In which archive do I start my research?

It is important to deal with the existing literature on its subject before the start of research in archives. In most cases, there are also hints on stocks in archives.A first entry into the contexts of Bavarian history, for example, offers the “Historical Lexicon of Bavaria”.

1. Family research:

It is best to start at home with existing knowledge and documents such as birth, baptism and death certificates or photos. Now you work back from generation to generation without skipping one. Next point is the local municipal or municipal archive and the documents stored there by the public offices. In this way it is possible to return until 1876 – this year the stand offices in Bavaria were introduced. The local parish offices wrote births and baptisms and deaths in their church and death books. The church books are now located in the diocesan archives for the Catholic Church or in the Landeskirchliche Archiv der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche or in the parish offices. With luck you're up to 17. century back. Only when you have searched through all registers of persons and church books can you evaluate other sources in state, municipal or church archives. If you know that a member of the Bavarian Army (until 1919) has belonged, you can find an entry in the war ancestors. The war tributaries are kept in the War Archive Division of the Main State Archive and are now fully digitized and searchable. If you want to research into warfare roles from home, this is possible, but the offer is payable: https://www.ancestry.de/If a member was a member of the Bavarian State Service, you might find his personal record in a state archive (e.g. for teachers at a Bavarian Gymnasium).

2. Local and Home History:

It is best to start in the municipal or municipal archives and continue its research in the relevant state archives and in church archives. Only when you have passed these stations, it makes sense to search for older sources in the Bavarian Main State Archive.

3. School history:

If you explore the history of your own school, you start in the municipal or municipal archives or in the archives of the respective school institution (e.g. in church schools). In Bavaria there were 424 gymnasiums alone in 2018; It is impossible to remove all documents of all schools in the state archives. Therefore, certain schools are selected whose documents are transferred to the state archives. Archivists call this approach “the formation of a pattern delivery”. Schools whose files are not taken over by the competent state archive can also offer their documents to a municipal archive under certain conditions. There are usually additional school records and personal records of the Ministry of Culture in the Bavarian Main State Archive.

4. History of the region:

Here also the order of municipal archives, state archives, main state archives applies.

Documents in archives have only been available since the end of the 19th century. century ribbed or printed. Before that everything is handwritten, these writings must be read. Fonts and Introductions available on the Internet provide assistance in handling the writing of past times (e.g. www.gda.bayern.de/DigitaleSchriftkunde/,https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/.

What about everything in the world is a “Ablegat”? Sources (and older directories) often use terms that are no longer common today. Here it is best to ask an archivist or an archivist. In most archives there is also a small hand library with common reference works. Many of them are now available online, e.g. Foreign dictionary of Johann Christian August Heyse. A bit more difficult to use, but also available on the Internet, this is Bavarian Dictionary of Johann Andreas Schmeller. The mystery about the “Ablegat” can be solved in this way: this is an emissary.

The “Grotefend” (Hermann Grotefend) helps to resolve older dates, such as “Sontag nach Oculi” Pocketbook of the German Middle Ages and the Modern Times. Sunday after Oculi is Sunday after the third Sunday in Lent (that is to say Laetare), in 1468 (example 2a) was Oculi on 20.3., Sunday after that would be 27.3.1468.