I'm sorry to hear that the Archives in Menlo Park are not very helpful. I have e-mailed them, but as yet have not received an answer, concerning an ancestor who was a Priest in the Bay area. He was ordained in the 1920's and served between San Franciso, Oakland and finally in Palo Alto until his death in 1951. I do have a lot of information on him and know that he is buried in Colma. What I was hoping to find was a picture from one of the Churches in which he served. I will be in San Franciso in late September and would be able to check to churches in that city, but because I will be with 3 other people, will not have the opportunity to be outside the side. I also have not written to the Churches outside the city, as I was waiting to hear from the Archives. Any other suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Pat

Hi Pat, Here is some information I have gathered in regards to SF Church records and the SF Chancery Archives. The email address for the Chancery Archivist is [email protected] The Archives office in Menlo Park does allow visitors to view their microfilmed files of sacramental church records but you must make an appointment before you visit. They have limited hours and are only open certain days of the week. I emailed the archivist about a month ago and received a response in a couple of days. Since you are looking for information about an individual priest you may want to call the Archivist office to inquiry where you will have the best opportunity to find the information or photographs. Phone: 650-328-6502. If you know the parishes the priest served in you may want to contact them to see if they have any parish anniversary publications, they often have photographs spanning the years since the parish was founded. When I was searching church records in another archdiocese there was a reluctance to allow me to search through their record books. The journals were very old and fragile, so you may find less resistance at the Archives office to view the microfilm. Hope you find some of this information to be useful. David -----Original Message----- From: Pat Crimmel [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2006 12:49 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [CASANFRA] Catholic Archives I'm sorry to hear that the Archives in Menlo Park are not very helpful. I have e-mailed them, but as yet have not received an answer, concerning an ancestor who was a Priest in the Bay area. He was ordained in the 1920's and served between San Franciso, Oakland and finally in Palo Alto until his death in 1951. I do have a lot of information on him and know that he is buried in Colma. What I was hoping to find was a picture from one of the Churches in which he served. I will be in San Franciso in late September and would be able to check to churches in that city, but because I will be with 3 other people, will not have the opportunity to be outside the side. I also have not written to the Churches outside the city, as I was waiting to hear from the Archives. Any other suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Pat ==== CASANFRA Mailing List ==== Need an obituary lookup? Visit sfgenealogy.com http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sfrantip.htm#sfmainobit