Thursday, November 21, 2024

sherlocktreetgalogo250250FBbutton1

 

Upcoming Events

Sherlock's Genealogical Adventures

Follow Sherlock on his adventures into genealogical mysteries.
3 minutes reading time (591 words)

Research in the Diocesan Archives of Tarnów


dsc05936I had the opportunity to do some research in the Diocesan Archives of Tarnów when I was in Poland.

The process is simple... you must sign in the "guest book" and then if you have not been to the archives before, you will need to purchase a researchers id card which is good for that calendar year. Of course you must present some identification which for the foreigner would be your passport.

If I recall correctly it cost about 15 złoty which is roughly about $5 give or take depending on the exchange rate. Research time costs 6 złoty per hour.

The Archive is open Monday thru Friday 9 am to 3pm with a break for lunch from noon to 1pm. On Saturdays it is open for only 3 hours from 9am to noon.

This is tedious work. There are no "books" per se, but instead bundles of old paper. Each bundle contains a span of years worth of records for either birth / baptism,dsc05919 marriage, death / burial for all villages of the parish for those years. In addition to the standard metrical records there are other various misc. types of records available, including parish correspondence.

Each priest would make hand copies of the church books that would go to the Diocese. Each bundle of records contains those pages put into alphabetical order by village name.

Since you are handling individual sheets of paper, extra care must be taken not to damage the old documents as you move them to a pile of finished pages. Some of the pages show their age with areas that may be missing because moisture and molds have done their damage years ago. In some cases, areas of the page were left unreadable because that section of the page was already gone. It is always advisable to wash your hands after handling those documents.

I was thankful that there were not that many people were there researching at the same time, as there were times when many maps were dragged out, reference books and documents all at the same time. A majority of the table space was available to spread out.

dsc05914A number of reference tools were also available. A special map of Poland detailing all the parishes within the diocese made it a lot easier when trying to figure out what parish records needed to be searched next. The other item that was useful to me was a book that shows the parishes and all the villages that a particular parish serves. It also lists the villages that it served at one time, but no longer serves, but does say what parish serves that village. This type of information is not available online. You would have to get that information from this book. If I understood correctly, this book is republished about every 5 years with updated information.

After research at the archives was complete, I asked and received permission to photograph their library, so I could share it with everyone. This will give you a little bit of insight into what the Diocesan Archives of Tarnów looks like.
dsc05943 
I can not say enough for the staff that work there, they were very friendly and helpful. The priest in charge there became quite interested in my project, as I was not finding records that should really be there. When all was said and done, it was concluded by everyone who had been listening and keeping up with the frustrated search that it appeared that the priest had not kept consistent records. It did explain a lot when I was not finding what I knew should be there.

×
Stay Informed

When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.

So? What Cities did I go to in Poland?
The Church in Szewna, Poland
 

Comments 6

Guest - Jo on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 08:56

Hi, your site is great. I was wondering if you have a photo of the map of the parishes near Krempna / Podkarpackie Province? Thanks, Jo

Hi, your site is great. I was wondering if you have a photo of the map of the parishes near Krempna / Podkarpackie Province? Thanks, Jo
Tim Firkowski on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 09:17

Hi Jo,

Sadly I do not. It looks like Kempna would probably be served by the Rzeszów Diocesan Archives. I was at the Tarnów Diocesan Archives. I was actually very near Krempna when I was there last summer. I had some research to do in Krosno & Głowienka. Email me direct & maybe I can come up with some information for you.

Hi Jo, Sadly I do not. It looks like Kempna would probably be served by the Rzeszów Diocesan Archives. I was at the Tarnów Diocesan Archives. I was actually very near Krempna when I was there last summer. I had some research to do in Krosno & Głowienka. Email me direct & maybe I can come up with some information for you.
Guest - Marlena on Monday, 26 August 2013 10:24

Hi
Love Your site. My family comes from Szewna Poland and they are buried at the cementary in Szewna. I want to find the birth , death and marriage records. Do You think this information would be located in Tarnow ? Any tips You can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks. Marlena

Hi Love Your site. My family comes from Szewna Poland and they are buried at the cementary in Szewna. I want to find the birth , death and marriage records. Do You think this information would be located in Tarnow ? Any tips You can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks. Marlena
Guest - Chuck Van Den Eeden on Wednesday, 30 October 2013 14:43

Tim is there an email address for the Diocesan Archives in Tarnow? Any indication the Priest[s] would respond to email requests for help in lookups?

Tim is there an email address for the Diocesan Archives in Tarnow? Any indication the Priest[s] would respond to email requests for help in lookups?
Guest - Anna D on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 13:14

Hello, I am looking for RCC records from Nawojowa and Nowy Sacz. I am aware that the LDS has copies, which I am researching. Sometime ago I thought reading that the Tarnow records would be digitized. Do you know anything about it?
Thank you and my apology for bothering you.

Hello, I am looking for RCC records from Nawojowa and Nowy Sacz. I am aware that the LDS has copies, which I am researching. Sometime ago I thought reading that the Tarnow records would be digitized. Do you know anything about it? Thank you and my apology for bothering you.
Tim Firkowski on Thursday, 14 August 2014 04:54

Anna, Although I do not know the status of the digitization of the Tarnów area records, I know that the digitization process in underway all over in Poland. LDS is also in the process of digitizing its microfilm. This is of course an ongoing process and will take many years. I am sure that digitization of metrical records will be some of the first on the list, but there are many records that may never get digitized and would only be available for viewing at archives themselves.

