On July 19th 2007 the following article appeared in De Stentor:

The oldest Dutch comic is now online
by Anne den Heijer

ZUTPHEN – To read why Henrick van Hackfort in 1507 called Arend van Bocholt a thief, villain and son of a mare. Or to look at a four meter long map of the Berkel between Lochem and Zutphen. It is both now possible. And at home, from one’s own chair, because the Stads- and Streekarchief in Zutphen put 130 maps, cards and prints on its website.

“We want to show people what treasures we keep here. So we took on the role of a museum.” Etienne van den Hombergh is archive employee of the Stads- and Streekarchief in Zutphen. It is his job to present the archive’s possessions to the public, which placed him at the basis of the project, called ‘Kijk in de kaarten’ (Look at the Maps).

On the website, the images are divided into categories. Examples are ‘Waterwerken’ (Water Works), where the four meter long map of the Berkel belongs, and ‘Preciosa & Curiosa’ (Precious & Curious), with some of the more exceptional images. Van den Hombergh: “There are not just 130 maps, our four top pieces are among them, of course,” such as the oldest Dutch comic.

On the site every category forms a gallery through which visitors can browse with their mouse. Who opens an image can read the description. The tab ‘Verdieping’ provides more extensive information.

Although Stads- and Streekarchief is managed for the municipalities Zutphen, Brummen and Lochem, Zutphen is the focal point of the project. “Zutphen has the largest and oldest collection. Besides, our budget came from Zutphen and so did our volunteers,” explains Van den Hombergh. The money for the project came in the form of a subsidy from the municipality of Zutphen.

Of course, the archive employee did not set this all up alone. Two volunteers made a selection out of the 4000-5000 images of the archive. They also created the descriptions and classifications. According to Van den Hombergh the whole project took almost an entire year.

The company Pictura Imaginis handled the technical side of the project. Pictura made such detailed scans that the images on the site can be viewed in great detail with the zoom function. Who looks at the city map of 1581 of Zutphen , is able to count the houses. The prints had to be moved to Heiloo for the scans. Considering the age and fragile state of some of the pieces, this was a risky undertaking. The archive employee: “We cannot roll out the entire map of Berkel here, it had to be done there. They had the necessary equipment to do it in Heiloo.” ‘Kijk in de kaarten’ has two major advantages. Popular or fragile maps no longer need to come out of the archive and are thus better preserved. It is also a lot easier for researchers to find the maps by themselves. In the long run, everything in the archive is supposed to become available online: all maps of the three municipalities. Van den Hombergh: “We are taking one step at a time.” The archive employee expects to see the first results in two years.

It will take years to digitize everything, he says. The descriptions are already a difficult job. How do you describe a map so it will be easy to find? Street names, for example, do not work well as search criteria. Coordinates are much more precise, says Van den Hombergh. The archive is currently working on a plan to make the website function as a digital archive. Until then we can enjoy the current, more museum-like, design of 'Kijk in de kaarten'.