Hi, It's nice to see positive reports sometimes after Archive visits. Perhaps there is information here that someone would like to add to an English-language page on Hamburg? Rick

Resent-Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 15:14:29 -0800 (PST) From: Steve Henzel <shenzel@usa.net> To: "Banat List (E-mail)" <banat-l@rootsweb.com> Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 15:29:16 -0800 Encoding: 46 TEXT Subject: [BANAT-L] Hamburg Staats Archiv Resent-Message-ID: <"etyZhD.A.80.y6rJ1"@fp-1.rootsweb.com> Resent-From: BANAT-L@rootsweb.com X-Mailing-List: <BANAT-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/2066 X-Loop: BANAT-L@rootsweb.com Resent-Sender: BANAT-L-request@rootsweb.com

I just got back from a business trip to Hamburg. While there, I had a few extra hours, and decided to check out the Staats Archiv. I went twice. The first time, right after I arrived, was a sort of a reconnoitering mission. I got there late in the day (they close at 4:00 PM), and explained my situation to a woman who appeared to be in charge of the Passenger List records (sorry, but I've forgotten her name---blame it on jet lag). She asked me to fill out a form describing the subject of my research, and asked when I would be back. She also explained that the actual ledgers were no longer available to the public, and that I would have to use microfilm. While I had hoped that one or two of the ledgers might have been on display, using microfilm's certainly not a problem.

When I went back on the following Friday, the lady had pulled twelve reels of film, including all of the indexes and lists, for the year 1907! It was just waiting for me. In less than an hour, I'd found what I was looking for. Ironically, the films are the LDS films, exactly the same as those you'd get from your local FHC. The benefits, though, are that they were all in one place. Unless you're fortunate enough to live near an FHC with all these films on permanent loan, viewing these films at the FHC can be tedious. You'd have to rent three or four index reels, wait three weeks, spend a short time scanning the indexes just to find out the proper full reel to order, and then wait another three weeks.

In my case, I would have been very upset with this process, because I would have ordered the wrong reel. After looking through the indexes, I determined that the information I was looking for was from March, 1907, which was on band 188 of the films. According to the microfilm descriptions at the FHC, this band was on the second reel for 1907. Except for one thing: Band 188 actually starts at the end of the first reel for 1907, and that's where my ancestors' sailing was described. If I had been ordering individual reels of film, the whole process would have taken me about three months.

I wish that I had had more time to spend at the Archiv, after I found what I was looking for. If you ever have an opportunity to go there, I would recommend it. It's easy to get to, via the subway. It's about a five minute walk from the Wandsbeck Markt stop on the U1 line. The address is Kattunbleiche 19, which is at the corner of Kattunbleiche and Wandsbeck Allee. The phone number is 3681 3200. The Archiv in gereral is open 9:00-4:00 on weekdays, but the reading room is closed to the public on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Steve Henzel Shenzel@usa.net Researching Henzel, Vogt, Eastin, Snyder, Gunn, Renshaw, Newton, Stockinger