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Dutch National Archives donation, French photo raid, brief notes

Dutch National Archives donate images

From the Dutch National Archives: LJ Brinkhorst talks to fellow politicians from an unusual position during the 1977 negotiations to form a new cabinet in The Hague
The National Archives of the Netherlands and the Spaarnestad Photographic Foundation have announced a major donation, being made available via Wikimedia Commons, of more than 1000 images depicting significant events and people in Dutch politics, mostly since World War II. The images were mainly taken from the collections of the former press agency ANEFO and the Spaarnestad Foundation. Almost half of them are already available on Commons.

Much of the Spaarnestad collection of some 2.5 million images dating back to the late 19th century narrowly escaped destruction in the mid-1980s, when the original publishing house experienced a financial and housing crisis. But prompt action by the newly formed non-profit Spaarnestad Foundation saved this priceless record of modern Dutch history. Private benefactors and the City of Haarlem provided funds for the interim location of the collection, which was transferred to the National Archives in 2008.

The donation is part of the Archive's Images for the Future project to preserve and digitise visual materials, and to make them publicly available, and was the result of a collaboration with Wikimedia Nederland. One of the most significant gifts of historical images ever made to the Wikimedia Foundation, it was marked at a public event in The Hague attended by several current and former politicians, who shared their personal memories surrounding specific images now freely available at Commons. A spokesperson for the Archives said, "Wikipedia is a good, reliable and social platform, and our goal is to disseminate our materials as widely as possible."

Lodewijk Gelauff, Vice Chair of Wikimedia Nederland, said "This generous release will provide photos for many related Wikipedia articles that until now had no image to accompany the article.... One of the best ways to get a good photo is through partnerships like this. [I hope] that soon more institutions will follow the example of the National Archive.... I invite everybody to incorporate the images on their language projects as they become available in the near future on Wikimedia Commons."

Paris to Cape North "raid": 300 nordic images for Commons

The raiders Wikimobile in the Geirangerfjord.

In July, French-speaking Wikimedians Ludo29 and Inisheer took part in the "Raid Paris – Cap Nord", a photographic challenge where competitors are ranked by a jury on the basis of the pictures they take during the trip. The journey starts in Paris, goes through Finland, Sweden and Norway, up to North Cape in Norway, the northernmost point of Europe, and ends back in Paris. Over the four weeks, the raiders drove 12,000 km in a car branded with the logos of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikimédia France. The French chapter provided financial support.

The two Wikimedians took around 300 photographs of landscapes, buildings, fauna and flora of these nordic countries, many of which filled gaps in the Commons. The Wikimedians produced content for Wikinews, including an interview of Philippe Boucher (Google translation), creator and organiser of the raid; they also wrote a report about lifeboatmen in Norway (Google translation).

The Wikimedian team was ranked seventh out of 22 teams in the challenge. The Wikimedia logos on their car provided opportunities to talk with local people about the Foundation and its projects.

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