Félix Victor Goethals


Félix Victor Goethals was a Belgian genealogist and librarian.

Life

Goethals was born in Ghent on 4 June 1798. He studied law at Ghent University and interned at the public prosecutor's office in Brussels. From 1827 he worked as assistant librarian in Brussels city library, becoming head librarian in 1830. In 1842 the city sold its library collection to the Belgian state, and Goethals was responsible for transferring the holdings to the Royal Library of Belgium. The core of the Royal Library's holdings was the collection of Charles van Hulthem, bought in 1837. On 4 February 1843, Goethals was seconded to the Royal Library with the task of identifying duplicate holdings in the Van Hulthem and the Ville de Bruxelles collections that could be sold or exchanged. Resistance to this mission within the Royal Library, sustained by head librarian Reiffenberg, led to his removal on 1 April 1853. In retirement he pursued genealogical and bibliophile studies. He died in Brussels on 10 May 1872, bequeathing his own collection of 1,882 manuscripts and 2,224 printed books to the Royal Library at his death.

Works