Why this call?

RUG, the University of Groningen, and Tresoar, the Centre for Frisian History and Literature at Leeuwarden, are currently building a database for the Sound Toll Registers (STR). The online version is called Sound Toll Registers Online (STRO). The online database is freely accessible at www.soundtoll.nl , or directy via http://dietrich.soundtoll.nl/public/index.php . We encourage the use of STRO as a research instrument.

We carry out this project in close cooperation with Rigsarkivet, the Danish State Archives in Copenhagen, where more than 700 of the original, handwritten volumes of the STR can be found. The entry of the bulk of the data was outsourced to Breed, the institute for sheltered employment at Nijmegen in the Netherlands, from 2009 to 2013. We continue the data entry as a volunteers’ project.

The Sound Toll Registers (STR) are among the most important sources for the economic and maritime history of Europe. The STR represent the  King of Denmark’s records of the toll levied on the passage of ships through the Sound, the strait between Denmark and Sweden, connecting the North and Baltic Seas.  Albeit with some gaps, the records, cover the period 1497 – 1857. They contain the data of 1.8 million passages, including for each passage - in principle - the names of the shipmasters and where they came from, the ports of departure and the ports of destination, the cargo manifest and the toll paid.
The database already  lists the data of approximately 1.5 million passages from the years 1634 – 1857. The remaining data, regarding 300,000 passages from the period 1497-1633, still have to be entered.

We appeal to interested and motivated volunteers. With the help of these volunteers we would like to complete STRO!