25 July 2025

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF SPAIN : Archivo Histórico Naciona : DIGITALIZED RESOURCES UNIFY VARIOUS ARCHIVE LOCATIONS


I haven't had anyone from Central or South America ask me to do their research so I'm not experienced in the specifics by country, but I do know that many families who are from Mexico or other "Latin" countries have ancestry in Spain. Spain was in the Americas while colonies on the eastern seaboard of Colonial America struggled. Like, Italy or France, Roman Catholic archives are also useful to any family history or genealogy quest in Spain. Like some other countries, the actual physical archives are in various departments/places but there is a more unifying porthole. The main branches of the National Archives of Spain include the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, the National Historical Archives in Madrid, the General Administrative Archives in Alcala de Henares, and the General Archive of Simancas.

Excerpt:

Portal de Archivos Españoles (PARES) is a documentary archive established and hosted by the Spanish Ministry of Education. It offers free access to digitized images of the Spanish Archives.

Here's where you go to find digitalized images from the archives: PARES CULTURA GOB SPAIN : DIGITAL NATIONAL ARCHIVES

At another time I'll get to posting archives in Central and South America, but for now, let's continue to focus of Europe.

22 July 2025

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF ITALY : ,Archivio Centrale dello Stato : FAMILY HISTORIES - CIVIL REGISTRY - MILITARY ENLISTMENT

Italy is the home of a number of archives, including Roman Catholic Church archives, that are useful to genealogists. However, knowing the desire for genealogy oriented documents, the country has established a resource just for genealogy.

As you may know, Italians coming into the United States would often say they were Calabrese, or Sicilian, rather than Italian. Risorgimento is the word for the Unification which happened about 1861 but ethnic self identity continued in this way.

ANTENATI CULTURA GOV (ITALY GENEALOGY)

This archive has records before the Unification of Italy.

Excerpt on holdings:

The State Archives hold many private and public sources that are essential to the genealogical research and the History of some families and persons. The main sources are: The Civil Registry together with the attached 1 year and 10 year origin indexes. Enlistment and military career documentation (e.g Conscription Lists and Military Records) Notary public archives, family and personal archives....

As always, explore the site and don't hesitate to contact an archivist!

19 July 2025

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF FRANCE : THE FRENCH REVOLUTION and AMERICAN HISTORY TOO

ARCHIVES OF FRANCE  see the language selection EN for English  SP for Spanish FR for French


Want to research the French Revolution, Napoleon, or perhaps Thomas Jefferson in Paris? THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF FRANCE is a great place to research American History too! 

Excerpt: The Archives Nationales, a civic-minded institution for France's collective history. The Archives Nationales was created by decree of the National Constituent Assembly in 1790. It has three sites (in Paris, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, and Fontainebleau) whose role is to collect, preserve, and provide access to documents produced by the central administrations of State since the 7th century.

16 July 2025

NATIONAL ARCHIVES : DON'T FORGET TO USE THESE FANTASTIC RESOURCES

Last fall (2024), I posted links to the National Archives of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. Now I'm going to provide you links to some European National Archives that are also useful. Databases do not have everything and I think some researchers have forgotten about the archives of nations.

Some countries are newer at having National Archive resources digitized. YOU WILL WANT TO INTERACT WITH THEIR ARCHIVISTS IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS and perhaps, the old fashioned way, send for copies or pay them to research for you.  Contacting an archivist is usually possible through e-mail. Some will ask you to set up an account, others not.

I use Google translate function when the site does not provide language options!


12 July 2025

PROQUEST HISTORY VAULT - HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION IS ALSO LABOR HISTORY

These days, so much about immigration - legal and illegal.  With Labor Day coming up I thought you might be interested in learning more American history because labor in the United States has always been tied in with immigration.

https://congressional.proquest.com/historyvault

Includes history of Immigration and Naturalization Service...

Read about anarchism, labor strikes, subversive and illegal aliens - deportations and expulsions.

I use this at a genealogy library... check to see if your library makes Proquest History Vault available to library card holders at no charge.


01 July 2025

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT


Our genetic and spiritual ancestors help us with our research quests 
and, while we follow a linear research path, 
amazing dreams and synchronicity abound. 

We explore multicultural ancestry worship 
and the use of genealogy for past-life verification, 
as well as practical ways and means to achieve your research goals.