Genealogy Wise

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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

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Krampetz on August 1, 2012 at 5:46pm

Several years ago I wrote to both Belarus and Poland archives (don't recall the name/address) regarding information from Lida - about 1908-1911.  A marriage and a birth.   Since the church for both was in Lida (then Poland, today Belarus),  the Polish archive responded that I had to inquire at the Belarus archive.

The response I subsequently received from the Belarus archive had me abandon hope of learning what I wanted.   The letter was in a 3"x4",  cheap paper, envelope - with little space for my address, as it was covered in numerous small denomination Belarussian stamps.   The letter was even more weird,  a 6" x 7" tissue thin paper with only a single line written in Russian (or Belarussian, don't recall) that merely asked me to mail $300 (U.S.) to some individual and their address.  Nothing more. 

Needless to say,  I ignored it and put aside hope of soon learning more about my maternal line.

I will reread the replies here and see if others have found a more 'legitimate' source for information.

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Anthony Lumbis on July 25, 2018 at 11:42am

Last night I sent an email to the State Archives in Vilnius.  This morning I received a response from them assigning a number to my request and stating that I would need to transfer 15.66 EURO to a bank in Vilnius before they would begin the search.  I have read all the various posts concerning this subject and was wondering if anyone has found an easier more economical method of paying the required fee? Thanks for your help.

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