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7. Consulting Maps and Drawings in the National
Archives of the Netherlands
 OC
maps and drawings are contained in the collections with the
following letter codes: MCAL,
VEL and VELH.
The catalogues of these collections are divided into a main
classification of charts, on the one hand, and maps and plans,
on the other. These two main categories are subdivided geographically.
In many instances both categories will have to be consulted
because of the fairly arbitrary division between charts and
maps. The catalogues are provided with indexes of personal
names and geographical names. It should be borne in mind that
much less material can be found with the help of the index
than by means of the geographical classification.
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Map
of the fort and the city of Colombo; 1785
(click image to enlarge) |
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The maps and drawings in the
collections VEL and VELH
are available on micro-fiches. It is advisable to consult
the material first with the help of these fiches. This is
quicker; one can make a selection of what one then wishes
to see in the original. The mapbook of Isaac de Graaff - during
the whole of the eighteenth century the standard cartographic
work of the Heren XVII - and
several other cartographic works of the VOC
are available in the map and drawings reading room in the
form of photo atlases and facsimile editions.
In the collection VEL
especially, there are descriptions of many maps and drawings
which were detached from the series of overgekomen
brieven en papieren ("OBP")
during the 19th century. This is sometimes mentioned in the
column Aanmerkingen (remarks),
for example Overgekomen, 1655
(Received, 1655). If one knows or assumes that a drawing belongs
with a letter or a report in the series of overgekomen
brieven en papieren, one should consult the back of
the drawing. Often there is there an indication of origin
written in pen, for instance, Ceylon, 1722, 3e deel (Ceylon,
1722, third part). Using this indication one can easily look
up the chronological tables of contents of the overgekomen
brieven en papieren, and then relate the map or drawing
and the written document to each other.
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contents;)
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