I just asked about italian records

Eleven

The trento baptisms are just about finished. Only one will show up on my list, every few days.

I mentioned that there are no other italian records on the current nor the future list.

The only contact we seem to have with them..is thru support.

I just took a shot and emailed. I dont know if this person (whomever handles support) will know the answers to what I asked.

I basically asked..if there would be anymore italian records and if not...why not.

Both in their current and future list, there are american records, south american records, english, a french or two (and thats all I can remember, offhand), but nothing from italy.

I was also keeping an eye on ancestry. If you scroll down on their main indexing page..it shows just a few things that they are working on. The FHL has a longer current list to choose from.

Anyway, I was wondering who indexes their italian records.

Call me selfish..but if italian records showed up there (no matter where in italy they were from), I would index for them, instead.

I cant help but feel, that if we dont make an effort to do these projects, for either place, when they have them..they will stop putting them out there.

Anyway, if I get a reply on this with any useful information, I will let you know.

nuccia

I am not sure who indexes for ancestry. Maybe its something to think about and to email them about. I do know this however. AT this time the LDS will host all their records free of charge for anyone to access. Ancestry will charge for membership and I think everyone knows it's not exactly cheap. AT that is the ONLY reason I would index for the LDS first. What good are any records, regardless of country if a person can't access them because of cost?

Please do keep us posted though on if you receive a response. I would be curious to know what they have planned, if anything.

Eleven

Nuccia, I feel the exact same way and is why I chose to index for the FHL. I am very grateful for what they provide. Without them, I wouldnt have gone far in my research. I would always work for them..unless..ancestry put italian records out there to be indexed. I just cant help it..my italianess..makes me want those records out there.

You mention ancestry and price. When I ordered records from the fhl, back when I started..they were only 3 dollars a roll and the additional 3 or maybe 2.50 to extend them. That adds up and the price is double that now.. Plus, it took me a year for my father and another year for my father in law. You arent searching under the best circumstances. You have to be sure to get there early to grab a machine. The copies were crummy. You were paying per copy. I lucked out because they made me use their copier because of the lens. I didnt have to take the film out of one machine and put it in another. But, I lost 15 minutes a night..so others could use the machine...and believe me, if I had been researching and someone was constantly at the copier, causing me to have to refind everything I wanted to copy..I would have been ticked off, bigtime.

That said....I would pay ANY price...to ANYONE to be able to research my towns from home. It would take only a fraction of the time, at your convenience, for clear crisp copies. I cant begin to tell you how much that would be worth to me. I see what they charge for international records. I dont think its that bad..considering you probably wouldnt have to join for long..to get what you need.

Anyway...thats my login..pure, simple and probably selfish..lol

I dont know how much this person I contacted would know. For all I know, it could just be a more experienced volunteer...but, I gave it a shot.

Cathy · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2681

I cannot even imagine how much I have spent! Shocked

My server = $200 per year, my website domains (7 of them), 30 some microfilms at $5.50 each multiply that by 3 renewals and hundreds of cd's with scanned images from the microfilms at $1 each. When I began, I copied images and would spend an average of $60 per night at the family history center. I stopped that after a few months. Yikes! I know I have spent thousands of dollars and I am not even close to finishing - I have barely begun! I must be crazy but I want to know everything...no wonder I cannot afford the catasto!

nuccia · Last edited by nuccia on Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

When I first joined ancestry, it cost me almost 400 dollars Canadian. They didn't give the price in Canadian dollars and stupid me thought it was half that much. The following year I chose not to renew. They offered me a subscription for about 157.00 (it was now the same price for US or Canada) so I took it. Last year the subscription automatically renewed - at 400 dollars again! I called them immediately to cancel and again the offered me the better price. So far that's about 715 dollars in three years to research from the comfort of my home. Now lets talk films...I have about 10 I would say all on permanent loan so that would be about 21 dollars each=$210 and this last film is less because of the dollar so that would be $18 (total=$228). Photocopies are about 25 ea and I made about hundred before I realized I could put them on a Flash or Cd so that's another $25.00.

They both have their good and bad points. I think I am done with ancestry. I rarely use it now except for others. But I hate waiting for films.

I wish there was an easy answer but there isn't.

Eleven

Thats a lot of money...both of you have spent.

The copies when I used the fhl were 5 cents each..lol

I joined ancestry twice. The first time, they were giving two weeks free. I figured, I wouldnt need more than that. Back then they had a clunky viewer you had to download. The viewer was bad, the searching method was bad, but I was like a pig in poop, because i could do this from home...something I dreamed about for many years. I didnt know I had to unsubscribe so i got stuck for an additional month.

I joined again when they got the 1930 census. This time, their offer was a month free. Things had really improved. A decent search...fast, clean copies..and I did a few page by page searches. I found so much that I hadnt found before..and I still had a week of free time left. I continued to search for more..and I was so thrilled at what I found..that I didnt have the heart to quit, so I paid for another month, but really didnt need it..lol

When I did the fathers, I just took the direct line..grandparents and children. I didnt go sideways sorta..like taking those childrens spouses and their children...so I had no cousins for anyone..and I would have liked to have done that. My father in law came to this country and stayed with this cousin of his..who we all knew. I have yet to figure out how this guy was his cousin. My husbands explanation is sketchy.

So see..it took me a whole year for just one father..a lot of freezing cold nights, driving a half hour away and prior to finding this fhl we were going almost an hour away. I could only imagine what I could accomplish with these towns records to use at my convenience.

