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Thursday, August 7, 2008
Status of Vilna City vital records translations
Much has transpired in the last few months with the receipt of large numbers of translations from our volunteer extraordinaire
Bruce Zatz. Bruce has recently delivered translations of marriage records for the years 1847 - 1860 and 1866 - 1879. In addition, he
also donated translations of the 1915 death records.
The receipt of these latest translations brings the total number of completed Vilna records to just over 72,000.
Volunteers such as Bruce have produced 80% of these translations.
Paid translations
Due to the large financial resources required to translate the Vilna records, paid translators have been incorporated
only twice in four years. Based on where we are today with a large number of the Vilna records translated, I would like
to ask Vilna researchers to contribute now as we prepare to send out a large number of the early records to a paid translator.
If this effort is successful, I will actually employ two translators to speed up the work. This aggressive approach will require
everyone who has participated so far to reach in and assist and we will also need a significant number of new contributors.
In all, I am seeking to raise an additional $5000 [a goal of $10,000 is desired but probably not acheivable] at this
time which will go a long way to assist our work. History of the project to date have allowed a paid translator to be employed
only every two years. The message here is that in the absence of a good response at this time, we will spend down the current
balance and have to wait a rather long time before being able to engage a translator again. If you are on the fence, now is
the time to contribute to the Vilna vital records.
Distribution of Donated Translations
If we are able to raise a significant amount now, the distribution of the donated translations will be accelerated. Earlier
this summer, we distributed over 2300 birth and eath records for the year 1893. Preparations of the 1894 births
and deaths for distribution are underway.
Vilna researchers with questions about this project and our plans for the future are encouraged to contact me at Joelrat1@hotmail.com
.
Birth records for Ziezmariai sent for translation
Birth records for Ziezmariai were sent to a translator this week. The first of the translations should begin arriving
by the beginning of September. Funding for the translation of these records was facilitated by the transfer of excess funds
from another town. The major donor for that town authorized the transfer.
The birth records are all that can be translated at this time, since the account balance for Ziezmariai is insufficient
to cover the death, marriage and divorce records. The translation of these records will require an additional $1600 or so.
Ziezmariai researchers are therefore encouraged to contribute at this time to enable the continuation of the translation effort.
If sufficient funds are received by mid-September, I will seek to keep the Ziezmariai translations ongoing rather than break
up the work.
Translations received for Nemunaitis
Translations of the following vital records for Nemunaitis have been received:
Births: 1855, 1856, 1864, 1865, 1870 - 1895, 1897 - 1899
Deaths: 1863, 1866, 1867, 1870 - 1877, 1889 - 1892, 1894, 1896 - 1911, 1913
Marriages: 1857, 1861, 1865 - 1867, 1870 - 1877, 1883 - 1889, 1891 - 1894, 1896 - 1903, 1906, 1909, 1912, 1913
Divorces: 1871
Translations in process for Valkininkai
The first vital records for Valkininkai were sent for translation in June. The translations have begun to arrive and
these will continue through this month.
Kudirkos Naumiestis translations comnpleted
The last of the ftranslations from the filmed vital records for Kudirkos Naumiestis were received and distributed to
contributors. The records covered by these translations include the following:
Births: 1833, 1870
Deaths: 1833, 1870
Marriages: 1833, 1870
Third set of translations received for Mikaliskis
The following translations were received and sent to contributors:
Births: 1884 - 1887
Marriages: 1885
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The Vital Records Indexing Project grew out of the newly gained access to the Lithuanian Archives
in the late 1990s. The Archives and the Family History Library [FHL or Mormons] came to an agreement which allowed
the filming of the metrical register books. These books cover the 19th Century and include 20th Century
records through 1915.
LitvakSIG came to agreement with the Archives and the FHL which provides LitvakSIG with digital images
[TIF files] of the vital records in exchange for translations we produce.
The Records
The images
contain records for 100 towns which were in Vilna and Kovno gubernias, with a few towns from Suwalki gubernia as well. Prior
to conversion to digital format, the records were contained on 225 microfilms. There are approximately 200,000 unique images
and with an average of 4 records per page, there are approximately 800,000 records in total. This estimate is after subtracting
20% of the films to account for the approximate number of duplicate pages, register book cover pages, etc. The list of towns
represented was developed by FHL and JewishGen and posted to the JewishGen web site. Updates to this list have been required
and LitvakSIG maintains the current version of this information – more on that later.
The Translations
The images provided to LitvakSIG are organized by the microfilm they came from, rather
than the town the records cover. LitvakSIG received the films as digital images and began translating various films. It was
immediately apparent this was not an efficient way to proceed, since records for many towns exist on a single film [sometimes
over 10 towns per film]. We have taken the 200,000 images and have reordered the images by town. We are now better able to
coordinate the translations on a town by town basis.
The Translators
The beginning of the translation effort saw a few volunteer translators come forth, although
the primary need is for paid translators. The project is of such a large scope it is necessary to employ paid translators.
Some of the translations submitted by volunteers are of good quality, whereas others had to be scrapped. We are currently
reformatting and correcting some of the early work to save that which is useable.
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