Usually I get a response from the Italian state archives within two weeks. It is a little more than three weeks since I wrote to request some military records. Should I follow up or be more patient?

Could I be nosey and ask what type of records you are requesting and how you did it? Mail? Email? I have never contacted an Italian State Archive and I am vert curious as to how one would do that.

Thanks!


Jim

I believe by law they have to respond within 30 days, so maybe hold out another week. You may also want to ask Riccardo, he has a great deal of experience with this sort of thing.

Well when I wrote away for my great Uncle's Military/Death/Burial info last February, I didn't receive one answer until late June! Thats slightly more than 30 days...lol

nuccia wrote:

Well when I wrote away for my great Uncle's Military/Death/Burial info last February, I didn't receive one answer until late June! Thats slightly more than 30 days...lol

Just slightly!!!

Jim: I asked for the Lista di Leva and Ruolo Matricolare (sorry if I messed up the spelling). I did this via e-mail to the state archives. Initally I wrote to the VV state archives and they directed me to write to Cantanzaro because my comune used to be in that province. I have been successful twice before asking for military records from state archives via e-mail. But in both instances, it took two weeks to the day for a reply. In fact, VV wrote back to me two weeks to the day to tell me to redirect my inquiry to Cantanzaro.

The province of Cosenza emailed me back (information only) in 2 days. I send several emails to my grandmother's comune and still have not heard back from last summer. I would think the Province offices would be much busier than the comune offices. I would be patient for a few more weeks.

Poipu04 wrote:

Usually I get a response from the Italian state archives within two weeks. It is a little more than three weeks since I wrote to request some military records. Should I follow up or be more patient?

I had a speech with a lady from a State Archive, and while we were talkig she complained to me that since there is an easy way to send requests, many times the same request arrives 3 or 4 times, this get the process to be slower. So I beleive that you should wait.

I also wrote a letter to military office in Rome to receive a report about how my ancestor got wounded in WWI, and they are not replying yet.
I want to wait a couple of other months before I send another request.
Remeber that a phone call is always worth in order to know the status of your process.
I hope it helps
bye Riccardo

When i requested my ggrandfather's "foglio matricolare" from the archive in Bari, I did it via email.

One week later they emailed me back saying that they forwarded my request to the archive at Barletta, and i week after that i received the documents by regular snail mail! Two weeks from start to finish

Now i gave them very precise information regarding date of birth, parents name, date of death so that may be why i received such a quick response. I also think that there are less people requesting documents from Puglia than the other provinces.

MauroMags wrote:

When i requested my ggrandfather's "foglio matricolare" from the archive in Bari, I did it via email. One week later they emailed me back saying that they forwarded my request to the archive at Barletta, and i week after that i received the documents by regular snail mail! Two weeks from start to finish Now i gave them very precise information regarding date of birth, parents name, date of death so that may be why i received such a quick response. I also think that there are less people requesting documents from Puglia than the other provinces.

What sort of information do you get from a "foglio matricolare" ?

I have never seen one.

Hi Jim

its basically an enlistment record. my gg served in WWI and it details evertime he was moved or saw action, injuries, when he was in the US and when he was discharged.

I would scan it to show you but its a huge piece of paper!

if you do an google image search for "foglio matricolare" you can see what they look. Its a great piece of information.

James,

Maybe this will help...my grandfather's military records:

Francesco's Military Records

Draft Cards for Francesco:
upload9.postimage.org/...sting.html
upload9.postimage.org/...sting.html


And here are Enrico's..

upload9.postimage.org/...sting.html

upload9.postimage.org/...sting.html