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Donation by the Het Markiezenhof historisch centrum, Bergen op Zoom
Acquisition 2006
Date 1944
Size 59 x 45 cm.
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek has always been the most important depot for newspapers in the Netherlands. As a source, they may seem unappealing; they age quickly and have a high turnaround rate. In the long term, however, newspapers are a rich and detailed source of information on daily life in the past. As people become more aware of their usefulness in this aspect, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek actively works to make this important source of information more accessible to the public. Hundreds of volumes of newspapers have been recorded on microfilm for the visitors' benefit. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek has also started making digital scans of millions of pages from historic newspapers. The newspaper collection is one of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek's most-consulted sources.
During the transition phase from physical object to microfilm or digital scans, we have noticed that other institutions often find their way to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek to donate excess items from their collection. Over the past few years, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek has obtained countless donations of newspaper collections that had outgrown their accommodations.
In the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, they can be kept 'forever' for the benefit of future generations; not only as a source of information, but also as elements of our cultural heritage. You cannot get the same historic sensation that a physical object provides when working with a computer screen.
One fairly random example is the copy of the Brabantsch Nieuwsblad shown here, dated 20 July 1944, less than a year before the end of World War II and incidentally the birthday of Wim van Drimmelen. Naturally, the newspaper is full of war-related news, but it also shows that daily life went on much as it had before. Children were born, couples got married and Miss Deurlo and Mr Weijts from Bergen op Zoom both passed their exams for 'English Trade Correspondence'. The newspaper, which was printed on both sides of one sheet of paper, did not have the same format every day, undoubtedly as a consequence of the paper shortage in the last year of the war. The portfolio holding this issue of the newspaper was donated to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek by Het Markiezenhof, together with 4,000 other portfolios holding copies of De Stem and the Brabantsch Nieuwsblad.
(RS)
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