There are all kinds of archives on the internet. Just look up the most diverse information from home.
Archives
Before the advent of the internet, archives were located in buildings where someone had to go to look up certain information. Sometimes by appointment, because the data had to be searched for by the administrator. The internet has made consulting archives much easier. More and more information is available on the internet. Think of population registers, but also image banks with photos from the past. SeniorWeb collected a number of them.
National Archives
The most famous digital archive is the National Archives. This huge archive contains all kinds of other archives. Including from the national government, documents and images that are important for the history of the Netherlands, such as the archives of the VOC and the WIC, but also the archives of the KNVB. The National Archives is also the regional archive of the province of South Holland.
The site has a clear start page to start the digital search. There are search aids for, for example, finding information about an ancestor in the VOC archive. You will also find online search aids about Suriname, soldiers of the Royal Netherlands Army, soldiers at the KNIL and many others.
Archive full of photos
The National Archives manages fifteen million photos. More than one million photos are online. The photo collection provides an overview of events from the period between 1865 and 1990. They can be found via a search bar on the archive site. About 400,000 photos are royalty-free. Anyone may use them as they see fit for publications or other purposes.
Image bank Second World War
The images of the Dutch war and resistance museums, remembrance centers and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies have been collected in the Image Bank WW2. The collection mainly contains photos from the Netherlands, the former Dutch East Indies, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles and the various fronts. You can search the entire archive using a search bar. It is also possible to specifically search the archive of one of the participating organisations.
Photos from the twentieth century
With more than thirteen million photos, the Spaarnestad Collection is the largest photo archive in the Netherlands in the field of press and documentary photography. The photos portray recent world history. The collection covers the period from the invention of photography in the 19th century to the start of the digital age. These photos are also all in the National Archives, but this site is just a bit more accessible.
Image archive Rijkswaterstaat
The Rijkswaterstaat Image Archive contains thousands of photos, film and video fragments of subjects that this organization is involved in: water management, work in progress, infrastructure, environment, traffic and transport, landscape, recreation and history. The photos are free to use, but reference is required.
Archives.nl
The Archives.nl website brings together archives of dozens of regional organizations and local archives. You can easily search for a person or event. A good starting point for, among other things, family tree research. It is possible to search the individual archives or the whole via a search bar.
Archives of your place of residence
Most (large) cities now also have an archive on the internet. To find it, do a Google search for the terms “archive” and the name of your place of residence or the municipality it belongs to. Not all documents have been made digitally, but you will find information about opening times and available documents on the local sites.
Each province in the Netherlands also has its own provincial archive: De Regionale Historische Centra. This is where the archives are located that are important at a regional level. Think of the archives of the province, the court archives and the archives of the Chamber of Commerce.
More archives
There are many more archives. In Enter 90 several more are presented. Such as Tv van Toen, Delpher (newspaper articles) or Topotijdreis.nl.