International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Understanding Migration Patterns

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course provides an extensive overview of migration patterns of various ethnic groups from Central and Eastern Europe to the United States, Canada, South America, and other countries. The study of migration does not just involve one movement but recognizes that for a number of reasons, it is natural for peoples to move and settle from one place to another, be it a new country or a new community. For those researching ancestors who came from Central and Eastern Europe an understanding of the “push-pull factors” of emigration/immigration is critical to research success. This course will explore the history of migration of the various Central/Eastern European groups, and explain key concepts and definitions. In the study of migration, it is vital to remember that while we speak in general of peoples or ethnicities, each individual has a story, waiting to be explored. For in-depth study of countries or ethnic groups, students should take the appropriate elective courses.

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Austrian-Hungarian, German and Russian Empires: Chronology

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

In this course, you will learn more about the differentiations within ethnic Eastern European research depending upon the time period and geographic place. Through studying the key dates and concepts critical to the Austrian, German, and Russian Empires you will understand of how these three Empires shaped Eastern Europe, and impacted the lives and decisions of your ancestors.

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Civil Registration Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Church parish registers are the foundation of genealogical research in Eastern Europe, but civil registration of vital events is also an important consideration. Although civil registration generally began during the 1800s in most areas, the depth of information in these records makes them a valuable source for learning more about people who were registered. Most civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths provide significantly more information than is found in comparable church registers. In addition, they are often indexed and therefore easier to use. Unfortunately, access to such records is often restricted by availability (they often begin much later than research needs would require) and privacy laws regulating public access. In this course, you will learn the value of civil registration records, what types of records are available, how to access them, the nature and extent of access and privacy restrictions. In addition, you will learn about key terminology, how to deal with foreign language challenges, and other obstacles and key tips on reading and interpreting birth, marriage, and death records.

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Church Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Church parish registers are the most popular and useful source for tracing ancestors in Eastern Europe. Often these are the only records in which to find information about our ancestors and their families in the old country, and as such, form the foundation of genealogical research. In most cases, our Eastern European ancestors were not landowners nor mentioned in probate records. Census records are sporadic, while tax lists and other records are scant, incomplete, and difficult to access, if they exist at all. This makes the local records of birth, marriage, or death kept by the local church the records of choice for documenting most East Europeans, especially before the late 19th century. In this course, you will learn the value of church records (both Christian and Jewish), what types of records are available, how to access them, limitations and privacy restrictions. In addition, you will learn about general search strategies, key terminology, how to deal with foreign language challenges, and other obstacles, and tips on reading and interpreting birth, marriage, and death records.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Other Records Including Census, Land, Military and Tax

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

While church registers are the most useful sources for tracing most Eastern European ancestors, and civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths provide even more details, there are other record groups to be searched that may prove useful in the absence of church and civil registration records for your locality.

We will begin with a brief review of “other” records that you can use to research your ancestors in Eastern Europe. We will then look specifically at census, military, land, tax, and nobility records, as well as sources such as directories and compiled genealogies. In addition, you will learn about general search strategies, key terminology, how to deal with foreign language challenges, and other obstacles, and tips on reading and interpreting these records.

Finally, we will review some of the best websites for finding Eastern European records online and how to work around common obstacles such as privacy laws, translating records and more.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Record Repositories

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Tracking down specific records for ancestors is likely the ultimate goal of students taking the Eastern European courses. Therefore, one important aspect of these courses is to describe the nature of the repositories where the needed records reside. There are a variety of libraries and archives (hence, the usage of the term “repositories”) one may access to obtain the needed records.

