HSN Projects

In addition to functioning as an important source for research and as a source for control groups for interpretation of research into specific groups, the HSN database serves as the basis for collecting new data.

In practice this is realized through:

  1. designing and maintaining a data structure for use by individual researchers; and
  2. taking the database as a starting point for further research,

both through increasing the number of individuals included (oversampling) and by deepening by means of recording supplementary variables for a specific group of research subjects.

Scholars thus kill two birds with one stone. Not only can they use the data already recorded, the software and expertise developed by the HSN are available as well. This expertise can also be considered an important byproduct of the data entering of the past ten years. For using its software and already recorded data, the HSN sets the precondition that new data must be added to the data set, so that they will eventually become available to other researchers too. Enlarging the database usually happens in cooperation with other research projects.

  • Look at the projects that built the backbone of the HSN database
  • The joint projects are listed below:

Against the stream. Social Mobility of Dutch Jews, 1880-1940 (ANDB)

Part of the project ‘Against the stream. Social Mobility of Dutch Jews, 1880-1940’ is the analysis of the social mobility and integration of Dutch Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 

General index of death certificates in the Netherlands (AKON)

An index of all death certificates for the period 1811-1939 is being created for the province of Zealand (Zeeland). Besides necessary data (name and age of the deceased, names of parents and spouses, etc.), data referring to occupation will be entered into the database.

Map: The Dutch province of Zeeland, 1866

Census Data Open Linked (CEDAR)

The research project Census data open linked - CEDAR - From fragment to fabric - Dutch census data in a web of global cultural and historic information, takes Dutch census data as its starting point to build a semantic data-web of historical information.

Germans in Utrecht: a temporary minority in the 19th century (DUM)

This research took place at the Department of History at the University of Utrecht and was carried out by dr. M.L.J.C. Schrover. The project was financed by NWO. The project started on 1 March 1997.

Settlement determinants for immigrants and their descendants in the Netherlands, 1853-1960 (DVI)

This is a pioneer project under the supervision of dr. L.A.J.C. Lucassen. It is financed by NWO, the University of Amsterdam and the Centre for Migration History (CMG).

European Historical Population Samples Network (EHPS-Net)

The project European Historical Population Samples Network (EHPS-Net) brings together scholars to create a common format for databases containing information on persons, families and households. 

Logo EHPS-Net

Early-life conditions, social mobility and longevity (ESM)

The project 'Early Life Conditions, Social Mobility and Longevity' (ESM) is an international project, supervised by prof. George Alter (Indiana University, Bloomington), and for the main part financed by the National Institute of Aging (National Institute of Health, Washington D.C.).

Family formation and living strategies in the western parts of the Netherlands 1830-1940 (GBW)

Jan Kok carries out this study on family formation and living strategies in the western parts of The Netherlands. The research is focussed on Rotterdam, Amsterdam, rural Noord-Holland and Utrecht.

Genes, Germs and Resources (GGR)

The project researches the role of the family and the disease environment in mortality and longevity in the Netherlands, 1812-2015.

Giants of the modern world (GNT)

The project ‘Giants of the modern world. A new history of heights and health in The Netherlands, 1811-1940’ is granted by the Netherlands organization for Scientific Research (Free Competition Humanities, file number 360-53-190 /208.) and is co-financed by Radboud University Nijmegen (RUN), Free University and the IISG. The project started in July 2016 and is supervised by prof. dr. Jan Kok (RUN).

HSN LINKS Zeeland (HLZ)

Extending and combining the HSN database with the LINKS database, demonstrator: Zeeland

Marriage certificates Pupils of Dutch Higher Secondary Education (HVL)

For the project 'Status Attainment during Industrialisation: life courses in local context' (SAIL), the HSN has built a database 'Marriage certificates Pupils of Dutch Higher Secondary Education' (HVL) with marriage certificates of pupils who attended higher secondary education in the years 1880/1881 and 1920. 

Scan of a handwritten Dutch marriage certificate from 1856 Middelie (Noord-Holland)