Homepage / Records & Finding aids / Conscriptions ( 1850 – 1914 ) – Applications for Residence Permit of Prague Police Headquarters
Conscriptions ( 1850 – 1914 ) – Applications for Residence Permit of Prague Police Headquarters
Introductory word
Police registration forms (conscriptions) are deposited in the National Archives in the archival fond Police Headquarters Prague, forming part of paper documents of general registry of this office. It is an independent whole amounting to 739 registration units (cardboard boxes) which represents ca 700,000 registration sheets mostly from 1850 – 1914. It contains material from several different registration offices of the Prague police region. The registration forms were then centrally deposited in the so called Meldeamt, they are filed in alphabetical order irrespective of original territorial citizenship and temporal succession. The used alphabet was neither rigorously Czech nor German, we could call it a“police“ alphabet. To characterize individual registration sheets, we can state that they are loose sheets of quarto size with pre-printed boxes. To reside in Prague there applied either individual persons or whole families. A head of household being written first, followed by his wife, children and other relatives, with whom the family shared the rooms. Besides the date of registration with the police, number of the house, and job of the man concerned, then we can learn the year and place of birth, religion, in case of a married woman her maiden name. The sheet may contain entries concerning marriages, deaths in the family, home certificate or reference to the file, if kept about any person, etc. (Foreigners and their company, staying for longer time in Prague, were also registered.) In cases when the man concerned moved from Prague there is usually made a note of to which place. Moving to another Prague quarter meant that a new sheet was filed and thus one person might have more of them. The sheets do not always correspond with each other.
The data gathered in conscriptions are of great researchers´ demand because they enable to follow stays of concrete persons, changes of their addresses, family background, and the like.
The higher interest for searches and the bad physical condition of records led to closing this archival fond for researchers, who harshly opened sheets, though stuck at different places the sheets were fragile and delicate. With respect to preservation of a unique collection of records on one hand and the necessity to make them accessible on the other, we have chosen a method of digitalization. But first sheets must undergo preparation in the conservatory studio – unsticking, flattening. Then they are photographed with a digital camera and are indexed with three indexes for searching in database – last name, first name, year of birth of indivudual person given in the registration form. Owing to the range of the fond and the consequent long-term character of the project, the conscriptions will be gradually made accessible, in the cardboxes 1 – 43 we indexed only the heads of households (written in bold letters), from the cardbox no.44 all persons stated in the registration form are indexed (with the exception of domestic staff), women have their maiden name attached (also their former last names). We use a method of transliteration when transcribing; in that way, different variants of entries of often the same persons may be preserved. Keep this in mind when trying to search a concrete person: e.g. Adamec, Adamez; Bach, Bachova, Bachová; Cihelka, Cyhelka, Zihelka; Èapek, Czapek, Tschapek; Marie, Maria; Terezie, Theresia; etc.
For possible requests, views and remarks on digitalized conscriptions, please forward to e-mail address: konskripce@nacr.cz. In case you would like to share your opinion with other users of websites of the NA , enclose it into visitor´s book (návštìvní kniha).
Dear supportes of our project,
With an increasing number of requests on approximate schedules and the perspective of finishing on-line databases of old Prague police registration forms, we would like to inform you that at present it is impossible to set, because the speed of progress depends on the amount of money which goes on this project. Should it be possible to get more money, e.g. in the form of a sponsor´s gift, the whole project would speed-up. The possible interest of yours in the sponsorship would be welcome.
In case you are interested in sponsoring our project, contact please the head of 2nd department of the NA: Mgr. Milan Vojáèek, tel.no. 974 847 346, e-mail: konskripce@nacr.cz.
Change announcement
Since April 2008 the access to data has been changed. Data will be added automatically and periodically (on April 1, July 1, October 1 and January 1). At the same time former data corrections will be updated. As data is not loaded from one source, some registration cards unprocessed up to now may be temporarily omitted. These will be loaded in the next data upload.
