Registrar's Report
For the week ending November 17, 2007.
Reg Day
Reg Day 2007 was held across the country on Saturday, November 10th
and in some cases throughout that week on campus, in malls and many
Border's Bookstores. This always results in increased interest in
the work of ISRR and the groups hosting in various areas. Go to
www.regday.org for more
information.
The Registry -- Old and New
We have been working now since 2002 on an "Imaging Project" which
involved re-organizing, prepping, scanning and indexing over 200,000
registration files. Since this was done primarily by volunteers, it
has been a long and patient process. Currently we are half-way
through California (the largest state filling five 4-drawer legal
filing cabinets) and then only have NY left to finish. Doing match
lookups during this transition, has been tedious at best. We have
been running the old system, the new system and a bridge between the
two. It was pretty exhausting. We are extremely grateful for the
thousands of hours given and also to those who donated money to
support this endeavor. Within a few months we will finally see the
project completed. It ensures that all registrations are safe, with
backups to protect them long into the future.
Maybe most exciting is that it allows ISRR to function with
increased efficiency. The long range plans for outreach, education
and streamlining will activate in early 2008 and should result in
more registrations, more matches and better service. It has been a
long time coming and I personally want to thank those we serve for
their kindness and patience throughout the process.
How important preserving all the old registrations is, was
brought home just today. We received a registration from an adoptee
born in 1928 and have a match with her mother who registered in
1986. It is never too late to register, to find out if other family
members have registered, and to acquire information regarding those
you seek.
New Registrations & Updates
On average ISRR receives somewhere between 100 and 300 new
registrations each week. This reflects November 14-17, 2007
New
Registrations USA ~ 83
New
- International ~ 3 (Columbia, Denmark,
Ireland)
Updates ~ 22
Matches
Fourteen new matches were opened 11-17-2007 and calls\contact
will be initiated with the registrants to put all parties together.
CA = 2
(1953 & 1968)
FL = 2
(1960 & 1970)
IN = 1
(1967)
MI = 2
(1928 & 1969)
MT = 1
(1979)
NC = 1
(1971)
NJ = 1
(1969)
NY = 2
(1957 & 1967)
TX = 2
(1951 & 1953)
OPEN CASE FILES: There
are currently 3 open cases awaiting conclusion -- FL 1975, NC 1966,
NE 1969. Plus older ones pending -- CA 1960, DE 1967, DE 1975, HI
1970.
CLOSED CASE FILES: Two of
last weeks matches concluded -- IA 1966, OK 1970. Plus two older
ones -- DE 1964, NY 1966. And already this weeks MI 1928.
MISSING REGISTRANTS: This
year we revisited 54 older and unresolved matches, where one or more
of the registrants did not keep their contact information current
with ISRR. Most of those have been concluded. However, the following
need more information from one or both of the registrants, to
determine if it is indeed a match.
AZ 10-15-1965
CO 06-17-1968
FL 02-17-1964
FL 08-10-1964
FL 06-29-1965
LA 11-18-1969
MA 07-02-1966
NC 12-25-1969
NY 03-17-1970
NY 12-19-1974
PA 06-22-1955
WA 08-06-1961
WA 08-21-1961
WA 12-19-1961
If you think your address
or phone number may be out-of-date with ISRR, please click on
UPDATE , download the form, fill
it out, sign it and mail to ISRR. Until the Imaging Project is
finished, our staff will not be able to take updates or changes over
the phone, by fax or email. We are sorry for this inconvenience, however,
ask you to understand that we are working just as fast and hard as
possible ... there is only so much of us to go around!
Please always remember that you are not alone. We receive
many thousands of new registrations each year and do matches nearly
every single day. There are search and support resources all over
the world, and hundreds of thousands who have gone before you in a
quest for family.
We work hard to keep this
registry free to registrants and are grateful for your generous
contributions which allows this service to continue uninterrupted since
1975.
Report
submitted November 18, 2007
by ISRR
Registrar, Marri J. Rillera.
