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Archiver > TheShipsList > 2003-08 > 1061776450
From: joe <>
Subject: Re: [TSL] Finding "Missing" Passenger Lists
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 19:54:10 -0600
References: <3F4937F8.9F245F27@genesearch.com> <013901c36aa4$6062e2e0$2abf2252@davidships> <3F496A35.5E61A33F@genesearch.com>
David Asprey wrote:
> Thank you for the clarification. Do you know why the Balch Institute does
> not allow access to researchers?
It would seem likely that it is because they fear damage. Just think
what would become of these very old lists if thousands of people were
allowed to look through them. If you've ever seen some of these lists on
microfilm you can see how torn and fragile some of them look. It could
also be that they don't have the facilities available to allow for this.
There are several hundred thousand total documents.
> Do they intend to do so at some point in
> the future?
I don't know.
> Strange that the Balch Institute website and description of
> manuscript collections makes no mention of the Customs passenger lists.
Probably to keep people like us from sending in lots of requests :)
> When asking NARA about the list for the arrival in New York on 22 Feb 1870
> of steamer RAKAIA from Rio de Janeiro they said that originals had been
> destroyed - "the microfilmed records are all that remain". Do I understand
> correctly that there are likely to be an alternative original Customs list
> at the Balch Institute?
I don't think they have anything that hasn't been microfilmed. The lists
were transferred there after they were microfilmed.
> Another one I had given up on is the arrival of
> MARIPOSA from Havana on 26 Mar 1867 of which NARA tell me there is no trace
> at all on the relevant microfilms
Which port did the Mariposa land at? Where did you get the date?
> Despair is because the page is missing from the microfilm. It is of no
> comfort at all to know that the original is probably sitting in an archive
> that nobody is allowed to see.
It could be that the page is missing from the paper list as well (or was
damaged). Not everything has survived and some of these "original lists"
are actually copies substituted when the original did not survive or was
severely damaged.
Good luck with your search.
Regards,
Joe
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