New Collection: Completing the Picture

A simple story – a man from Pijnacker meets a woman from Rotterdam. They marry in The Hague, and eventually return there to retire. But this doesn’t give the whole picture. He worked in Canada, she in Papua New Guinea, and they met in Hong Kong. This is where the Expatriate Archive Centre comes in, to fill the gaps. We preserve life stories of expats such as the Goldbergs because otherwise these stories could be lost or discarded.

Frank Goldberg recently donated his fascinating collection of scrapbooks, photographs, airmail letters, newspaper clippings and more, along with his detailed memoir. His wife was also an expat, and they met in Hong Kong in the 1950s, where their four children were later born. They eventually returned to the Netherlands where two of their children now live, the other two having become expats themselves.

Your story won’t be evident to anyone looking at registries or records; there is a whole life in-between, and it might be scattered across countries. By donating your collection of paperwork, tickets, photos and other documents, you are ensuring that your expat story is preserved for the future. We accept material in any language, and we can arrange free delivery from anywhere in the world.