Archivos Espanoles En Red website researching

For anyone who is having a difficult time researching in and around Archivos Espanoles en Red. This is how I navigate around the site. I've been using the site for about 3 to 5 years now.

http://aer.mcu.es/sgae/index_aer.jsp

Signing on was difficult for me since I don’t read Spanish very well. I use Google and/or Babelfish for translating spanish.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Once you get your logon, and your on the site, click on "Busquedas".
From the next page go to the upper right hand corner-"Otros Criterios de Busqueda", scroll down to "Contenido" and enter a surname. You can click on "Anadir Contenido" as many times as you need to in order to narrow down a search. I usually do two of them and enter a surname and first name, or a surname and a location. (remember to use different variations of spelling for surnames and even the location name)
You'll have to click on "Otros Criterios de Busqueda" again if you do two or more Contenido's. Because the expanded version disappears. Hit the Buscar button, the site won't let you hit enter on your keyboard.....in fact it'll give you an error. (I still get errors because I'm going too fast). If you get an error, just click on the back button on your Internet Exployer/ Netscape navigator.

I tried Archivos y Fondos and found it wasn't as easy as what I'm used to doing.

As an example: "Lope" on one line and "Ruiz" on the other line. Volla! Lope Ruiz de Esparza's passenger information appears on the first page.

When the results appear and there is a green and red camera icon- those are the digital documents. I click on the red camera and the digital window appears which downloads the document. I usually multi-task and while I have the window up downloading the documents, I work on another search....The thing to remember is that if you click on another camera you override the previous digital information.....sometimes I get carried away and forget that I needed the previous digital information and have to go back to the results page again.

I have saved several digital documents on my computer and they will save as JPEGS.

I hope this informaton helps those new genealogist out there

Rose Gonzales-Hardy
Fresno, CA