L8

Patricia VAN DEN EECKHOUT & Guy VANTHEMSCHE,

Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19e - 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave. Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission royale d’Histoire, 2009, 1630 p.
50 €

 

This book offers a general and critical survey of all types of sources produced in Belgium during the last two hundred years. It analyses both the written and unwritten sources; it gives an in-depth treatment of archival, published and electronic resources. This reference work (published in Dutch) consists of the following subdivisions:

General research tools (including a chapter on freedom of information)
Public institutions
Municipalities / Provinces / Regions and communities / Head of State / Parliament / Federal Ministries / Semi-governmental institutions / Judicial power / The “French” and “Dutch” periods / The First and the Second World War / Notaries / Universities / Advisory and supervisory bodies
Private institutions
Parties / Companies / Employers’ Organisations / Organisations of Self-Employed Workers / Farmers’ Associations / Christian socio-political associations / Trade Unions / Mutual health insurance organisations / Feminist Associations / Doctors’ and Lawyers’ Associations / New Social Movements / Socio-cultural Organisations / Catholic Church / Protestants Churches / Jewish Community / Muslim Community / Associations of Free-Thinkers and Free-masonry
Media
Newspapers and Periodicals / Audiovisual Media
Ego-documents (archives of families and individuals)
Unwritten sources
Buildings and objects / Oral Sources / Charts and Plans / Photographs / Films

The first edition of this reference work was published ten years ago, in 1999 (by the VUB Press). Since then, many aspects of Belgian society have changed drastically, scientific research concerning Belgian contemporary history has made important advances and archivists and bibliographers have facilitated access to new source materials. These developments underline the urgency of a new (revised and enlarged) edition.

More than sixty specialists, members of Belgian universities, research centres and archives, participated in the writing of this volume. Some chapters were simply updated; others were thoroughly rewritten, still others are completely new (especially the contributions concerning the universities, the new social movements, doctors’ and lawyers’ associations, the Muslim community, charts and plans).