Shocked, bewildered and frustrated. My feelings on seeing the door bolted at The London Metropolitan Archives on Wednesday. All archived up and nowhere to go.What could I do? When would I see an archive again? My son Andrew reminded me that Amsterdam has an archive, too. An excellent one.
He has a vested interest. The Nazi occupation. Hunting for NSB members in the police archive. Stadsarchief Amsterdam has shedloads on Dutch Nazis. Their material on brewing is more limited.
We payed a brief visit there today. Followed by a rather longer sojourn in Wildeman. I looked at brewing details from Heineken Rotterdam and papers from the Dutch brewers' organisation. Price-fixing agreements and complaints of brewers labeling low-gravity Lagerbier as Pilsner. They wouldn't do anything like that now, would they?
Andrew took the photo. It really is very plush inside. Honestly, it makes the LMA look like a shed. My shed. Which is on the point of collapse. They have lamps over the reading desks, too. Little things. And a pub inside the building. It's worth a look inside even if you couldn't give a toss about old documents.
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