On Tuesday, October 15, Poppe de Boer officially transferred Fotoburo de Boer’s photography collection, including all associated rights, to the North Holland Archives. The North Holland Archives acquired this remarkable press photography collection because it documents the complete history of southern North Holland from 1945 to 2000.
Fotoburo de Boer’s unique collection consists of approximately two million (glass)negatives, including work by father-and-son photographers Cees and Poppe de Boer. The photographs depict a wide range of events, including celebrations, accidents, politics, and sports.
The collection also includes photographs of memorable moments such as the liberation of Haarlem, royal visits, and the celebration honoring Yvonne van Gennip after the Olympic Games at the Grote Markt, as well as portraits of well-known Haarlem residents such as Harry Mulisch. Many of the photographs were published in national and regional newspapers, including De Telegraaf and Haarlems Dagblad.
The glass and other negatives are in good condition and include high-quality material. All photographs are documented in registers, except for a period of 1.5 years in the early 1960s. Poppe de Boer is helping the North Holland Archives register the photographs from this period and record their contents in a database.
The North Holland Archives planned to make a carefully curated selection of the collection digitally accessible to the public. The first photographs were expected to appear in the digital image bank in late October or early November under the name Fotopersburo de Boer Collection. New photographs were to be added weekly, with a goal of making 6,000 photographs digitally available by the end of December. Digital reproductions could be supplied on request.
North Holland Archives image bank: www.beeldbank.noord-hollandsarchief.nl.