Also, for my fathers town. I was lucky enough to have an aunt who could take me back to the time period i needed.....buttttt...I often wonder if her info is correct. I think it is..and I have the correct people..but hey..this is something I would probably always wonder about....and now..they have added to those records..so I could go back there....but, going back to the fhl to search and have to play musical chairs with the films, switching them from viewer to copier, just turns me off. Using records online has really spoiled me..lol

Nuccia, I wouldnt pay them if you dont need them. You could always join again for a few months if something comes up.

chanchisfea · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 11, 2007 Posts: 250

Quote::

....but, going back to the fhl to search and have to play musical chairs with the films, switching them from viewer to copier, just turns me off.

I did that for about two visits and I knew I had enough of it, so I decided to invest in a much needed camera...It [the camera] serves two purposes, 1) I use it to take pictures of family/friends/fun times AND 2) I take it with me to take pictures of documents that I want/need, as I find them, while going through the microfilms. It makes my life easier, the images are waaaaay better than downloading it to CD [LOL] and my time at the FHL is spent at doing actual research Smile

Liz

Cathy · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2681

chanchisfea wrote:

Quote::

....but, going back to the fhl to search and have to play musical chairs with the films, switching them from viewer to copier, just turns me off.

I did that for about two visits and I knew I had enough of it,
Liz Cool

Who goes back and forth? Shocked

I sit at the scanner now and scan a few complete years of a specific type of record then leave. I do my personal research from the comfort of my home after I clean up the images and upload everything to my server. hide

chanchisfea · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 11, 2007 Posts: 250

*almost gives Cathy a much needed WHAP!.......notice "almost"*

My friend, you are excused only because you do all that work, I "chose" not to scan the images for every year I've transcribed in my website.

(((HUG)))

Liz Cool

nuccia

Cathy wrote:

chanchisfea wrote:

Quote::

....but, going back to the fhl to search and have to play musical chairs with the films, switching them from viewer to copier, just turns me off.

I did that for about two visits and I knew I had enough of it,
Liz Cool

Who goes back and forth? Shocked

I sit at the scanner now and scan a few complete years of a specific type of record then leave. I do my personal research from the comfort of my home after I clean up the images and upload everything to my server. hide

Me too! I sit at the scanner my whole visit now and my FH Director will sometimes make a side note that I am "booking" it. Of course, I will always get up if someone really needs it but this has only happened once so far.

Then I change the settings on the scanner/viewer (thanks Jim and Cathy for explaining this to me) and take high resolution tiff scans. I wish I could upload those but I can't and if I change the scans to jpegs they are a lower resolution. I can usually scan anywhere from 150 to 300 images in a sitting which isn't too bad in a few hours. Then I come home, pop in the cd, resize the image, change it to a jpeg and adjust it (a tutorial by Cathy). I can then upload the record with a fairly good view. I didn't originally do it like this. I used to post them size and all as gif's and the quality was just awful! I am currently in the process of changing them all over. It is a lot of work but it gives me something to do when I am home and I have found so many of my family that for me its worth it.

Besides, I really enjoy it and I get out of the house for a few hours every couple of weeks.

Cathy · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2681

chanchisfea wrote:

*almost gives Cathy a much needed WHAP!.......notice "almost"*

My friend, you are excused only because you do all that work, I "chose" not to scan the images for every year I've transcribed in my website.

(((HUG)))

Liz Cool

No whap? Don't you like me anymore? Crying or Very sad

I only meant the scans were part of my costs since I choose to burn them on CD. You do a wonderful job on your site and I am there often looking at your San Vincenzo LaCosta transcriptions. Since it is so close to Montalto I am, of course interested. By the way, Ive been meaning to ask is Verzino in Crotone?
hide

(hides from Liz's whap)

Eleven

Scanner..camera..lol They didnt have all of that when I went, 16 years ago. They had the regular views and a printer/viewer. The printer/viewer was the thing they allowed me to use.

I have a question Liz. Are you using a regular digital camera and taking a pix of what you see on the viewer screen? I dont have a camera..I never had interest in taking pix, since my kids send me a bazillion pix that they take. However, he doesnt know it yet, but my daughter bought my husband one for xmas.

Now, if its a regular digital camera you are using..once you have the pix loaded into the computer..can you zoom in on that without it getting pixels? Is it big enough to read..like the way the census is when we view those online?

Sigh...not that I am interested in treking back to the fhl...just curious...just in case.

Cathy I have no idea on the scanner thing that you do. They have scanners there now? How does that work? Are they charging an arm and a leg to use it?

Cathy · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2681

Eleven wrote:

Scanner..camera..lol They didnt have all of that when I went, 16 years ago. They had the regular views and a printer/viewer. The printer/viewer was the thing they allowed me to use.

Cathy I have no idea on the scanner thing that you do. They have scanners there now? How does that work? Are they charging an arm and a leg to use it?

It is a really old scanner/viewer. They do not charge to use it but I pay to copy the images on CD that they provide for $1.

chanchisfea · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 11, 2007 Posts: 250

...I APOLOGIZE BEFOREHAND FOR STRETCHING THE SCREEN, lol....

I have a regular digital camera, no special attachments or anything too fancy. I purchased my Sony W300 a few months back and so far I can't complaint as I take the pictures as I'm viewing them in the microfilm viewing area [I can't remember what you call the box shaped thing where you put the film up top and then it shows in the bottom area...did I mention I'm getting old? LOL], the quality for me works better than what I've seen thus far [scanning or saving it to CD, which I wasn't happy with]. I take the picture, then when I get home I connect the camera to my computer and I can download the images I've taken and re-size them if I choose to.

When I download the pictures to my computer I always open them with "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" which allows me to zoom in and out just like you would when looking at documents in Ancestry Smile

Just to give you an idea of size... the following image is about 1200 pixels and this AFTER I re-sized to that smaller scale...the original was about 4200 pixels [yikes!]

Liz

Cathy · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2681

WOW!!!

That is better than my scans!!! Mr. Green