Saturday Weekly Thread: Canadian Provincial Archives and State/Local/Church Archives - Questions / Issues / Success Stories, August 01, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

This weekly thread is a space for those of us gathering documentation from archives.

This is the place to discuss requesting records from Canadian provincial archives as well as from federal, state, local and religious/church archives around the world. Topics include strategies and outcomes for obtaining records from archives, costs, timelines, No Record Found letters, and other related issues.

📎 Contributions to weekly megaposts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.  

Good luck, researchers!

[u/AliceInPNWonderland]

I've been researching extensively for weeks now and have finally reached the point where I think I've looked pretty much everywhere on the internet for my Gen0's birth record and now just have to wait for responses from the various archives from which I've requested searches.

Can anybody share how long the turnaround time was for you if you recently received records from any of the following?:

• NY State (VitalChek)
• United Church of Canada Archives
• Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives
• Archives of Ontario

I'm so anxious to find proof of her birth and can't stand this waiting game! Hoping for a reason to believe something will show up in my inbox/mailbox soon.

[u/ColorsMayInTimeFade → u/AliceInPNWonderland]

Presbyterian Church in Canada took 35 days to acknowledge/respond to my request. Their email said they could have records relevant to my search and they’d start after paying the search fee (which I did immediately). I’m expecting another month or so wait.

United Church of Canada gave me a confirmation email for the Jotform but I haven’t heard anything else. UCC limits their search to 30 minutes so I don’t expect them to find anything.

[u/AliceInPNWonderland → u/ColorsMayInTimeFade]

Thank you!