Almost everyone comes to beautiful Greece for vacation. But I come to work! This is precious time for me to do what I cannot from home: visit repositories, explore ancestral villages, look for new sources of information and visit family. This summer is a two-month extended stay for me, as I have added a new item to my “to-do” list–records preservation.

Vital records in Greece are kept in three key locations:  town halls (Dimarheion), archive offices, and churches. All have the need to preserve their documents, but only some have begun this work. Fortunately, Sparta has a Bishop who understands the importance of record preservation, and he was most enthusiastic when approached about the opportunity to have his church records digitized.

In Sparta, marriage license records exist from 1835-present. The bishop approved digitization of 100 years of these documents–from 1835 to 1934. I volunteered to do the work, and honestly, it is my privilege. With the assistance of the church archivist, I work from 8:30-5:00 Monday-Friday.

Working girl

Records from 1835-1840 are sparse, but incredibly, some do exist and we are fortunate to have those that survived both the elements and humanity.

1836 marriage license

As you can imagine, these documents are dusty, dirty and some are very fragile. But they have withstood time and elements. Some have water damage, some have mold, but every one is precious.

Marriage licenses, ready to be preserved

Sometimes we find a document where the priest has glued together several strips of paper to create a full document. If you click on the picture below and make it larger, you can see the vertical lines where the strips are connected.

1894-making a full document from strips of paper

I have an affinity for old documents, as I work as a Citizen Archivist at the National Archives in Washington, and also at the Maryland Archives. But there is something extra special about handling documents that were generated in your ancestral land. Written in Greek script and detailing the marriage information for the bride and groom, I am handling papers that reveal precious family history–information about the bride and groom, and their families.

We never know what we will find when we pick up a license packet. This document has a photo of the groom:

There is a notation on the back of this license that the marriage did not occur, due to an argument between the groom-to-be and his father-in-law!

No marriage! page 1

No marriage! page 2

Sometimes, documents which are not marriage-related are found, and they are removed to be put in an appropriate files. This one is of special interest to me. It is an application of the citizens of my village of Agios Ioannis (Sparta) to the Bishop, requesting a priest. The year is 1874, and 70 men of the village signed the document. One of them–line 27–is my ancestor, Ioannis Papagiannakos. A rough translation: We are pleased to judge this man and to make him our priest, Panagiotis Poulimenakos. He is an honest man, educated, has a good heart and is respectful.

1874. Agios Ioannis, Sparta. Application for Bishop. p1

1874. Agios Ioannis, Sparta. Application for Bishop. p2

1874. Agios Ioannis, Sparta. Application for Bishop. p3

1874. Agios Ioannis, Sparta. Application for Bishop. p4

I anticipate it will take about two months to complete this project. It is rewarding to know that these records will now be saved. A new generation of priests is taking great interest in what we are doing and learning the importance of document preservation.

Stay tuned for updates! 🙂