Thoughts on a SLC Trip

["kitty_cortez" <kcortez@...>]

Alicia
I would spend your time at SLC in making copies of those records you 
found on the IGI.  If you ONLY go after the extracted documents that 
you know are on the films, you should have no problem getting thru 
the 47 rolls of film you have.  Then any extra time can be used by 
going thru a couple of films slowly.  If your list of documents to 
find is listed by film number, and then date, it goes rather fast 
and you can take 2-3 rolls of film to the film printer room.  As I 
mentioned before, do your homework now in creating that list.  Take 
your clipboards to separate your surnames into your pedigree 
branches.  
Rich and I will be there the end of April thru the first week of 
May.  We also probably will be back the middle of August again.  Our 
grand daughter goes to Weber State in Ogden and yes we look like the 
Beverly Hillbillies carrying her stuff back and forth.  
I would not be surprised if 25% of your films are actually at the 
library.  When you call in your films to order always mention that 
you are coming from out of state and they let you order more than 
the usual five.  Also order five or more films in your husbands 
name.  These films will be on the shelves when you get there.  
We save ordering films for our local library in Auburn (40 miles 
away) for those films that are not extracted and we know there are 
documents we need on them.
Finally a short message I can send thru Ranchos.
We will be in Fremont and the Santa Cruz area for 3 days the 20th of 
February.  We are making tamales in the Santa Cruz mtns.  Rich and I 
would love to meet you.  When are you leaving for SLC?
Kitty


