Social Security 1890-1967

Edited by A.C.M. Kappelhof and V. Kingma

The first form of Dutch social security, the Accident Law, was passed in 1901. At that time a debate was in full swing on reforms to the antiquated system of poor relief. After World War II a system of national insurance and social services was set up relatively quickly; a system that is closely associated with the names of Drees Sr., Veldkamp and Klomp. The traditional system of poor relief evolved into a kind of government-led social assistance that people now had a legal right to claim by law.

The research guide aims to direct the researcher through the vast and scattered mass of archive material in an area of policy viewed by many as overwhelmingly complex. The guide therefore provides a survey of the organisations and individuals that have been actively engaged in the areas of national insurance, social services, unemployment benefit, poor relief and issuing social security benefits. References are also made to the literature in the form of books and journals.

The guide contains standardised descriptions from 403 archives (304 institutions and 99 individuals). Sections of the thirty most important archives have also been made more accessible. The bibliography contains approximately 8,000 titles. A database with 12,568 records provides an overview of charity in the Netherlands during the survey years 1899 and 1956 in a nutshell. Finally, a few of the most common types of local archives containing data on poor relief are described. The research guide has been updated as far as 1 July 2004.

A brief introduction and a more detailed introduction are available on the Social Security research guide.

The researcher is directed to two follow-up projects that complement this guide: a research guide on health insurers (in Dutch) entitled Onderzoeksgids Zorgverzekeraars 1870-1968 (health insurances and health insurance companies) and a documentary edition of P.J.M. Aalberse’s diaries (also in Dutch) entitled Dagboeken van P.J.M. Aalberse, (1891-)1902-1947.