Abstract
The HSN was initiated during the period 1987–1989 when an interdisciplinary and interuniversity group of Dutch scholars started discussing the foundation of one large database with data on individuals. Building one general prospective database with multiple research possibilities was considered as the only way to realize a cost-effective and properly documented tool for historical research from economic, social, demographic, epidemiological and geographic perspective. The birth registration was considered the most adequate sample framework. The new database should be 'open' in the sense that extension should be possible in all kinds of ways: more sources or variables, more persons and larger time periods. The HSN was deliberately created as a nationwide sample covering the whole 19th and 20th century. Since 1991 about 12 million Euro has been invested in the database and related projects. Besides the basic sample about 25 additional projects have been realized that created all kind of extensions to the database. A special project is LINKS by which the indices of names from the Dutch civil registration are used to reconstruct pedigrees (for the period 1780–1940) and complete families (1811–1900) for the whole of the Netherlands or parts of it. In this article we will present an overview of the research that was done with the original themes and the new fields that were introduced over the years. We will also go into methodological issues that were picked up by the 'HSN community' and we will point out the present and future challenges for the HSN.
Highlights
In their recent overview of the history of historical demography in the Netherlands, Theo Engelen and Ad van der Woude† (2016) describe the years around 1990 as a 'turning point', a period in which Dutch historical demographers began to move away from aggregated data based on censuses to individual-level data
We especially focus on debates: to what questions has Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) provided the answers? Have definite outcomes been reached or is research still going on? In this article we will present an overview of the research that was done on the original themes and the new fields that were introduced over the years
As in the case of social stratification, the HSN was expected to be able to make a simulation of the census, and for the same reason it did not work out
Summary
In their recent overview of the history of historical demography in the Netherlands, Theo Engelen and Ad van der Woude† (2016) describe the years around 1990 as a 'turning point', a period in which Dutch historical demographers began to move away from aggregated data based on censuses to individual-level data. Group, local community or region, the individual was taken as the center of research In this development, the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) is seen as 'the most prominent example'. The HSN was initiated during the period 1987–1989 when an interdisciplinary and interuniversity group of Dutch scholars started discussing the foundation of one large database with data on individuals to be used in existing research and for exploring new research themes. Building one general database with multiple research possibilities was considered as the only way to realize a cost-effective and properly documented tool for historical research from economic, social, demographic, epidemiological and geographic perspectives During this initial period some important decisions were taken. In the last section we will point out the present and future challenges for the HSN, both in terms of methods and data
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