CZECH-L Archives

Archiver > CZECH > 2001-01 > 0978371175


From:
Subject: [CZ] Brno Archives
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 12:46:15 EST


<< Thank you Pat...I am going to Vienna, Austria and Brno, Czech in June
2001...guess I will need to search both names....Sheri >>

Do not go to the Brno archive without having reserved a table in advance, see
the report below. A Czech genealogist I have met lives in Moravia and he can
give you some advice about making good use of your time in the Brno archive.
Otherwise you will be very disappointed. Do not expect anyone there to speak
English. Write to:

(Karel Kysilka)

Karel speaks English. He has been a speaker at two Texas Czech conferences.

Karen

Following is a posting from the German-Bohemian list on the subject of the
Brno archives:

1.
VIP !!!!!
Try to book a research seat at the archives you want to visit WELL IN
ADVANCE. And by that I mean three months in advance in the summer months.
Since the Czech Archives were opened to the public and the collections
properly indexed etc, they have been literally swamped by researchers, both
private and academic. There are evidently loads of books being researched
now (and PHd dissertations) that require research in previous iron curtain
countries. It is the flavour of the day to research these archives and so
they are terribly busy. I went to Brno, and although they got a lot of help
from the Austrian Govt archivists to get their collections indexed, filed
etc, they are still not very well staffed and there are long waits for
requested material.

In August last year I asked a Brno resident to try and book me a research
seat for three days in early Oct when I knew I would be able to get to Brno,
but the earliest he could get me a reserved seat (guaranteed place), was
November, although he has some considerable influence with Brno archive
staff.
2.
If you dont have a confirmed guaranteed research seat, then make sure you
get to the archive when the doors open first thing in the morning, which is
usually 9 am. If you are there promptly and explain at the desk that you are
a foreigner with limited time and opportunity, and you ask very courteously
for some special consieration, you will probably go to the front of
the queue for the "no show" seats. That is, anyone who has booked a seat and
not tuned up by 9.10 loses out and someone in the queue gets the chance. I
had luck this way on my first day in Brno, but not on the second. But luck
was with me and a young man tipped me off that he would vacate his seat by
11am the following day although he had booked it for the whole day. So I
hung around and had a coffee and came back at 11 and he swopped with me,
which was great. My third day I got a seat after about an hour's wait. It
is not a very satisfactory situation if your time is limited, and
especially like me if
you are coming from Vienna - you have to leave Vienna at 6.30 to make sure
that you arrive in Brno for the 9am opening, and of course, if there is no
seat then you have to come again the next day which means another train
ticket etc.

3.
If you have a reserved guaranteed place DONT BE LATE - your seat will be
given to someone else within 5 - 10 minutes in a busy archive.

4.
Some English is spoken in the bigger cities, but usually at fairly senior
level of archivist and therefore if you need help in English, you might have
to wait quite a long time to get to see the English speaking staff. They
will NOT translate documents for you, but will help you if they can with the
indexes. Take a Czech/English dictionary with you as an absolutely
essential item, and whatever you do buy it in an English speaking country
because you will not find one easily in a French or German speaking country
in Europe, and you dont want to waste time trying to find one in a bookstore
in the CR when you could use your time for more importants pursuits.
German is quite well understood by quite a lot of the archivists although
they do not appear to enjoy speaking it much probably becuase they dont feel
they do so well enough.
I spoke to an American in Vienna who told me he was taking an Austrian
student with him to Prague to translate Czech and German texts for him while
he researched there. He was paying the student's food, travel and lodging
but no fee. I suppose that same concept could be adopted to visit other
centres.
5.

