About this blog and my research

It all started in 2002 when I was in the city archive of Haarlem and for the first time held the servant's register (part of the population register) of this Dutch city in my hands. The wonderfully old smelling paper revealed names, addresses, dates and places of birth,  arrival and departure dates of all persons coming to this city and living in the same building as their employers between the years 1891 and 1900. Naturally, a lot of them were servants, but the register also included those with other professions, like "public women".

Up until then, prostitution had always been an abstract topic that I had never paid much attention to. Seeing the information of all of those women, however, made them somehow come to life. Suddenly, by simply reading their names, they became real women of flesh and blood, like me, who had lived on this planet too, only a century earlier. It made me wonder why they had come to Haarlem? If prostitution had been a career for life or just a quick way to earn money? What their lives would have been like? And in a broader context: to what extent the prostitution market was influenced by economic shifts, political decisions and societal responses? Although I had only just started my Bachelor of History at the VU University in Amsterdam, I knew then that the topic for my Master thesis was born.

In 2008 I received my degree with my MA thesis on the impact of modern economic growth on the prostitution market in Haarlem, from 1850 to 1900. Although my research was officially over, I still could not let the topic go. So I made a Dutch blog that I still consider my digital notebook of interesting found literature and resources. Recently I decided to start an English version of the blog as well. Besides translated posts in English, you will find references to literature and archival sources from countries outside The Netherlands. So this is the international version on the subject. My hope is that it will increase the awareness and interest of others on doing historical research on this fascinating topic.  

I am currently an external PhD student at the University of Utrecht. My research focuses on the development of prostitution businesses in the Netherlands between 1850-1911 under the influence of government policy, economic and socio-cultural changes. There is still plenty to find, research and write about!

Wilma van den Brink


Servants register Haarlem, 1891-1900 (NHA)

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