--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, Joseph Puentes <makas@n...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Alicia Carrillo wrote:
> 
> >     Well here I am now getting ready to go, I have been doing my
> >     homework in terms of all the advice I've been given. Much of 
the
> >     homework I had done months ago as far as the IGI database to
> >     identify which films to order and some I did when we went to
> >     Tlachichila in Sept 2004. All of this data is what compelled 
me to
> >     go to SLC. There is so much that needs to be looked up and
> >     verified that only a trip to SLC will do it.
> >
> >     I found that I would get very agressive and order many rolls 
of
> >     film at my local FHS and by the time my 3 or 4 weeks were up 
I'd
> >     only had a chance to review 2 or 3 rolls, hence the trip to 
SLC. I
> >     will be there for 3 days and nights but somehow I don't 
believe
> >     that will be enough. I see from some of your responses that 
some
> >     of you go several times a year. That also tells me that 3 
days
> >     will not be enough but I also know that I don't have the 
financial
> >     resources to go often.
> >
> >     My question to those of you who have completed or are very
> >     advanced in your quest to find your ancestors is how long 
did it
> >     take you to compile this data and how many hours in a day, 
week or
> >     month did you have to invest in order to get that far?
> >
> Alicia,
> 
> wow what a question. . .for me it took months of effort. I rolled 
> through many many films frame by frame. At first when I had more 
time 
> than I have now I would go in to my FHC everyday for about 5 
hours. That 
> period lasted probably 6-8 months (I'm currently a 2-3 times a 
month 
> volunteer which gives me a key to the place and freedom to go in 
and 
> study 24/7 If I want other than Sunday morning during their 
services). 
> Now I go in on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th thursdays of every month and 
get 
> there at 5 am and have 4 hours of research time before the center 
opens 
> when I need to start my volunteer duties. Usually I can keep 
working to 
> some degree.
> 
> >     Did you do it alone or did you collaborate with other family 
members?
> >
> Estoy solito aqui en NC. . .but I do have cousins in CA that are 
> interested in genealogy and we have discussed the family over the 
phone. 
> I even got them to add searching the films at their local FHC in 
Fresno. 
> I was talking with my Aunt Julia for two years every other week 
> collecting oral history before she recently passed. I just loved 
being 
> able to report to her what I had found and have her respond that 
she 
> remembered her parents talking about this or that person and give 
added 
> details and clues for my continued search.
> 
> >     Did most of you do it through your family history centers?
> >
> almost 100%
> 
> >     As I see it now I have approximately 47 rolls of film
> >
> 1 roll of film ='s $3.25 + .25 notification fee then $3.25 first 
renewal 
> then $3.25 second renewal or $10 per film to get them 
on "permanent 
> hold" at my family history center [prices may vary from FHC to FHC 
even 
> though I don't think they do. . .i think that is the national set 
price, 
> but I might be wrong on this]. Consider your cost of going to SLC 
for a 
> few hours [lets say 4 days at 10 hours or 40 possible research 
hours] 
> and consider that to put all 47 films on permanent hold at you FHC 
would 
> cost $470. Almost all of the films I order go on permanent. I've 
> discovered that people you don't recognize suddenly turn out to be 
> relatives a few months later as your research advances. I'd 
recommend 
> that you use your time in SLC as an in-depth "scouting" trip. Go 
and 
> search out the "gold" mines of your research area. When you find 
an area 
> that your relatives lived in for a couple of generations then 
consider 
> not spending a tremendous amount of time on these films but rather 
put 
> them on permanent at the most convenient FHC close to you in San 
Jose. 
> Use your time in SLC looking for clues as to which films or film 
groups 
> (locations close to your particular epicenter of research) are the 
ones 
> you really want to zero in on. One of the main things I look for 
in 
> collecting oral history is Location, Location, Location. I'm 
constantly 
> looking for areas of Mejico that the family might have moved to or 
come 
> from with regards to the main location I am researching. Once you 
find 
> that you find a whole new set of films you need to painstakingly 
[it 
> hurts so good] research frame by frame.
> 
> I've never been to SLC but when I go I'm going to save the in-
depth 
> research for my FHC and do a lot of "shotgun" type of research 
where I 
> look at a lot of films where I suspect that the family went as 
they made 
> their journey north to the US. I want to go and really hunt 
through the 
> films of Durango for the presence of my Diaz relatives where oral 
> history tells me some were born. Heck I could have many lost 
branches of 
> my Diaz family currently living in Durango now if I could just 
find out 
> more info. I also have oral history that tells me Coahuila is a 
key 
> state. So I guess you see I'm reluctant to order a lot of films 
from 
> areas that I'm just not sure of but if the films were there in SLC 
then 
> I'd surely go and roll some films to see if I could get a clue to 
the la 
> Familia's presence.
> 
> >     that I need to request and I believe as I have some new 
findings I
> >     will find that I might have additional requests.
> >
> >     My other question is how many rolls is the average you can 
review
> >     in one day or is there an average.
> >
> hard question to answer. I'd say it all depends on the quality of 
the 
> penmanship of the scribe who recorded the records. If they had 
that rare 
> very good handwriting I might be able to roll through a roll in 10-
12 
> hours (guess) if the handwriting is more typical bad or they used 
heavy 
> ink and it bled through the page and or back to the page before by 
> closing the book before it dried then those records can be 
especially 
> time consuming and easily take up 2-4 times as long. I've had some 
> records that still need time deciphering because I can see that 
they are 
> related but the smudges and such make the info hard to see or they 
are 
> very faded (the worst kind in my opinion).
> 
> just some of my personal thoughts. there is no right and wrong. 
you are 
> doing right by asking your questions and getting input from 
different 
> ones. I'd also add a digital camera to your equipment. I save a 
lot more 
> records now than when I used to make hard copies off the films 
because 
> it is so much faster to digitally click a frame than transfer the 
film 
> from a reader to a copier/reader [then again maybe SLC's readers 
are 
> "ALL" copiers as well I wouldn't know about that]. Keep asking 
> questions. I think its helping others in the group make plans for 
a 
> future trip to our Mecca.
> 
> joseph
> 
> >     When I would go to my local FHS it would sometimes take up 
to six
> >     hours to go over one roll because I didn't want to miss 
anything
> >     that might not be too obvious if I scanned through it too 
quickly
> >     and some were difficult to read.
> >
> >     I guess I'm thinking out loud and maybe someone out there 
has good
> >     tips on how to scan film and how not to scan film, the right 
way
> >     vs the wrong way.
> >
> >     Alicia
> >
> >      
> >
> >
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