Pamela I have been to the Gemeentearchief in Amsterdam few times. It's pretty easy to use since the people there do speak english and will give you limited assistance finding records, how to copy them and some help with translations. There is an area with microfiche copies of the D,T, B (Doop, Trouw and Begraven records - Baptisms, Marriages and Burials) as well as citizenship records. They have other rooms with different record types like notarial records and other later records. This archive is only for Amsterdam. Keep in mind that most European archives and some libraries charge a daily research fee as well. If you plan on searching records for a specific location outside of Amsterdam you'll either have to go to Den Haag (the Hague) to the National Archive or determine which province they were from and go the the provincial archive. In some instances, some towns have their own archives so depending on the local you may have to go this route. So your research depends completely on where your ancestor lived. Have you done any preparation before you go? Do you know the locations you want to search and what records are available? The LDS Library put out very good guides for research in the Netherlands. They are by Province and then by municipality. They generally list the church records available as well as some of the other records like court and manor records. If you are looking at church records I would suggest checking the LDS Library for microfilm copies first. I do a lot of research using these records and generally they are very comparable to the ones in the archives. Note that at most archives you don't get to see many of the early records but microfiche copies, especially baptisms and marriages. I don't know if Dutch churches retain their parish records or if they are deposited in Church or Federal archives so make sure they are available before you show up at your ancestors parish church and find that they don't keep the older records on site. Also, note that archives have very limited hours, generally 9-4 and many times are closed on Mondays, national holidays and 'other days' for special events. So investigate and plan your time, especially if going to small archives. The Staatarchiv in Lemgo, Lippe for example, is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but Thursday is the only day for general searches, i.e. you can check Findbuchs and request information from the attendants for that day. For the other days, you must either write, email or call ahead and give them the titles and archive signatures of the documents you wish to see. Not what we Americans are used to but normal in Europe. Hope that helps. Chris Brooks Kansas City, Missouri -----Original Message----- From: pturnertaylor@adelphia.net To: dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 1:08 PM Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Enquiry about Dutch/Belgian European research and libraries I could use direction to or advice for an upcoming visit to Netherlands and Belgium that I'm planning to take in April. We are descendants of the Van Ettens (Jannetje) of Etten and Manuel Gonsaulis of Spain and Netherlands. Has anyone else in the group had any hands on experience conducting research in Europe and know sites that provide instructions and research info? Thanks for your assistance in my plans. Pamela Pamela Turner pturnertaylor@adelphia.net NE OHIO ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUTCH-COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.