For the project 'Status Attainment during Industrialisation: life courses in local context' (SAIL), the HSN has built a database 'Marriage certificates Pupils of Dutch Higher Secondary Education' (HVL) with marriage certificates of pupils who attended higher secondary education in the years 1880/1881 and 1920. The research is carried out by drs. Richard Zijdeman and will result in a PhD at the Interuniversity Centre for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS), University of Utrecht. The project is financed by NWO (MAGW-open, 400-05-054) and supervised by dr. I. Maas, prof.dr. M.H.D. van Leeuwen and prof.dr. H. Flap.

The aim of the SAIL project is twofold. First, it is to describe regional differences and changes over time in the status attainment process. Second, it is to explain these differences using data on the individual as well as the contextual level. This project takes advantage of the major recent developments in sociological historical research. Large scale digitalization of registers and personal certificates provides new and population-representative data, amongst others on people's occupations. The Historical International Standard Classification of Occupations (HISCO) makes it possible to compare and code occupational titles from different regions and different periods in time. The recent rise of historic class schemes (HISCLASS, SOCPO) and historical occupational prestige scales (HIS-CAM) make it possible to rank the occupations according to their occupational prestige. By combining data on individuals (e.g. age, occupation, marital status) and information on the municipalities these individuals live in (e.g. population, number of steam engines, availability of mass transport) this project provides a more direct test of contrasting hypothesis on the status attainment process derived from modernisation and reproduction theory.

The HVL database continues on the already existing database of pupils of Dutch secondary education which formed the basis of the PhD-research of dr. C.A. Mandemakers 'HBS en Gymnasium: ontwikkeling, structuur, sociale achtergrond en schoolprestaties, Nederland, ca. 1800-1968'. The database contains only first marriages contracted in the Netherlands in the period 1890-1950. In total, 961 certificates were entered. The data collection was financed by ICS. In August 2006, the database was completed and released.

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