The combined effort of curators, documentalists, conservationists and restorers has resulted in the publication of a catalogue of the city's old master paintings before 1800, entitled 'Oude meesters van de stad Amsterdam: schilderijen tot 1800'. It provides a background to the origin of the painting collection, includes illustrations of some of the finest examples, and offers a basic inventory of all the works. Accompanying the publication of this volume, the Amsterdam Historical Museum has launched an online catalogue of the old master paintings. The entire edifice of facts and information accumulated by generations of researchers and documentalists, is now available on Internet for scholars and lay public alike.

While the handy volume offers a tangible overview of the state of the collection in 2008, the database is a dynamic system in which staff continually add new information. As other sections of the collection become digitally accessible it will be possible to connect all kinds of items in the city's collection. This rich and varied collection is an ideal source for this type of research. Inspired by the success of the old master catalogue we are now hard at work making the rest of the collection available online: www.ahm.nl/schilderijen.