rdeknijf/cbg-verzamelingen

CBG Verzamelingen — Dutch Centre for Family History

Search 10.5 million+ records across 12 collections at the CBG (Centrum voor Familiegeschiedenis) in The Hague. Server-side rendered HTML — no JavaScript or browser needed.

Collections

| Collection | Dutch name | Records | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | Family announcements | Familieadvertenties | 9.25M | Birth, marriage, death notices from newspapers | | Police gazette | Algemeen Politieblad | 419K | Wanted persons, missing persons, deserters | | Dutch East Indies | Oost-Indische bronnen | 300K | Colonial-era records | | Memorial cards | Bidprentjes | 230K | Catholic/Protestant memorial prayer cards | | Family dossiers | Familiedossiers | 82K | Compiled genealogical research per family | | Printed family materials | Familiedrukwerk | 67K | Family books, printed genealogies | | Photographs | Foto's | 41K | Historical photos | | War sources | Oorlogsbronnen | 11K | Red Cross cards of Dutch WWII dead | | Manuscripts | Handschriften | 7K | Handwritten genealogies | | Unknown collection | Onbekende verzameling | 1.8K | | | Family archives | Familiearchieven | 1.7K | Donated family archive collections | | Genealogical collections | Genealogische verzamelingen | 523 | |

Access: URL parameters + WebFetch (no browser needed)

No JSON API exists. The site is server-side rendered — all results are in the HTML response. WebFetch extracts them directly.

Step 1: Quick count — which collections have hits?

WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?search=SURNAME

Ask WebFetch: "List all collections with their hit counts for this search."

This returns a page showing per-collection result counts without individual records. Use it to decide which collection to drill into.

Step 2: Search within a specific collection

WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=cbgsearch&search=QUERY&collection=COLLECTION_NAME

Parameters:

| Parameter | Required | Values | |---|---|---| | view | Yes | cbgsearch (must be set to get actual results) | | search | Yes | Name, place, date, or keyword. Wildcards: ? (single char), * (multiple) | | collection | Yes | Exact Dutch name from the table above | | start | No | Pagination offset (0, 50, 100, ...). 50 results per page | | sort | No | order_s_per_naam desc, order_s_per_voornaam desc, order_s_per_geboorte desc |

Ask WebFetch: "Extract all person results with names, birth dates/places, death dates/places, and any detail page links."

Example searches:

# Family announcements for "Knijf"
WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=cbgsearch&search=Knijf&collection=Familieadvertenties

# Family dossiers for "van den Hul"
WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=cbgsearch&search=van+den+Hul&collection=Familiedossiers

# War sources (Red Cross cards) for "Heezen"
WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=cbgsearch&search=Heezen&collection=Oorlogsbronnen

# Page 2 of results
WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=cbgsearch&search=Knijf&collection=Familieadvertenties&start=50

Step 3: View record detail

Detail pages use a UUID:

WebFetch -> https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=detail&id=UUID

Ask WebFetch: "Extract all metadata: person name, birth/death dates and places, registration code, title, signature, events, and any links to scans."

The UUID is found in the href of result links from Step 2.

Login requirements

• Search results and metadata: No login required
• Viewing scans/images: Requires free CBG account (OAuth via account.cbg.nl)

For genealogy research, the metadata (names, dates, places) is usually sufficient. Flag records with scans for manual review if needed.

Quirks

• The view=cbgsearch parameter is required — without it, you only get collection-level counts, not individual records
• Collection names must be exact Dutch names (case-sensitive)
• Wildcards ? and * work in the search field
• 50 results per page; paginate with start=0, start=50, etc.
• Tussenvoegsel (prefix) is part of the search term — search "de Knijf" or "Knijf"

Output format

## CBG Verzamelingen Result

**Collection:** [collection name]
**Person:** [name]
**Born:** [date], [place]
**Died:** [date], [place]

**Registration code:** [if shown]
**Detail URL:** https://cbgverzamelingen.nl/zoeken?view=detail&id=[UUID]

**Confidence:** Tier C — CBG indexed collection (secondary source, verify with primary records)

For war sources (Red Cross cards), upgrade to Tier B if the card references an official government record.