this resulted in an oeuvre of thousands of photographs and slides of everything that has anything to do with architecture in the city. The vast majority of this extensive collection has been incorporated into the Regionaal Archief Alkmaar and is published, including descriptions, via the digital image bank of this archive. Besides being a professional photographer, Joop has always continued to photograph out of pure hobby. For decades, and until today, he has been very active in Fotoclub Alkmaar, the successor of Fotogroep De Waag. Joop Elsinga, an Alkmaar (city) photographer in heart and soul!

1.9 million records on slavery and slave trade digitally accessible

On 23 April the theme page on the history of slavery was launched. For anyone looking for sources such as archives, scans and search aids about the history of slavery, this theme page is a valuable source of information.

The theme page is the end result of an extensive project of the Metamorfoze programme in cooperation with the National Archives and the KB. Since 2013 they have worked together with nine heritage institutions from the Netherlands, England, Guyana and Suriname to digitise no less than 1.9 million records on the subject of slavery and the slave trade. After eight years of preservation and digitisation work, the archives are now available for everyone to study - with the help of the theme page.

World heritage
The collection comprises of material from the archives of the West-Indische Compagnie, the Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie slave trade company, the Sociëteit van Berbice, the Sociëteit van Suriname, and the archive of the board of the Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea. Even the archive left in Guyana was brought to the Netherlands to be preserved and digitized. UNESCO has listed the archives of the West-Indische Compagnie and the Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie as world heritage, and they are currently being stored in the National Archive and the Zeeuws Archive respectively.

In total, more than 1.9 million restored and digitised records from the archives of the West India Company, the Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie and the Sociëteit van Suriname are involved. The archives contain documents such as ship's logs, plantation lists and letters. Much of the material has not been studied before.

For the Wiki Goes Caribbean project, this means more online resources to draw from, which we are very grateful for.

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