Online-Recherche in den Beständen der niedersächsischen Staatsarchive
"Die sieben niedersächsischen Staatsarchive erfassen seit den
achtziger Jahren das in ihren Magazinen aufbewahrte Archivgut mit dem
EDV-Programm AIDA/izn-AIDA. Ab 2003 sollen eine Reihe elektronischer
Findbücher aus dieser inzwischen mehrere Millionen Datensätze
umfassenden Datenbank im Internet abfragbar sein. Hinzu kommen die
Beständeübersichten aller sieben Staatsarchive und sachthematische
Inventare.
Zur Zeit kann bereits in der Auswanderer-Datenbank, die Material aus
dem Hauptstaatsarchiv in Hannover und den Staatsarchiven Osnabrück
und Wolfenbüttel enthält, recherchiert werden. Auf welche Weise Sie
hier zu Ergebnissen kommen, erfahren Sie auf der Seite "Auswanderer-
Datenbank"
It can be a daunting experience to research in archives on the net or
in person. This is doubly difficult when one is not conversant in the
language. The above opening statement explains that "there are 7
state archives in the system of the state of Lower Saxony. These
archives have been entering their complete holdings since the 80s
using a specific piece of software for the purpose. As of 2003 a
series of on-line findbooks encompassing several million datasets
will be available to the public on the internet.
At this time the emigrant database composed of material from the main
archive in Hanover and the state archives in Osnabrück and
Wolfenbüttel can be researched on-line. Just how to use this material
can be found on the pages of the Auswanderer Datenbank."
Being that most of the descendants of these emigrants live in the USA
one would think that these instructions would also be available in
English. They are not.
Entering the main pages of the Staatsarchiv
http://www.staatsarchive.niedersachsen.de/master/0,,C504_N505_L20_D0_I
503,00.html
one would think to be able to easily get to the relevant emigrant
databases. A click on the tab Staatsarchive permits access to
Osnabrück for example. Now what? There is no direction to a Findbuch.
Under Recherche we finally find the word Auswanderer-Datenbank. Here
we find the word 'Suchprogram' under some general explanations as to
the use of said program. I will offer a translation of these
instructions:
Research in the Emigrant database
From this page you will be able to access a SUCHPROGRAMM (click on)
to obtain a systematic inventory of the state archives of Osnabrück,
Wolfenbüttel and Hanover under the theme of emigration in the 18th
and 19th centuries. In this inventory you may search for people who
emigrated to America during this time period. In the three mentioned
archives the relevant material has been ordered so that access may be
gained using the field TITELAUFNAHME. The other state archives
(Aurich, Bückeburg, Oldenburg und Stade) either do not have such
material or the data has not been conclusively assembled for internet
access.
On the first page of the search program you will find the following
decision making process:
You will select one of three archives or decide to search all of them
at the same time. Use the slider at the right to pick any one
archive, click on the bottom to pick all three (not recommended by
me). In each case you will have the choice of three search methods.
(I do not agree)
Another direction:
Instead of Umlauts ä, ö, ü and the use of ß you may use the wild card
character of %.
The first search mode offers the possibility for up to four different
search keys. You may for example search for different occupations or
places or years. If you don't use all search fields you may leave the
fields as they are.
In case you do not know the correct version of the name you may enter
the variants here.
For example:
Meier, Maier, Meyer or Mayer.
The resultant search will encompass all of these.
It is also sufficient to enter only a portion of a name. The
resulting data will be larger. If, for example, you were to enter
MANN you would find all Zimmermann and Kaufmann as occupations as
well as Großmann and Hermann as names.
The second search can be clicked on at the bottom of the page of the
first search field. It connects up to three arguments, ie you will
only then get a result if all given entries match. Here too the
result will be based upon the preciseness of the search entries. Do
not erase the % sign already in the fields. ?
If you know the name, the occupation and the place of origin you may
enter all three in the search fields.
For example: Lange, Kaufmann, Lüneburg
The search fields Laufzeitbeginn and Laufzeitende (start date and end
date) are not relevant for these searches in the emigration sources.
They are only used for searches in other findbooks. Do not delete the
xx characters.
The search in the Index provides a third possibility. You'll also
find the index tab on the page of the first search form. You may look
for persons, places, institutions, items and freely look for specific
concepts where you would only enter the first character. Select, for
example, the Pers(onen) in the index and enter only the letter 'a'.
You will then obtain all people whose name starts with 'a'.
If you only enter the wildcard % character you will effectively
select the entire list.
On the page of the index list you may click on Lfd.Nr. of a selected
concept to obtain the order numbers of the particular file where this
concept or key word is contained.
The information about emigrants comes out of the data field for
Title. The entries in this field were established according to the
following schema:
1. Name, given name, place of origin
2. Birthdate/age
3. Occupation/life status
4. Name of parents
5. Name of the accompanying emigrants (also: Age/Occupation)
6. (only for Osnabrück: religious preference)
7. Destination (land/place)
8. Date of emigration, or date of Passport issue
9. (only for Osnabrück: amount of property, value)
10. Other, Ex.:
- relatives at the destination
- Ship
- other information
It depends on how complete any of this data is as it depends on what
was available in the original souces. If, for example, the names of
the parents are not available #4 would be blank.
The search result in all three search methods is a list of file order
numbers from which the data originated. The files are sorted by the
state archive where they are stored. This is how you would be able to
ascertain to which archive you must turn to in order to obtain a
copy. You can find the addresses on the respective archive web pages.
The use of the state archives themselves is not free.
end of translation