rdeknijf/regionaal-archief-dordrecht

Regionaal Archief Dordrecht (RAD) — MAIS-Flexis HTTP Search

Search 3+ million indexed person records covering Dordrecht, Zwijndrecht, Dubbeldam, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht, and surrounding Drechtsteden via plain HTTP GET requests. No browser automation or API key needed.

OpenArchieven indexes some RAD records (archive code rad) but misses many population register entries and older records. This skill searches the RAD directly for what OpenArchieven doesn't have.

Person search

curl -s "https://www.regionaalarchiefdordrecht.nl/archief/?mivast=46&miadt=46&mizig=100&miview=tbl&milang=nl&micols=1&mip1=SURNAME&mip3=FIRSTNAME"

URL parameters

| Parameter | Field | Example | |-----------|-------|---------| | mip1 | Achternaam (surname) | Los, van+Leeuwen | | mip2 | Tussenvoegsel (prefix) | van, de, van+der | | mip3 | Voornaam (first name) | Bertus, Herman | | mip4 | Rol (role in document) | Overledene, Bruid | | mip5 | Plaats (place) | Dordrecht, Zwijndrecht | | mibj | Begin datum (start date) | 1900 or 01-01-1900 | | miej | Eind datum (end date) | 1950 or 31-12-1950 | | mivast | Always 46 | 46 | | miadt | Always 46 | 46 | | mizig | Search type, always 100 for persons | 100 | | miview | tbl for table view | tbl | | milang | Language | nl | | micols | Columns | 1 |

Wildcards

• * matches any string (e.g., Le* matches Leeuwen, Lebbing)
• ? matches single character
• $ exact match only
• Use quotes for exact phrase: "van Leeuwen"

Parsing results

Results are HTML table rows. Extract data from <tr> elements with class mi_odd or mi_even:

import re

def parse_rad_results(html):
    """Parse MAIS-Flexis person search results."""
    rows = re.findall(
        r'<tr[^>]*class="mi_(odd|even) rowlink"[^>]*>(.*?)</tr>',
        html, re.DOTALL
    )
    results = []
    for _, row in rows:
        cells = re.findall(r'<td class="mi_value">(.*?)</td>', row, re.DOTALL)
        if len(cells) >= 6:
            # Strip HTML tags from cells
            clean = lambda s: re.sub(r'<[^>]+>', '', s).strip()
            results.append({
                'type': clean(cells[0]),  # Record type (e.g., "Persoon in bevolkingsregister")
                'voornaam': clean(cells[1]),
                'achternaam': clean(cells[2]),
                'rol': clean(cells[3]),
                'plaats': clean(cells[4]),
                'datum': clean(cells[5]),
            })
    return results

Also extract the total result count:

total = re.search(r'(\d+)\s*resultaten', html)
count = int(total.group(1)) if total else 0

Detail record

To view a full record, use the detail URL from the search result's data-qr attribute, switching miview to ldt:

curl -s "https://www.regionaalarchiefdordrecht.nl/archief/?mivast=46&mizig=100&miadt=46&miview=ldt&milang=nl&mip1=SURNAME&mip3=FIRSTNAME&micode=ARCHIVE_CODE&minr=RECORD_NR&miaet=54"

The micode and minr values come from the search result row's data-qr attribute. Parse them:

qr = row_element.get('data-qr', '')
micode = re.search(r'micode=([^&]+)', qr).group(1)
minr = re.search(r'minr=([^&]+)', qr).group(1)

Detail pages contain labeled fields like:

• Voornaam, Achternaam, Geboortedatum, Geboorteplaats
• Vader, Moeder, Partner
• Bron (source), Archief (archive number)

Extract with: re.findall(r'<th[^>]*>(.*?)</th>.*?<td[^>]*>(.*?)</td>', html)

Scan images

Population register scans are linked from detail pages. Look for links containing /scans/ or image URLs. The RAD has digitized most population registers (bevolkingsregister) from 1850-1937.

Archive codes in RAD

Common micode prefixes:

| Code | Collection | |------|-----------| | 627.* | Burgerlijke Stand en Bevolking Zwijndrecht | | 256.* | Burgerlijke Stand Dordrecht | | 11.* | DTB Dordrecht (Hervormde Kerk) | | 150.* | Notarieel Archief Dordrecht |

Coverage vs OpenArchieven

| What | RAD direct | OpenArchieven (rad) | |------|-----------|-------------------| | BS (civil records) | Yes | Yes (mostly) | | Bevolkingsregister | Yes — with scans | Partial (index only) | | DTB (church records) | Yes | Partial | | Notarial records | Yes | Some | | Person search | 3M+ indexed | Subset |

Use RAD directly when:

• Searching bevolkingsregister (population register) entries
• You need scan images of register pages
• OpenArchieven returns no results for a Dordrecht/Zwijndrecht person
• Looking for notarial or older DTB records

Use OpenArchieven when:

• You need structured JSON output
• Searching across multiple archives simultaneously
• The record type is BS (civil records) — usually well-indexed in OA

Example searches

Find Herman van Leeuwen in Dordrecht

curl -s "https://www.regionaalarchiefdordrecht.nl/archief/?mivast=46&miadt=46&mizig=100&miview=tbl&milang=nl&micols=1&mip1=van+Leeuwen&mip3=Herman&mip5=Dordrecht"

Find Bertus Los in Zwijndrecht, 1920-1950

curl -s "https://www.regionaalarchiefdordrecht.nl/archief/?mivast=46&miadt=46&mizig=100&miview=tbl&milang=nl&micols=1&mip1=Los&mip3=Bertus&mip5=Zwijndrecht&mibj=1920&miej=1950"

Find all Los marriages in Dordrecht area

curl -s "https://www.regionaalarchiefdordrecht.nl/archief/?mivast=46&miadt=46&mizig=100&miview=tbl&milang=nl&micols=1&mip1=Los&mip4=Bruidegom"

Contact

• Studiezaal: [email protected]
• Phone: +31 (0)78 - 770 53 48
• For records in privacy period, contact the studiezaal directly