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Contacting the Archives in Vilnius: Instructions, Experiences, Pitfalls
There will likely come a time that the only logical next step in your research is to contact the Archives in Vilnius. There are smaller Archives in other cities, but by and large, all surviving records have been moved from churches and municipalities to the main Archives in Vilnius. You've probably heard, and been deterred by, the three-year wait until the Archives gets to your request. This time delay is more for a multi-generational genealogical search (which I'm not even sure they do anymore) as opposed to requesting one baptism certificate, or one marriage certificate. That make take a matter of months, not years. If you have a relative in Lithuania who can order the documents for you, it may shave some time off of the process.
The other option is to hire a private researcher, a genealogist in Lithuania. Because of the time delays at the Archives and the costs, many people choose the private researcher route. If you don't have complete information--name, place, date (and who does!!???) to send to the Archives, you may not get anywhere. But that's a challenge a private researcher is paid to undertake.
In any event, the email address to contact the archives is: istrijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
The other option is to hire a private researcher, a genealogist in Lithuania. Because of the time delays at the Archives and the costs, many people choose the private researcher route. If you don't have complete information--name, place, date (and who does!!???) to send to the Archives, you may not get anywhere. But that's a challenge a private researcher is paid to undertake.
In any event, the email address to contact the archives is: istrijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Essie Rauba on
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Years ago I got hold of a young woman, through her brother (my pen pal) who worked in the archives - it was a $100 investment and I never recieved any info from the archives.
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Permalink Reply by Richie C. on
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Essie,
That sucks. Maybe the money never reached its intended person? In this age, the money is transferred electronically, so I think it's safer. -
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Permalink Reply by Linda Johnson on
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I wrote to the Archives in July and recently received a reply. They asked me to send 10 EU and gave me the account number to transfer the money. They said the fee was for one certificate - although I included three surnames in my request. I haven't sent the transfer yet and I was very surprised they asked for euros.
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I understand euros is the standard currency for the Archives these days. Much more stable than Litas, easier for them to figure conversions from other currencies.
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A bit of information from last week. I was going to mail a request for my grandfathers birth cirtificate & I thought if the Vilnius Archive would accept the request via email. The one you listed & same as on their WEB Site. It was accepted & in 1 week I was ready to transfer funds to their account. This is a lot faster than via regular mail & cheaper for both sides.
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I made my first email request to the Archives. We'll see what happens, how long it takes and I'll keep the group up to date.
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I am looking forward to your updates. Have you mailed requests in the past? If so, did you transfer funds electronically?
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This was my first attempt to contact them, period....and I anticipated that I'd hear back as to costs, etc. Maybe their network was just down.
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I recently wrote that I received a reply from the archives (by mail). I finally got to the bank today and it will cost $40.00 for the bank transfer. The archives is requesting 10 Euros - approximately $15.00. I thought this was high - I guess I don't like the fact that I am paying more for the transfer. Anyway, I recently read the following:
You can send your money order or cheque direct tp the Lithuanian State Historical Archives. Please, add 8 EURO, for the bank taxes.
So it would be less expensive to do it this way, however I am not sure if this means I can send it in USD. Does anyone know? -
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Linda...I read something in the Yahoo group about PayPal, but I think that was just for sending money to a private researcher. A thought: if you converted to Euros here at your American bank, and then wired that, would it make a differenece?
-Richie C. -
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I have learned that I can send a money order for 10 EU and include 8 EU for the bank fees. I haven't done it yet - hopefully tomorrow. I will let you know if it works out. Have you heard back from the archives?
Linda -
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