Access to Microfilm
Hi, I need to have digital access to Microfilms 2014173, Item 3 (DGS 7829623) & 2014279 Item 2 (DGS 7829633) (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/786287?availability=Family%20History%20Library).
Unfortunately, they´re only available at the Family History Library.
Is there any way I could access those files without having to travel to Salt Lake City?
Thank you and kind regards,
Federico
Answers
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The reason these records aren't available are due to contracts with the record owners and privacy laws.
Item 2 of film 2014173 has records from 1925 and therefore can't be published until January 2026 (Assuming there is a 100 year privacy law). see: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/725638?availability=Family%20History%20Library Unfortunately, that means the entire film, including Item 3, cannot be published.
The same is true for Item 1 of 2014279- it has records from 1925.
So unfortunately you won't be able to access the films through FS unless you go to the FHL (and even then, you'd want to ring ahead and check, in case the privacy laws also apply to the physical microfilms). FS has said that one day they will split films into their separate Items and treat each item individually for the purposes of access restrictions, but I think it may take several years for that to happen. So you'll have to look for other websites that have these records.
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I followed your link and see that there is a microfilm reel along with a DGS number. The DGS number means that the images have been digitized, but when seen in combination with a microfilm reel, that means there are access restrictions, or sometimes it is in process but not available yet. See: Why is no camera icon showing for a digitized microfilm in the catalog?
We went to the Research Wiki to see if we could find out where these records might be accessible. (The Research Wiki is found under the Search tab.) We searched by place and found this article: Italy, Alessandria, Civil Registration, State Archive - FamilySearch Historical Records. We noticed, on the right-hand side of the page, under Access the Records (in green), it says, “This article describes a collection of records scheduled to become available at FamilySearch.org.”
We know that the first place images become available on FamilySearch is in Images under the Search tab, so we went there and searched by place and came to this page: https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/search-results?page=1&place=7059764
There seem to be a lot of images for this place.
We also believe that these films will most likely be accessible from the Catalog page at some later date, based on what it said in the Research Wiki article, but can’t be certain of that because restrictions and permissions are always changing. We suggest that you check back in the Catalog later to see. Meanwhile, you may find what you need in Images.
The images in the Image section are mostly not indexed. We checked under the Indexing tab and see that there are many Indexing projects for Civil Registrations in Italy: https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/projects/country/it
We don’t see your particular place, but it does look like a lot of indexing is being done for Italian records, so it is probably just a matter of time before you will have easier access to some of the records you are looking for.
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Dear A van Helsdingen and RIPoole, first of all, thank you very much for your answers.
I´ve indeed looked for these records in another websites (FindMyPast & Ancestry), but couldn´t find any significant information.
It´s really good to know that these records will indeed become available in the near future.
Are you aware of any person/company providing the service of going to the FHL, look for these records and make a copy of them?
Thank you and kind regards,
Federico
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The Family History Library does have a lookup service, but it's a chicken-and-egg problem: you need to give them the specifics in order to find out the specifics. It can't hurt to ask, though. You should be able to find the instructions by searching FS's Help for "lookup service".
Regarding RIPoole's response, a clarification: the material accessed through Images is exactly the same as the material accessed through the Catalog, with exactly the same access restrictions applied to exactly the same groups of images. It's just a different interface, with slightly different cataloging details to allow for more granular groupings of images (which in my experience are highly error-ridden, which is why I stick with the Catalog).
The "scheduled" tag has been on that Wiki page since at least 2018, which as far as I remember is before they stopped lending microfilms and switched to digitizing everything, so it may be stale information.
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You could look and see whether there is anything relevant on the website
- Antenati English language page. Gli Archivi per la Ricerca Anagrafica/The Archives for Personal Data Search. Italian Government website with records from the various states within Italy. Some transcribed data, but seems to be mainly images of records.
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Hi Julia Szent-Györgyi, thanks for your answer. I wasn`t aware of the Look up service. I`ll try to sort out the chicken-egg problem.
Hi MaureenE123, also thanks, unfortunately, Antenati doesn`t have the information for the combination of the dates I`m looking for and Alessandria.
Regards,
Federico
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Regarding Julia Szent-Györgyi’s response. No images in Explore Historical Images have access restrictions. Also, this is the first place that newly digitized images would appear. They do not get removed from Images when they become visible from the Catalog, so yes, many of them are the same. Also, the Catalog is undergoing revision right now and currently no corrections are being made, so it may be a little outdated. See: How do I request a correction to the FamilySearch Catalog? This Blog article may be helpful also: Explore Historical Images Tool Unlocks Data in Digital Records.
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