England and Wales, National Register, 1939

johnclarke4

Hi

is the

England and Wales, National Register, 1939 

viewable in New Zealand? I have seen a few of these records in tree's but nothing searchable

Thanks for your help

John

Adrian Bruce1

@johnclarke4 - I'm in the UK and I've just tried to access the 1939 Register by a browser session and eventually got to the collection page, where it says:

"The index was provided by Findmypast, and users will be directed to images on findmypast.com"

There is no search box for the index on the collection page (which is where I'd expect to see it). This is less than crystal clear or explicit but I assume, in the absence of any explicit statement by FS that, no, it's not searchable. I'm guessing that this is a commercial decision by FMP - they supplied the index to FS, so they can dictate how it's used and they clearly don't want FS abstracting money from FMP's income.

Whether the index can be searched from a FH Centre, I don't know. There has been previous correspondence in this community about access to the 1939 but I don't remember the details.

The 1939 is actually slightly odd in that, even on a site like Findmypast, its content is dynamic in that lines in the images are unredacted on a yearly basis with the index being updated to match, and the updated images passed to (at least) Ancestry. I wouldn't blame FS if they decided that it was too complex a job to maintain their own copy and decided to wait until 2039 when full access will finally be possible.

Paul W

Here is the link to the previous thread on the subject, at which @Áine.ní.Donnghaile references the thread prior to that.

1939 England and Wales still MIA but hinting — FamilySearch Community

Perhaps a Community member who has a Church account, or someone who attends a FamilySearch Centre (using a public account), can advise if access is available through either of these means.

As I commented previously, I used to attend my local FHC (as was) in the past, often specifically so I could add 1939 National Register sources to my relatives' profiles - knowing I could then view them when I got home.

The same applies to Scotland Census collections, I believe. In most other cases, I have found I cannot open sources of restricted records (attached at a FSC or Affiliate library) once home.

Adrian Bruce1

Thanks @Paul W for the link - I was sat at the breakfast table when making my first response and the small size of the phone makes a major search somewhat challenging. Plus I never have much luck searching the Community anyway. Others do but I don't have the knack, it appears.😕 I'm being truthful, not sarcastic...

This is one of my comments from the linked thread, referring to the lack of explicitness and clarity about what the access should be.

"I probably sound like a broken record on this but in too many cases, intended lack of access / visibility looks just the same as an error… That does not reflect fairly on FamilySearch and wastes the time of FS researchers and the mods in the Community."

@johnclarke4 - if you look at the linked thread, @SerraNola explained some of what should happen with respect to the 1939. Not much about "why" but it's unfair to expect contractually related info in these threads.

Áine.ní.Donnghaile

@Paul W As you know, I visit my FSC regularly. After my thread (quoted above), I tried accessing the 1939 on my next visit with my public account since I'm not LDS. I was not able to access/search. Since SerraNola had kindly attached that one reference to my relative, I can see that index on his profile and click through to see it on FMP, even at home.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/sources/K4FG-HB6

Paul W

@Áine.ní.Donnghaile

Thank you for the up-to-date check. A lot longer than I remembered my last visit to a FSC, as the below shows. As you can see, I attached this personally (via my public account) during a visit in May 2019.

SerraNola

Update on the 1939 National Register:

• Images are accessible with a Find My Past membership, as before.
• The index is limited to LDS accounts per the contract with Find My Past. Neither index nor images can be accessed at a FSC or AL.
• About 20% of records from Find My Past are absent in the index due to unresolved permissions issues, which is being addressed.

johnclarke4

Thank you, it is as I Expected; not viewable by me

John