As mentioned previously a lot of vital records from East Galicia are held by the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv (TsDIAL). These are all part of the archival collection 701-1.
This archival collection has previously been microfilmed. The microfilms are available in two locations which I am aware of (a) the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People (located on the campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem); (b) FamilySearch (uploaded two the website exactly two years ago).
In this post, I will try and teach you how to locate a Galician vital record on FamilySearch. In order to do so I have selected an example from my own family.
Example: the birth of Isacher Beer Messer
Using the All Galicia Database on GesherGalicia I have found an index entry leading me to the birth record of Isacher Beer Messer.
Based on the above entry we learn that the original document can be found in one of these places:
- Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv (TsDIAL), fond 701, series 1, volume 104, page 13
- FamilySearch microfilm 2405320, item 2
The next step is to log in to FamilySearch.
Once logged into the site navigate to the Catalog Search as shown below (figure 2).
In the catalog, you will enter a search for the film number as it appears in the index (figure 3)
Click on the appropriate result.
A new list of results will appear.
Use ctrl+F to search for the microfilm number.
Click on the camera icon next to the appropriate microfilm and item number
It is important to note that when filming records a single microfilm may hold several archival files, each of these files will form an item of their own.
FamilySearch has placed “black dividers” in the microfilm allowing us to identify the location where an item starts and ends.
In my case I am interested in item 2 – I have marked the divider indicating the beginning of the item in Figure 6.
Based on the index I am interested in page 13. This may mean:
- the 13th scan following the divider
- the 13th scan following the book cover
- the 13th page in the book (based on the original numbering)
- the 13th page in the item (keep in mind that at times a scan might include more than one page)
Basically, it’s trial and error, just keep going until you locate it.
