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Zenon
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Joined: 28 Apr 2007
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Post Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:04 am      Post subject: Article: "Remote" research in Polish State Archive
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"Remote" research in Polish State Archives - practical hints.

Post your question, share your own experience and discuss about this arcitle.


Last edited by Zenon on Sat May 15, 2010 6:47 am; edited 1 time in total
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:55 am      Post subject:
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Several days ago Mz Yvonne Izatt, Chairperson of International Settlers Group, A Service Group of The Genealogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne Australia http://www.gsv.org.au/Groups/isg.htm contacted me about James article. She wrote that she found the article to be very helpful and asked for permission of publish it in the Group Newsletter.

Yesterday I received the Newsletter. Below there is its cover page - look at the editorial Smile :



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NancyM
PolishOrigins Matka Chrzestna


Joined: 14 Dec 2007
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Post Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:38 am      Post subject:
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James and Ted are becoming very famous in Australia Exclamation
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James
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Post Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:54 pm      Post subject: famous where ??
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I should have expected it ! That my 15 mins. of " Fame ", would be in a country about as far away from my home as you can get , and one that I most likely will never see. Och dobrze ! ??? Rolling Eyes
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:34 pm      Post subject:
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To better illustrate to process of communication with Archives as well as possible rewards for your efforts, we added pictures (Archive's letter and copies of records) to the Article.
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James
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:34 pm      Post subject: Polish Archive - cover letter
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In a prior post, I had made mention, that when a Polish Archive sends you copies of certificates, there will be a cover letter in Polish , stating what information is on those copies. Well , today I recieved an envelope from the Archwium in Wloclawek, containing copies of certificates I had asked for, and guess what ? The cover letter only stated that my copies were inclosed , but did not explain what they were ! ? Confused
I do not know if this a new policy, or someone slipped up and forgot to include one , or what happened.
The copies I had asked for were in the envelope. Very Happy

I thought I should post this, just to keep us updated on research through the Polish Archives.

james
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James
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:05 am      Post subject: Polish archive responses
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Since my last update, I've had contact with a few more Polish Archives, and wanted to share the latest happenings.

Wloclawek Archiwum responded to me several times via e-mail, which is a great time saver, as they used to always respond by regular mail. The e-mails were still written in Polish. Some of the e-mails contained the info I was asking for, and that allowed me to select what copies I would like to obtain, and then the archive sent them via regular mail. So it seems that more communication will be by e-mails , hopefully. Smile

Torun Archiwum responded to my postal letter with an e-mail, written in English Very Happy , and even though they didn't have any of the info I asked for , they included an e-mail address to another archive , that they stated should contain the info I was looking for.

I'm currently awaiting a reply from another archive, and will be interested to see how that transpires.
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BobK
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Joined: 11 Nov 2008
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:54 pm      Post subject: Source of information on Germans from Poland
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The other day I found http://www.ezab.org/ , a website for information on Lutheran churches throughout Germany and Eastern Europe. The site explained that information from Catholic churches had to be mailed to a different address. All is in either German or English.

One web page allowed a query to be sent. I entered a few names of some of the German ancestors, approx birth years and their town (Klokock, near Lipno, and dates in the 1880's). I didn't add their parents names and many other details as I didn't expect much of an answer.

In less than 24 hours I got back an email confirmation, in English, of not only those names, but several others, with their birth years, the parents marriage year and the mother's family name!

I couldn't believe they would find it all so fast. Obviously, they have all the information in a database. This is in comparison to the frustration of trying to find my mother's information from a Catholic church in Lida, which was Poland but is Belarus today.

They're asking 48 Euros for an estimated hour plus to find the books, also copying and postage costs, for the church records (seems about the same as I've seen on Polish web sites). I'm waiting to find out how I'm to pay.

So, if you have, or think you may have, Lutheran ancestors. Try that website - they operate in the 21st century!..


Bob K.
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Shellie
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Joined: 18 Feb 2009
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:54 am      Post subject:
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I found this helpful, but I was wondering if someone can provide more specific details: This article states that:
Another organization to contact to perform a family search is the National Archive in Warsaw. Its address is:
Naczelnik Wydziahu Wspolpracy z Zagranica
Archiwow Panstwowych
ul. Dluga 6
Skrytka Pocztowa 1005
00-950 Warszawa, Poland
If they can not perform a search for you for what ever reason, they will direct you to the correct archive to write to.


Did I understand the article correctly - that this is the source to consult if the info we seek is over 100yrs old?
Is this Archive for the entire country, or just Warsaw?
Do you send money for the info?
Can the letter be written in English, or must it be in Polish?
Can someone on this forum suggest some general wording for a first letter of inquiry to this Archive in Warsaw?

