ORANJESTAD (AAN) – Two employees from the National Archives of Aruba recently represented the island at the ACURIL Conference held in Puerto Rico from June 6 to 12, 2026.
Natalia Rodriguez and Johny van Eerden delivered a one-hour workshop titled “From Collections to Connections: Finding Our Stories in the Archives,” demonstrating how the digital platform Coleccion Aruba and other archival resources can help people research family history and tell their personal stories.
Van Eerden also joined Asbjørn Hellum of Denmark and Andy Stauder of READ-COOP to present how artificial intelligence and the Transkribus platform are making colonial archives more accessible for researchers and the public.
The presentation highlighted years of international collaboration aimed at making it easier to search historical records, identify names in colonial archives, and improve access to information about family history, migration and Caribbean connections.
The workshop received positive feedback from conference attendees. The National Archives also thanked Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied for its financial support, which made participation in the conference possible.
