1 August 2013 - The KB, National Library of the Netherlands, added six new titles to its multi-million page depository of digital newspapers, in cooperation with the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg. These six titles were published in the Dutch-American community between 1849 and 1959.

Immigration

Many Dutch immigrants who settled in the US in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created ethnic communities served by bilingual newspapers. Beginning with the Sheboygan Nieuwsbode, published in Wisconsin between 1849 and 1861, more than fifty ‘Dutch’ newspapers circulated in America. The quarter of a million Dutch immigrants fled economic hardships and religious discrimination.

Newspapers

Like other ethnic groups, the Dutch boosted their own communities and tied them to each other by the press. This selection of six titles represent the areas where the Dutch concentrated: the states of Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and New Jersey. The first additions cover De Grondwet *(1883-1938), *De Volksvriend (1892-1938), De Volksstem *(1890-1911), *Het Oosten and Onze Toekomst (1925-1927 and 1945-1952). Later in 2013 other available issues will be added.

Source for Research

These newspapers cover Catholic and Protestant communities, rural and urban areas, Republican and Democratic sympathies. They offer a rich source for the development of immigrant communities, language changes, and genealogical information.