Thanks!
Shellie
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:24 am      Post subject:
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I think I mentioned it before, but I am sure it is worth repeating... It is not easy to find a predictable rules in contacts with Polish Archives.. Each branch has it owns methods of communicating with inquirers and every time when I send request to them I learn something new Wink . This is my experience (maybe I have a bad luck Very Happy ). However, what I have to admit is that it is more easier now than it was only a few years ago. Now very often you can contact them and handle almost everything (except for payment) via e-mail. They often even send you digital scans of records, instead of paper xerox copies.

Now replying to your specific questions, Shellie.
Shellie wrote:

Another organization to contact to perform a family search is the National Archive in Warsaw. Its address is:
Naczelnik Wydziahu Wspolpracy z Zagranica
Archiwow Panstwowych
ul. Dluga 6
Skrytka Pocztowa 1005
00-950 Warszawa, Poland
If they can not perform a search for you for what ever reason, they will direct you to the correct archive to write to.


Did I understand the article correctly - that this is the source to consult if the info we seek is over 100yrs old?
Is this Archive for the entire country, or just Warsaw?
Do you send money for the info?


I have never contacted them and on the new website of Archives (updated a few weeks ago) I didn't find any note what are the specific tasks of this department (in fact I didn't find the address mentioned above, only phone no.). If you want to check if there are any records from a given place in Archives resources in the whole Poland go to Pradziad database http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en (you should know name of the parish).

Shellie wrote:
Can the letter be written in English, or must it be in Polish?

As far as I know they sometimes reply to English letters but.... in Polish (like in James' case). Again, it doesn't have to be a rule.

Shellie wrote:
Can someone on this forum suggest some general wording for a first letter of inquiry to this Archive in Warsaw?

Most important is to give as many specifics - names, places, dates spouses, children - as possible. The official form of letter shouldn't be so important.
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James
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:09 am      Post subject:
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Hi Shellie,
In addition to the info that Zenon gave you, I'll add a few things, based on personal experience writing to Polish archives.

Here's an example of my letters :

Director,

I am interested in obtaining copies of Birth, Marriage, and Death
certificates of ________ , my great grandfather.

He was born _____ , in _________ , Poland.
His parents were _______ and _______ .
He died in _____ , in _______ , Poland.

I would also like to obtain copies of Birth certificates of all children born to him.

Thank you for your assistance.
Gratefully,
_________

This example has worked fine for me, and I've written to 6 - 7 different archives, over the last several years.
If you don't hear back from the archive in a month or two, they probably did not receive your letter, in which case , you can email the archive and ask them if they received your letter, or just write another letter.
Only once have I received a reply in English. Sad , all others are in Polish.
Thankfully , now, most of the replys, and copies of documents, come via email. Very Happy
After the archive receives your letter, they will inform you of the amount of money due, before they begin to search. They will give you a bank account number, where you should deposit the fee. How you get it there can be a challenge. If they find documents that you requested, they will inform you, and tell you how much it costs for copies, and again they will provide the bank info.

I hope this helps you get started. I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Good luck
James
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James
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:20 am      Post subject:
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Hi again Shellie,

Did you clik on the " Remote" research in Polish State archives - practical hints, in the first post , at the top of this page. You will find some additional info, and examples of replys there.
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KKempa



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Post Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:46 pm      Post subject:
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What is "dolne" and "gorne"? As in Rozdziele Dolne and Rozdziele Gorne.

And the Pradziad database link above...how come I end up with no results from entering the town Rozdziele, county Bochnia? What am I doing wrong? And which religion is Roman Catholic (I can't read Polish)? Thank you.
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:18 am      Post subject:
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KKempa wrote:
What is "dolne" and "gorne"? As in Rozdziele Dolne and Rozdziele Gorne.


"Dolne" - lower, "górne" - upper. This is usually one village divided into two parts situated lower and higher: Lower Rozdziele and Upper Rozdziele. Sometimes you can also find, especially in south-eastern part of Poland, names "niżne" - lower and "wyżne" - upper.

KKempa wrote:
And the Pradziad database link above...how come I end up with no results from entering the town Rozdziele, county Bochnia? What am I doing wrong? And which religion is Roman Catholic (I can't read Polish)? Thank you.


Because there are no records in the State Archives from this village. Rozdziele Dolne and Górne in Bochnia county used to belong to Rzegocin (now Żegocina) parish. It is common for this region for the records to be still kept locally in parishes (Krakow/Małopolska region) and you would have to check either in Żegocina or in Rozdziele parish if there are any records from the years you are interested in.
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KKempa



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Post Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:59 am      Post subject:
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Thank you so much, Zenon.

I thought I asked (but see I didn't) what "Spis Famille" means. Dark, blurry records on one of the LDS microfilms I'm trying to read. I only glanced at them before I left, had spent the rest of the morning looking at the other film. I couldn't figure out what they were.
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