Yesterday and today: Bocholt's town history

The Bocholt City Archive is the "memory of the city". As such, it has the task of selecting from the completed written documents of the Bocholt City Council and administration and the Liedern-Werth office, which was dissolved in 1975, those that are important for research into the city's history or for legal, cultural and/or historical reasons, and to secure them permanently and make them available to the interested public.

The city archive is the responsible public archive for the city of Bocholt and the former municipalities of Barlo, Biemenhorst, Hemden, Holtwick, Liedern, Lowick, Mussum, Spork and Suderwick of the incorporated Liedern-Werth district.

From medieval documents to e-mails, the town archive documents more than 800 years of the town's history. The city archive is therefore the contact point for all questions relating to Bocholt's history.

In addition to the administration, we are primarily available to the interested public in all matters relating to the history of the city of Bocholt. So if you want to find out more about Bocholt, come and visit us.

We look forward to your visit and will be happy to assist you with any questions you may have and provide you with guidance when working with the various sources.

As the "memory of the city", the city archive not only has the task of storing knowledge, but also the task of communicating historical awareness.

In addition to ongoing projects such as the photo of the month, the Bocholt city history discussion group or the publication series "Our Bocholt" (together with the Verein für Heimatpflege Bocholt e. V.) and "Bocholter Quellen und Beiträge", the city archive also participates in city history projects, such as the recent city anniversary 1222-2022.

For interested members of the public, the city archive offers free guided tours of the stacks on request, with an introduction to the variety of sources available, research techniques and the use of unique sources.

As the "memory of the city", the city archive not only has the task of storing knowledge, but also the task of communicating historical awareness.

As part of its active historical education work, the city archive thus makes an important contribution to the city's culture of remembrance.

The city archive also sees itself as an extracurricular place of learning and can be thematically integrated into school lessons by means of a visit.

After prior consultation with the teachers, a wide variety of projects can be offered on various topics, for example industrialisation, the 1848 revolution or the First World War, in terms of type and scope.

In addition, the archive is available to support all pupils and students in the selection and preparation of specialist or term papers.

The archive's holdings are diverse and cover the period since the 13th century. The oldest archive document is a document issued by the Bishop of Münster dated 30 September 1201, while the most recent archive document is this morning's daily newspaper.

The city archive preserves the official records of the city of Bocholt as well as those of the former Liedern-Werth office (until 1975) and its legal predecessors. The archive is constantly growing thanks to ongoing donations from the city administration, in the near future in the form of e-files.

In order to expand the future historical picture, private sources are also recorded, taken over, stored and catalogued in addition to these municipal documents. These are non-official sources (e.g. regional newspapers, estates of important personalities from city life, club and company archives) as well as historical and local history collections (e.g. maps, photos, films, posters, etc.).

In total, the holdings of the Bocholt City Archives comprise around 1.2 kilometres of shelving, and the trend is rising:

including:

• around 13,000 files and processes
• around 820 documents
• 750 official records
• around 1,050 maps and plans
• 800 posters
• Daily newspaper "Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt" since 1875 (with gaps)
• Civil registers from 1874
• Church records of the parish of St George from 1654
• Around 20,000 photos on the history of the town of Bocholt
• 25 estates

and much more!

In addition to these sources, the city archive also includes a historical service library (reference library), which contains literature on the Bocholt region and neighbouring areas as well as archival and auxiliary scientific works.

The archive holdings can be consulted free of charge in the reading room during opening hours.

The use of the holdings of the Bocholt City Archives is open to anyone interested within the framework of the legal provisions, regardless of whether they are pursuing scientific research, have an official concern or wish to use the archives out of personal interest.

In principle, personal inspection is free of charge within the framework of the North Rhine-Westphalian Archive Act and the municipal archive statutes.

However, fees are charged for special services such as research by archive staff, as well as for reproductions - except for scientific/school purposes.

Guided tours of the stacks can be arranged free of charge for groups, with an introduction to the variety of sources available, research techniques and the use of unique sources.

Advance booking is recommended so that we can prepare your visit to the archive in the best possible way and have the required archive materials ready.