I am stuck

VuyelwaCarlin

I am trying in vain to retrieve archival material. Went to NAAIRS, found entries (TAB), found Result Details, but then got absolutely stuck. Where do I go next? Vuyelwa

Shannon Potter Wilcox

@VuyelwaCarlin I contacted a person who knows about NAAIRS more than me. Did she reach out to you? If not, here is what she told me.

The web site clearly states you cannot view them through the web site, but it is a finding tool to show you where the information is and what repository you need to contact. So, I'm very confused about his wording... ( "The information on archival records provided in NAAIRS is intended essentially as a finding aid or catalogue. The database records do not reflect the actual contents of the archival material. NAAIRS provides an important reference to the retrieval of the actual archival material in an archive repository. Having identified relevant material, the user would then make contact with the relevant archive repository to consult the document, quoting the SOURCE CODE, VOLUME NUMBER AND REFERENCE NUMBER." )

http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs_help.htm is the page that has the help menu/contact information for those with genealogical or family history research or other archival research questions.

When I duplicated his search, Step 3 (clicking on "Result Summary") gave me the list with the source, volume, and reference, as stated. 

So, from that results page, I would click on each item (the title of the item itself). 

The next page gives the "Depot" where that item exists.

From the list of repositories found on http://www.national.archives.gov.za/reposit.htm (the link is found on the "Help" page link I gave above), you will there find the repository that the document is held at. 

For instance, the first item on the results list is an immigration record. When I click on that, it tells me the Depot is KAB. When I go to the repositories list, I see it is Cape Town Archives Repository. It gives the contact information and several emails. He would need to send an email to inquire about the immigration record. 

It is possible that the person who helped him had web site information where he could look up and view the documents at that time. He could look up the repository online to see if they have an image viewer tool on their web site.

You need the source code, volume number, and reference number, but he needs to contact the specific repository listed and give them the information so they can retrieve the actual document for him (unless he finds an online search tool at any given repository web site).

I hope this helps some.