Anna, Although I do not know the status of the digitization of the Tarnów area records, I know that the digitization process in underway all over in Poland. LDS is also in the process of digitizing its microfilm. This is of course an ongoing process and will take many years. I am sure that digitization of metrical records will be some of the first on the list, but there are many records that may never get digitized and would only be available for viewing at archives themselves.
Already Registered? Login Here
Thursday, 21 November 2024

Captcha Image

Sherlock's Latest Blog Post

 T he long awaited day has arrived. The series of books that are guides to researching docments in other languages is complete. For awhile now, the translation guide books for Polish, Latin & Russ...

Blog Tags

.ged 18th Century 1940 Census 19th Century 20th Century 23 and Me 3 Maja ACGS Airport Aleksandra Kacprzak American-Canadian Genealogy Society Ancestors Ancestry DNA APG Apple Archives Archives.com Association of Professional Genealogists atDNA Auschwitz Autosomal DNA Barbarka Memorial Będzin Berestechko Bergen-Belsen Białaczów Biały Orzeł gazetka Bierzgłowski Castle Bieszczady Mountains Birkenau Black Manor Blogging Bluehost Bobolice Books Boston Brda River Brick Wall Bright Solid Bydgoszcz Calendar Camera Canada Castle Ceil Wendt Jensen Cemetery Centrum Kulturalno-Kongresowe Jordanki Christmas Chrzanów Churches Ciagała Ciechocinek City Directory Cloth Hall Concentration Camp Conference Copernicus Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy Criminal Records Croisetiere Czchów Czech Republic Czerna Dąbrowa Górnicza Dachau Darrin Lythgoe Dear Myrtle Dębowe Mocne Deed Diocesan Archives DNA Dorena Wasik Dwór Czarne England Family History Library Family Tree DNA FamilySearch.org FGS FHL Find my Past Firkowski Fold3 Forensic Genealogy Forensic Genealogy Institute France Frankfurt French Canadian French-Canadian Genealogy FTDNA Galicia GEDCOM Genealogy Genealogy Roadshow Genetic Genealogy Georgia Germany Gniewkowo Goczałkowice-Zdrój Gosprzydowa Gowarczów Grande Bibliotheque Grave Great Depression Gregorian Grudziądz Grzawa Gubałówka Gulag Harmęże Historic Village Historical Society History History Lines Hohenfelz Host Immigration In Their Words Indexes Inowrocław iPad iPod Touch Irish Jacek Jakubiec Jan Matejko Jelenia Góra Jerome Kotchi Jonathon Shea Joomla Judy Russell Julian Julitta Poisson Kasprowy Wierch Katowice Katyn Kazimierz Pulaski Keynote Kielce Klecza Dolne Kluki Konopa Końskie Kórnik Kościuszko Kraków Kresy-Siberia ks. Walenty Waloszek Language Library Lipnica Murowana London Lublin Ludwigsburg Ludwik Rahm MAC Magazine Maków Podhalański Malbork Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company Massachusetts Metrical Records Micherda Miedzna Drewniana Military Mill Island Mirka Wojnar Mirosław Firkowski Mirów Mirów Castle mitochondrial DNA Mocavo Monastery Montreal Morskie Oko Mountain mtDNA Museum NARA Navy Nazi NEHGS NERGC Networking Neuengamme Newspapers Niepołomice Niepołomice Castle Norway Nowy Wiśnicz Castle Old Buildings Old Number Six Book Depot Opoczno Organization Orlęta Armii Krajowej Orłowo Oświęcim PAJ Paradysz Parish Periodicals PGSCTNE PGSM Philately Pierniki Piwczyk Poland Polish American Foundation Polish American Journal Polish Culture Polish Food Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast Polish Genealogy Polish Tradition Polonia Business Association Poznań Primary Source Probate Prussia Przegorzały Castle Pszczyna Quebec Record your history Records Registry of Deeds Remininsce Magazine Repository Research Reunion 10 Rogalin Rogów Ron Arons Rootstech Russia Rynek Rzeszów Salt Lake City Schwarzbach Search Engine Secondary Source Ship's Manifest Silesia Sing Sing Prison Skotniki Śmigus-Dyngus Software Sonia Meza Sosnowiec Soundex Sources SS-5 SSDI St. Nicolas St. Roch Stamp Collecting Staniątki Stanisław Firkowski Stare Miasto Stary Wiśnicz Stefan Wisniewski Stefania Firkowska Sto Lat Stories Stuttgart Submarines Sucha Góra Suchatówka Sukiennice Sw. Mikołaj Sw. Roch Święto Konstytucji Szewna Tadeusz Kościuszko Tarnów Tatry Mountains Technology Teutonic Knights Thanksgiving Thatched Roof The Legal Genealogist The Next Generation The Warwick Arms Pub Think Hotel Tim Firkowski TNG Tomaszów Toruń Transparent Language Travel Treuchtlingen Tyniec Tyniec Castle UCONN Polish Cultural Society Uffenheim Ukraine Upton Chandler House Museum USS Raton Virginia Virtual Museum Vital Record Warner Fall Foliage Festival Warner Historical Society Warsaw Wawel Castle WDYTYA Website Website Design WFFF White Eagle newspaper Who Do You Think You Are? Live Wigilia Wild Card William D. Bond William Hoffman Wisła River Wrocław WWII Wyspa Młyńksa Y-DNA Zakopane Żarki Żarnów Żarnówka złoty Łódz Łukasz Firkowski

Blog Calendar

Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar

Affiliations