Westphalia (Westfalen) Archives and Libraries

Here is the address and catalog of the Evangelical Church in Westfalen

Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelischen Kirche von Westfalen Ritterstraße 19

33602 Bielefeld

Germany

Tel. 0521/594164, Fax: 0521/594267 archiv@lka.ekvw.de www.archiv-ekvw.de

Öffnungszeiten: Mo-Do 9.00-12.30 und 13.30-16.00 Uhr (aus Platzgründen wird um Voranmeldung gebeten: Tel. 0521/594159)

Bestände: www.archive.nrw.de (catalog)

Findbuch
When doing research in an archive, one has to be familiar with the so called Findbuch. This is a collection of archival records listed by an archivist. All records are organized by call numbers (Signaturen), are briefly described and published by the archive. The Findbuch can be found in the archive itself in book form or online in connection with the archival catalog (Bestände).

For instance, the Findbuch of the city of Paderborn is online

http://www.archive.nrw.de/Kommunalarchive/KommunalarchiveM-P/P/Paderborn/index.html here

A click on Bestände and then online Findbücher gives the choice to get an alphabetical list of all Findbücher or to retrieve them by date. www.familysearch.org has an alphabetical index of topics for the city of Paderborn. It can be retrieved through International film number 1200698 items 7-9. This film can be obtained for perusal through the Family History Center network.