Dutch wedding and death announcement scrapbook

Collection — Box: Multi-Collection Box

Identifier: 001-04-07

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Dutch wedding and death announcement scrapbook collection consists of 156 wedding and death announcements printed in the Netherlands between 1860 and 1879 that are compiled into a hardcover book. In addition to the announcements, there are supplementary wedding documents that read “Betrothed” or “Ondertrouwd,” black-and-white photographs of unspecified individuals, and business cards which provide the names, locations, and contact information of the businesses that printed the wedding and death announcements. All text is written in Dutch.

Dates

1860s-1870s

Biographical / Historical

Wedding announcements or “Huwelijks-bekendmaking” make known the incidence of a wedding between two individuals. The wedding announcements are detailed in their design: printed in color, on lace paper, with porcelain finish, with embossed borders. They record the names of the two married individuals as well as the date the wedding was first announced, indicated as First proclamation or “Eerste afkondiging.” Death announcements are printed on plain paper, some with black borders. The announcements may be several sentences long, written from a first-person point of view by a sender with a familial or marital relationship to the deceased. The announcements include the name of the deceased, may include some narrative detail about their life at the time of death, and include the signature of the sender.