Using the State Regional Archives in Plzeň

In Construction!

Guidance on Using the Pilsen Archive for Bohemian Family Tree Research

First time users of the various online Czech Archives usually appreciate some guidance.
Familiarity with one online Czech Archive does not automatically translate into familiarity with a different online Czech Archive.

  1. Navigate to the Pilsen Archive located at the online Porta fontium Website.
    1. This Website is can be viewed in either German or Czech but not English.
    2. Most browsers have the options to translate a page into English for you.
    3. It will probably be easier to just learn/remember which Buttons/Fields to click on whatever the language.
  2. Click on Matriken.
  3. Click on Církev římskokatolická (1539-1949)  – ( Roman Catholic Church )
    1. At this point, the researcher needs to know the Czech name for the desired Parish.
    2. Attempting to translate this on screen Czech list into German or English will not work.
  4. Click on the Czech name for the desired parish.
  5. The next screen has 3 different areas.
    1. The Headers and some descriptions are “translatable.”
      1. The top area gives an historical overview of the Parish. For some (but not all) Parishes, there is a list of included villages.
      2.  The middle area lists the church records for the Parish, which, because of privacy issues, are not yet online for viewing.
      3. The bottom area lists the church records for the Parish which are online for viewing.
      4. When viewing the records, it is usually easier to view the register in a new tab, leaving this page intact for choosing a second page to view.
        1. This is helpful when the researcher wishes to view more than one page during the same session.
    2. In the Bottom section, choose the desired book by right  clicking on the “Blue Magnifying Glass of the right side of the entry.
      1. Right clicking will open the book, while leaving the  “Entry Page” intact.
      2. This will easily allow other books from the Parish to be opened simultaneously in your browser for checking or verifying.
        1. Also for using an Index (if existing) to check for various entries.
    3. Peruse the various pages of via the left hand page numbering system for the book.
      1. This page may or may not reflect the actual page of the church records.
      2. Right clicking on a page allows the researcher to save the image onto a desired storage media.
      3. The naming convention for these images should backup the ability to find the specific image again, either on-line or at the archive.
        1. Some pages at this website were inadvertently not copied during the original photography session.
        2. Re-finding new on-line addition pages will be affected by the image number on the left side of the screen.
        3. If the researcher actually visits the archive, the on-line image number will not reflect the actual page of the book.
        4. The writer of this article uses the following convention for naming and sourcing images.
          1. [{Parish Name & Book Number} / {Image Number}, Description, {Actual Page Number of Book}
            1. Example:  Dobrà Voda 06/03, Holzchlag #3, pg. 1