Organisation

The Rotterdam City Archives has existed since 1857 and is one of the oldest and largest archives in the country. The archive plays an important role in fostering historical awareness. Former mayor Aboutaleb once said: “We cannot do without a rear-view mirror; good plans for the future are rooted in the history of the city.”

Organisational Structure
Around 100 people work at the archive, including volunteers and interns.
You can find out which departments they work in on the Organisational Structure page.

Main Tasks of the City Archives

• Enforcing the Archives Act for the municipality of Rotterdam and its contract partners.
• The city archivist chairs the 'advisory committee on street names and commemorative monuments'.
• Preserving government and private archives.
• Preserving collections such as prints, drawings, maps, posters, films, videos, audio, photography, websites, books, and magazines.
• Making the archive accessible through the reading room and the website.
• Acquiring new records for the archive, with special attention to the diversity of the city’s residents.
• Encouraging more people to use the sources for research.
• Lending materials for exhibitions and other purposes.
• Expanding knowledge of Rotterdam’s history through events, educational projects, historical research, and digitisation of sources. This is done in collaboration with partners such as heritage institutions, historical societies, libraries, arts organisations, educational institutions, and the media.
• Supervising the information management of the municipality and institutions that have assigned oversight to the City Archives.

You can find all main tasks on the Services page.

Other Activities

• Actively contributing to commemorations, such as the annual remembrance of the bombing on May 14 and QR codes linked to street names.
• Supporting major research projects, such as Jewish Restitution and the Colonial and Slavery Past.