Dear Genners:

Recently I made a special trip to the federal archives at College Point, Md.

from New York City to search for the visa applications that are part of

Record Group 84. My understanding >from articles and >from JewishGen Discussion
Group Archives is that these records are organized by consular post, by year,
and by topic indexed under the State Department' s decimal system.
To my chagrin, the archivist who is supposed to be knowledgeable about RG 84
told me that since this record group was new, he was not familiar with it
and did not realize that it contained visa applications. He had no idea how to
locate the visa applications that I wanted to research. As the archivist
had no idea how to locate these records under the State Department's indexing
system, I had no other choice but to return to New York City empty-handed,
having experienced a nice, 24-hour railroad, Metro, and bus trip.
Genealogists who plan to travel any distance in order to research this
record group ought to make absolutely sure, before-hand, that the archivist at
College Point knows how to find the section of Record Group 84 that you are
interested in. You might not find the specific records you are researching, but
be sure that you have records to review. JewishGen does have a partial online
index of Record Group 59 which might help in researching RG 84.

Richie Baum
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Sender: Rxbaum@aol.com