diff --git a/gramps/gui/glade/baseselector.glade b/gramps/gui/glade/baseselector.glade
index b98b38b7d..c6291e996 100644
--- a/gramps/gui/glade/baseselector.glade
+++ b/gramps/gui/glade/baseselector.glade
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@
                 <property name="use_action_appearance">False</property>
                 <property name="can_focus">True</property>
                 <property name="receives_default">False</property>
+                <property name="no_show_all">True</property>
                 <property name="halign">center</property>
                 <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                 <property name="xalign">0.5</property>
@@ -132,6 +133,22 @@
                 <property name="position">2</property>
               </packing>
             </child>
+            <child>
+              <object class="GtkLabel" id="loading">
+                <property name="visible">True</property>
+                <property name="can_focus">False</property>
+                <property name="label" translatable="yes">Loading items...</property>
+                <property name="width_chars">10</property>
+                <attributes>
+                  <attribute name="font-desc" value="&lt;Enter Value&gt; 20"/>
+                </attributes>
+              </object>
+              <packing>
+                <property name="expand">False</property>
+                <property name="fill">True</property>
+                <property name="position">3</property>
+              </packing>
+            </child>
           </object>
           <packing>
             <property name="expand">True</property>
diff --git a/gramps/gui/selectors/baseselector.py b/gramps/gui/selectors/baseselector.py
index 984dd0e7b..bdbf801a9 100644
--- a/gramps/gui/selectors/baseselector.py
+++ b/gramps/gui/selectors/baseselector.py
@@ -107,7 +107,6 @@ class BaseSelector(ManagedWindow):
         self.sortorder = Gtk.SortType.ASCENDING
 
         self.skip_list=skip
-        self.build_tree()
         self.selection = self.tree.get_selection()
         self.track_ref_for_deletion("selection")
 
@@ -123,6 +122,12 @@ class BaseSelector(ManagedWindow):
             self.showall.show()
         else:
             self.showall.hide()
+        while Gtk.events_pending():
+            Gtk.main_iteration()
+        self.build_tree()
+        loading = self.glade.get_object('loading')
+        loading.hide()
+
         if default:
             self.goto_handle(default)