Polish Archives Hours

INFORMATION RELEASED OCTOBER 2017

The IAJGS 2018 Warsaw Conference Committee is pleased to announce that we now have an official answer regarding the summer hours at the Polish State Archives (PSA).

The General Director of the PSA system has advised JRI-Poland that unlike past years, all branches will remain open throughout the summer months. It is possible that at any given time a particular branch will have reduced staff due to planned vacations, but they will remain open for walk-in visitors.

In addition to the PSA, there are civil records offices (Urzad Stanu Cywilnego) in thousands of town halls around Poland. These offices are independent of the Polish State Archives and therefore access to their records—almost always those less than 100 years old for births—varies from town to town.

The level of service—at either Polish State Archives branches or Civil Records Offices—depends upon many factors. Same day service should not be expected as the norm when placing a request for documents even outside of summer months.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the leading experts and archivists from the Polish and other Eastern European archives have been invited to participate in our conference, the 2018 IAJGS Warsaw Conference committee recommends visits to archives and towns before and after the conference but not during it. The conference lectures will be at least as valuable to your personal research as spontaneously showing up in person at an archive or town hall office and may save you time and energy.

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