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Archiver > CZECH > 2001-01 > 0978371166


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Subject: [CZ] Archivist vs. Pro
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 12:46:06 EST


<< I specifically asked for death records--some were found, others not. It is
time consuming for them, more so than the other records, if you are going
back far, expect to pay a premium price. My largest charge was $700.00.>>

<< Back in 1994 or 95, I received birth, marriage and death info
from the archive. There were 7 pages and it cost me $75 which is
the limit I put on it. Apparently, costs have gone up. >>

There was recently some talk about relative costs on the German-Bohemian
list. The consensus seemed to be that if you write to the archive directly
you will pay relatively little but you may wait as long as a year for a
reply. If you hire professionals like T&P or Archivex you will get a very
comprehensive report( with translations if requested) and you will get it in
a relatively short time. But it will cost hundreds of dollars.

Some of the professional reports I have seen include information taken from
Land Catasters and last wills and testaments and marriage contracts.
(Marriage contracts stating what property bride and groom would bring to the
marriage were still made in the early 20th century.) I have never seen the
same kind of information provided by an archivist but that doesn't mean they
don't provide it if you ask for it.

All reports say that all the Czech archives are woefully understaffed and
underequipped. It will be a long time before they have the copy machines,
computers and workers that they need. It is a question of available funds as
well as trained personnel. A number of the archives have Email. Email
addresses are at the archive site linked to the site for the CR interior
ministry. The site is in Czech but the word for archive is easy to select in
order to get that page. If I can find the URL I will post it. Otherwise go
to the CR Embassy site and see if there is an Email contact there and ask for
the URL for the Ministry of the Interior.

By the way, a friend told me that he was able to get some information on
marriages and births in his family from the town hall at Stribro. The
vice-mayor wrote back to him in English. Apparently there are old registers
in the town archives. Stribro has been a "county seat" since 1849 when
serfdom ended and administrative districts were reorganized from the old
noble estates (Herrschafts) to a Bezirke (like a county) and Kreis (Kraj) =
greater district or region = system.

Around 1859 the recruiting system for the Austrian army changed somewhat.
Before then each regiment was responsible for its own recruiting and had to
maintain its own records of who was eligible to serve. The change put the
record-keeping in the hands of the county adminstration. The only way they
could maintain such records of eligibility was by knowing when people were
born, married, and died. Men who registered for the draft now registered at
their "county seat".

I suspect that the old conscription registers resemble the vital records that
parishes kept. It could be worthwhile to have someone look at what is in the
archives of the county seat of your ancestral birthplace there if you are
looking for information later than 1850. I am not sure exactly when that
change from regimental conscription lists to county conscription lists took
place or how far back those archives would go --I don't think it would be
before 1850.

My use of the word "county" is arbitrary and I use it because Americans
understand it as a small sub-division of a greater area. Czech friends have
said they prefer the word "district" and then use "region" for the greater
area.

My way of stating it would say that Stribro county is in the Plzen district.
They would prefer to say that Stribro district is in the Pilsen region. I
understand that the reason they don't like county is because their
understanding of the word is that it refers strictly to the estate of a
Count. I prefer to use the word in its American English context.

Karen

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