Archival and Printed Sources


Prostitution Registers of the Dutch city Breda

An overview of Dutch sources can be found on the Dutch website  



Archival Sources



---------- Belgium -----------

Family Search


Felix Archief (Stad Antwerpen)

City Archive Brussels (Stadsarchief Brussel)
  • Police archives:  
    • general (regulations, posters)
      > request number: Pol. 280 (time period: 1840-1877); Pol. 268 (time period: 1865-1879)
    • bulletins des étrangers (Brussel): 1879-1885
      > request number: Pol. M.M.436 - Pol. M.M 448
    • reports suspected houses illegal prostitution etc
      > request number Pol. 281 (time period: 1844-1877)

City Archive St. Niklaas (Stadsarchief St. Niklaas) (link)
  • Modern Archive St. Niklaas (numer. 4420).
    Police surveillance brothels during 1858-1887 with... 
    • requests opening brothels, 
    • medical reports prostitutes and soldiers
    • organisations for criminalizing prostitution



------------ United Kingdom -------------


British Newspaper Archive (paid subscription)


Glasgow Women's Library


Internet Archive


The National Archives - London


The National Archives UK



---------- United States -----------

New York



Printed Sources






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choker necklace and prostitution

Image
In 2016 I was asked if nineteenth-century women who wore a ribbon around their neck (or a choker  as it was called), were considered prostitutes? The reason for inquiring was a resurrection at the time of this type of necklace among celebrities and teenagers. And even now, five years later, Harpers Bazar still considers a choker a fashion trend . This past week during an online lecture on the Belle Epoque in Paris,  the choker was mentioned. This reminded me of the former question. So I did some searching for the answer. (1)   According to Encyclopaedia Britannica , the definition of a choker is:   "a necklace that fits closely around the neck like a snug, high collar". The reference source also explains that the choker became popular in the nineteenth century. In its most common early form, it contained one or several rows of pearls. Halfway through the century, a choker made of a velvet band with a pin or pearl became fashionable. The red ribbon version t...
Read more

Olympia by Manet: a social and sexual taboo

Image
In addition to my previous blog post on chokers , I found an interesting online lecture series on the painting of Olympia by Manet. This particular episode included here, from a series of four videos, focuses on society and prostitution and is called: a social and sexual taboo.  The company responsible for this video is  Art d'Histoire . By producing video's in a lecture format their goal is to reach students and academics. The presentations contain references to mainly primary (printed) sources and according to the website, the content is entrusted to a team of historians and philosophers. The names of these researchers are, however, not included online.    All lectures are presented in French by  Lisa Martinot . Her presentation skills are excellent and the content is compelling and well researched. Unfortunately, the dubbed English version has been removed. The only addition I have to this particular lecture on prostitution is that I am missing a few e...
Read more

Secret register of released prisoners, 1882-1897

Image
Looking at an old photograph of a person really brings the past to life. If you are lucky enough to find one from the 19th Century at an archive, then chances are that the depicted person was having problems with the law. And if he or she was added to the Dutch  secret register of released prisoners , it was even worse. Because then they had committed a serious offence and were considered dangerous for society . Access to the register was in those times limited to people working in specific professions. Nowadays you can  find the old register online  at the Provincial Archives of Brabant ( Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum - BHIC). (1) Among the listed, I found brothel owners and prostitutes, like the grim-looking man you see on the right. His name was Gerardus Mulder.  The initiative for a secret register came from the Minister of Justice at the time, Anthony Modderman .  (2) From 1882 to 1897 all persons that had been convicted for serious offences wer...
Read more