Governmental Resources
A variety of governmental resources in the Netherlands, both national and local, offer free information for genealogical researchers. Click on each logo to visit the organization’s website.
Nationaal Archief
National Archives of the Netherlands
Can be viewed in Dutch or English.
Contains 125 kilometers of documents, photos, and maps, both from the central government and from organizations and persons of national importance (past and present). As the site reads,
Generally all archival records of the government are publicly accessible and can be consulted for free … It has not yet been possible to optimally digitize all archives and collections of the National Archive. The Digital Content project seeks to address this and make these archives and collections publicly accessible in digital form.
Koninklijke Bibliotheek | Nationale Bibliotheek van Nederland
Can be viewed in Dutch or English
An extensive list of digital resources and databases, including historical newspapers.
Central Bureau for Genealogy
Can be viewed in Dutch only.*
Includes a search engine to a variety of online resources: photos, war records, a database of coats of arms, etc. There is also an option to hire a professional genealogist, or stamboomcoach, (for a fee) by contacting the CBG.
*An additional page contains a searchable database of Dutch family names that can be viewed in Dutch or English.
The site claims that the database includes
- the 300,000 surnames of all persons with the Dutch nationality, who lived in the Netherlands in the year 2007.
- Also included are about 120,000 family names registered at the census from 1947.
- Besides frequencies and geographic distribution maps, additional information about the meaning, composition and history can be found for many names.
Amsterdam City Archive
Can be viewed in Dutch only.*
A vast repository of both textual material and images, contains records of the seven million people who have lived in Amsterdam since the Middle Ages. The genealogy page, which has links to a variety of resources, such as baptism, marriage, and death records, can be found there.
Wie Was Wie (Who Was Who)
Can be viewed in Dutch or English
Search through and download thousands of old documents. There are more than 145 million persons in the databases.
Other Regional & Local Archives
Can be viewed in Dutch or English
Most towns and cities have a stadhuis (city hall) and a main church that keep records. If these have been centralized, they would probably have gone to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (see above). To find these local archives, please visit the website of the particular town or city.
