Part 4 Travel and Research in Poland's State Archives
Although I did not actually have any research to do in the State Archives in Poland, I did get to the Warsaw State Archives for Metrical records. I had actually been by this building a number of times during previous visits in 2004 and 2006 and never knew it was the Archives. This building houses the Birth, Marriage & Death Records that are over 100 years old. Records that are more recent are kept at the local city/town Civil Registry office. This is a beautiful building and just up the street is the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army. Across the street from the Cathedral is the Warsaw Uprising Memorial, which is a must see. There are a lot of places to visit and see near the Archives building, so I would allow yourself some time for a little sightseeing.
I had a visit to the newly opened State Archives in Kielce which had only opened 3 months earlier. I had not been aware that they had moved to new facilities and found a brand new building.It is a simple process to get access to the building. I had to sign in and get a badge stating I was a visitor, then proceed up the elevator to the reading/research room. Cameras are not allowed in the reading room, but I was given permission by the director to take a few snapshots of their new facilities to show everyone back home. the government has begun an experimental program allowing visitors to take photos of documents with their own cameras. The last I had heard was that this has been initiated in the Archives in Warsaw and in Łódz. Hopefully this will be accepted and be allowed in all the branches of the State Archives!
While researching in southeastern Poland I found I needed to pay a visit to the Archives in Rzeszów. I soon discovered that what I was hoping to find did not exist anymore. The church was missing a few years of records and I had hoped I would find those in the archives. For whatever reason those records had disappeared leaving behind only 10 years of birth records which the church already had.In a future blog post I will discuss missing records in Poland.
