Foreign Office Files on POWs (FO 383)

[seaforths]

3 hours ago, charlie962 said:

Yes, thanks. I have FMP sub and have looked these up before.

Unfortunately there are sometimes pages  where part of the info is hidden in the binding of the file- often the vital service number or initials!

Having copied some of these files at TNA I can understand how that might happen. The books are so large, cumbersome and tightly bound they can be difficult to manipulate. I don’t know how they copy their stuff on FMP whether they use cameras or scanners. I used to sometimes have to try and tilt the book and photograph into it at an angle to try to capture all of the information in the crease of the book and that seemed to work pretty well. Also, some of the pages have been typed on very heavily inked machines on both sides on something akin to tissue paper. So it’s difficult to read one side when the print from the other side is showing through significantly - presumably due to a scarcity of paper as I noticed it in the War Diaries as well.

I don’t know if you can ask them to provide a better copy of an image. I have done that on Scotland’s People and usually within 24 - 48 hours they have sent me a much better copy via email.

[charlie962]

12 hours ago, seaforths said:

I don’t know if you can ask them to provide a better copy of an image. I have done that on Scotland’s People and usually within 24 - 48 hours they have sent me a much better copy via email.

interesting. thanks for the tip.

[seaforths]

8 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

interesting. thanks for the tip.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained as the saying goes but I guess the difference between Scotland’s People and FMP might be that the former still retain the original documents and therefore have access to them but FMP might not. That said, the subscriptions are hefty enough to ask for some Quality Assurance issues to be addressed.