S. Hart: (gedeeltelijke) toegang op de notariële archieven

Item

Nota de estado

Finalizado

Country

NL

Name of institution (English)

Amsterdam City Archives

Name of institution (official language of the state)

Language of name of institution

dut

Contact information: postal address

Vijzelstraat 32, 1017 HL Amsterdam

Contact information: phone number

0031 202511511

Contact information: web address

Contact information: email

stadarchief@amsterdam.nl

Reference number

30452

Type of reference number

Archival reference number

Title (English)

S. Hart: (partial) access to the notarial archives

Title (official language of the state)

S. Hart: (gedeeltelijke) toegang op de notariële archieven

Language of title

dut

Creator / accumulator

Simon Hart

Date note

16th century/18th century

Language(s)

dut

Extent

942 storage units

Type of material

Textual Material

Scope and content

The S. Hart: (gedeeltelijke) toegang op de notariële archieven fonds comprises extracts and index cards of Amsterdam notarial deeds collected by Simon Hart (1911-1981). Some units are particularly relevant for the study of the Jewish community of Amsterdam. It is the case of the following:
439: Bevolkingsgroepen/Hoogduitse joden - Portugese joden 1669 (Population groups/German Jews - Portuguese Jews 1669);
440: Portugese joden 1670 - Portugese joden 1760 (Portuguese Jews 1670 - Portuguese Jews 1760);
441: Portugese joden 1761 - Bodemerij lading 1649 (Portuguese Jews 1761 - Bottomy cargo 1649);
832-856: Notarial records related to Portuguese Jews arranged by keyword, 1591-1639.
Among these units, it is possible to find summaries and extracts of records regarding Portuguese Jews, especially related to their commercial activities. Jonathan Israel identified some documents in this collection concerning high-risk businesses undertaken by Duarte Nunes da Costa in 1623-24. Costa was a New Christian merchant who probably arrived in Amsterdam in late 1621. Together with Lopo Ramirez (David Curiel), he chartered several German ships and crews, providing them with false Hanseatic papers, with the aim of travelling to Setúbal (Central Portugal) in order to load salt that was supposed to be sold in the Hanseatic ports. In reality, those ships were destined for the Dutch market. The need to navigate with false pretexts and documentation was one of the consequences of the wars with Spain, which led to the prohibition of any direct commercial contact between Portugal and the Netherlands. During this period, most contacts between those territories were made by Dutch Sephardim that often used Dutch, French, and English ships to avoid embargoes (Israel 1990, 338, 428-9). Surely, this collection contains several records that testify to the participation of Amsterdam Jewish merchants in the trade with Spain in the 1650s and 1660s. It is the case of the record of a ship sent to Barcelona and Alicante in 1660, loaded with wine, raisins, anise, almonds, barilla, and soda, in which three Sephardic merchants — Fernando Alvarez (Enrique van der Star or Sterre), Antonio Correa de Mesquita (Roberto van der Star or Sterre) and David Aguilar (Arent Scherenberch) — had a share (Israel 1980, 10).

Archival history

The history of the S. Hart collection dates back to 1933, when Simon Hart was researching Icelandic shipping. At the time, he started collecting extracts of notarial records and organising them. After other research projects, a group of students started to work on records for the period between 1701 and 1710, under Hart's supervision. In 1970, the entire collection had become so extensive that Hart asked A. I. Bosma to take over the daily management of the notarial archives and produce a classification system as well as a manual. The manual was completed in 1980, and its typescript copy is divided into two parts, both available in the S. Hart collection.

Administrative / Biographical history

Simon Hart (Zaandam, 1911 - Amsterdam, 1981) was a city archivist of the Amsterdamse gemeentearchief (Municipal Archives of Amsterdam), later the Stadsarchief Amsterdam. He started as a volunteer at the City Archives in 1929. In less than a year, he obtained the diploma of second-class "wetenschappelijk archief ambtenaar" (scientific archive civil official). In 1937, a vacancy finally opened in the archive, and Hart managed to secure a paid position. After that, he steadily rose in the archive ranks. In 1961, he was promoted from "hoofdarchivist" (chief archivist) to "adjunct-gemeentearchivaris" (deputy municipal archivist). In 1974, the city council of Amsterdam appointed him "gemeentearchivaris" (municipal archivist) as successor to W.J. van Hoboken. In addition to being a city archivist, Hart was also known as a historian and historical demographer, with several publications to his name, such as The prehistory of the New Netherland Company (Amsterdam, 1959). When he retired as city archivist in 1976, Hart was honoured with a collection of 13 of his most important articles, entitled Geschrift en getal (Amsterdam, 1976), which was offered to him by friends from the archives and academia. Shortly after his retirement, he was diagnosed with an incurable disease from which he died in 1981.
Sources:

Access points: locations

Access points: persons, families

Access points: subject terms

Access points: document types

System of arrangement

The fonds is divided into two parts: Handleiding (manual) and Regesten van akten in de Amsterdamse notariële archieven en enige andere bronnen (Records of deeds in the Amsterdam notarial archives and some other sources). The latter is divided into two main collections: Collectie Hart (2.1) and Collectie Simon (2.2). Internally, the notarial deeds are organised according to different data: personal names, geographical names, occupations, business, etc.

Links to finding aids

Author of the description

Kevin Soares, 2022

Bibliography

Item sets

Linked resources

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Title Alternate label Class
Stadsarchief Amsterdam Collections (official language of the state)