Try your best to write to the Archive in advance to check if they hold what
you are looking for. But be warned, dont take no for an answer if you have a
strong belief that what you are looking for is there, or have been advised
by someone else with knowledge that it should be there. I wrote in advance
of my visit (in German, although there is a translation service for Czech
through the Internet) to ask if Brno Archives had my info. and although
they replied quite quickly, I did not receive their letter before setting
off from South Africa
to Europe and eventually Brno. I did find some of what I was looking for in
Brno (not all because of lack of time to look), but co-incidentally when I
returned home and opened a letter waiting for me from Brno archives, I was
amazed to find they wrote to say they regretted that they did NOT have what
I was looking for.
So, once again, I repeat that the way you ask a question is obviously very
important, and that if you are not satisfied with the answer you get, then
keep asking - but keep asking politely so that you dont give offence and
intimate in any way that the archivist does not know his business.
6.
All the archives seem to have a limitation on the number of documents you
can request at a time. Usually only 3 - 5. So you need to make sure that you
dont waste opportunities asking for the wrong stuff. That means you MUST
consult their indexes very carefully to get exactly the right reference
numbers for what you want to look through. This is where you really need
help to get started. By writing in advance, you will probably get the
reference numbers back in the letter of confirmation, which saves a lot of
work and time.

7.
I can only emphasise that it all needs careful planning and forethought. You
need to keep your list of enquiries written down and carefully sorted
through to avoid duplication, or, worst of all, failing to consult what you
need to while you have the chance. Your list should have a checklist column
so that you can mark off as you go through your checking and reading.

8.
I bought in London at the PRO a very useful A4 size magnifying sheet which I
find very useful indeed in reading archival material, particularly if on
microfilm or microfiche. The usual kind of magnifying glass seems to me to
be OK for the incidental word or two, but to read whole sections of
documents this sheet is invaluable, I daresay it is available elsewhere and
is worth searching out wherever you live if you intend to do research
without partically blinding yourself in the process.

9.
Its thirsty work (often very stuffy too), so I think you need to make sure
that you have some refreshments in your locker that you can dip into every
few hours, Or else you will have to exit the building to go in search of a
coffee bar - also a waste of valuable time.

10. I am sure that I do not need to reinforce the warning that you MUST KNOW
WHICH PROVINCE/PARISH ETC your research material will be lodged. And this
too requires some hard work and letter confirmation in advance of you dont
want to waste time and do a lot of moving about from town to town.

11
The biggest problem and the hardest part of researching in the CR archives
is that no matter whether you can or cannnot read Czech or German, the old
handwriting and and cursive scripts are often, in fact usually, very
difficult to decifer. As an example. my ggmothers name was Dorothea, but
what it looks like written in English letters bears no resemblence
whatsoever to what it looks like in old German script or Czech. The same
applies to surnames, which you need to be able to spot quickly on pages if
you are looking through countless pages of documents. So lots of careful
homework and preparation is required to make sure you know what you are
looking for - that is what names and places look like written in Czech or
German or Latin script. I got someone to write out the names I needed and
them enlarged them and memoriesed the look of the words and then kept these
enlargements in front of me while I searched. And believe me I would have
overlooked what I was really looking for if I had not done this preparation.

12.
A final word of advice and caution, which applies to CR archive searches or
any other. Always have two copies made of everything if you can, and as soon
as you get them split them up and keep them separately- one in your suitcase
and one in your handbag or somewhere else. My husband lost a lot of his
research he had done in London by putting all his documents and notes in a
case which went missing and was never found. Once bitten twice shy!

Hope this all helps you.
\Regards and best wishes from Felicity


P>S>
You may be interested in my observation over the past three years visiting
Vienna and calling at various parishes (quite large ones in the city area),
the City Archives etc. Three years ago the staff at these places were very
helpful and courteous but really quite disinterested in the fact that I or
anyone else should want to research my family history. It was evidently not
a popular thing to do in Austria. But last year I noticed that whever I
went, staff showed more interest and said that they had now become
accustomed to locals and foreigners making these types of enquiries as they
had become far more commonplace, including among Austrian citizens.I think
that this just goes to proove the statement made my Internet service
suppliers and others that genealogy is the fastest growing hobby and
passtime in the Western world.






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