To be effective in using a variety of repositories in Central and Eastern Europe, it is important to learn about them, including their differences, and how to access them. Due to the sheer number of archives, libraries, societies, and other repositories for the various Eastern European countries, not all are identified. Each researcher may need a different set of repositories to succeed in research. This course will introduce the major kinds of repositories and a basic overview of how they operate.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Problem Solving

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course focuses on six of the most common Eastern European genealogy research problems and the methods to solve them. We will begin with the issue of names and the problem of spelling. Next, we will address the problems of identifying the name of the ancestral town or village and locating places those places using current borders. Then, we will review the issue of records access (especially how to acquire records that are not online) and address the challenges of reading records in unfamiliar languages. Finally, we will discuss the basics of what it means when your DNA test results indicate Eastern European ancestry.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Eastern European: Onsite Research in the Ancestral Homeland

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

No matter how convenient it may be these days to research ancestors without leaving home, you probably still dream of visiting your family’s homeland. You are yearning to see where your ancestors lived, stand in the church where they were baptized, enjoy traditional cuisine, and understand what life was like for your ancestors before they made the journey to America. With heritage travel, you have an opportunity to go beyond the same old research strategies and discover those details you can’t get from online databases, books, or microfilm. In this course, you will learn about “immersion genealogy”—the process of discovering where and how our ancestors lived, worked, and worshiped, and experiencing first-hand those customs and traditions they passed down through the generations. We will begin with planning your trip (including packing and travel tips). Then, we will cover how to contact relatives and locals (mayors and priests) in advance, what to do when you meet them, and creating an itinerary. Finally, we will review what to do after the trip to document your meetings, travels, and research.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Research: FamilySearch Resources: In Person and Online

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

FamilySearch is one of the important websites in the field of genealogical research. The FamilySearch, free, website is just one part of a larger network, provide by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FamilySearch includes over 6.3 billion searchable records and indexes online. FamilySearch provides digital images, education, digitized books, online indexing, a library catalog, and online access to genealogy sources in a variety of forms. The services provided through the FamilySearch organization have proven time and time again to be invaluable to researchers of all experiences and levels of expertise. In this course we will review all aspects of using the FamilySearch website and how to use the website to find, learn, network, and share with other researchers. 

Course Length: 9 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Discover Your Family History

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

An introductory course in tracing your family history. Start with the question: “Why should I trace my family history?” Then focus on the how as you learn to use a Pedigree Chart and Family Group Record. Move to research basics with living family members and home sources that provide relevant information. Review websites and sources most used in family history research. The course concludes with a look at next steps to continuing your research including DNA testing and hiring a genealogist. Or, continue courses with the International Institute of Genealogical Studies to reach your dream of becoming a professional genealogist by earning your credentials.

Optional Print Course Material: Writing Your Family History Book

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Recording interesting family stories is essential if you want future generations to read your family history book. This course will help you write the story of your life or of your ancestors’ lives. Techniques for researching the facts, remembering the events, writing the text, adding visuals with graphics or photographs, and finally reproducing your book will all be discussed. 

Course Length: 6 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Preserve Your Family History Documents and Heirlooms

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

You have taken the time to locate and acquire your family’s precious documents, photos, and heirlooms. Now take the time to protect, curate, and share them for future generations to enjoy. 

This course discusses how to preserve your family history items to minimize damage. The procedures for encapsulating documents and photographs will be explored, as well as other methods to protect your family heirlooms. You are your family’s archivist, and family history requires you to do more than research, you must also preserve material items of the past. This course will demonstrate the techniques and tools you need to do just that. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Planning a Fabulous Family Reunion

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Planning a family reunion is often something you have been thinking or dreaming of for years. But like most projects, at a certain point you must stop dreaming and start doing.

Let's not kid ourselves, planning a family reunion is a big job. It will take lots of hours, and many times you will wonder why you ever dreamed of this.

Yes, you can do this, just don't try to do it by yourself. If you've assembled a good planning team, your family reunion will be a success. This course will give you lots of ideas and suggestions to make the planning of your reunion a little easier.

Genealogy has been known to become a passion or become addictive. Well the enthusiasm in planning a family reunion is infectious, if you have the excitement, you will pass it on.

Course Length: 5 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Planning a Research Trip Including Salt Lake City

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

As genealogists and family historians we all dream of one day walking the land of our ancestors or going to ‘genealogy heaven’ in Salt Lake City. You can make those dreams come true, with sound practical advice. Researching away from home, especially abroad, can be productive and rewarding if adequate preparations are made. This course gives practical advice on travel, accommodation, what to take, and what to expect in libraries, archives, and other repositories. You need to be fully prepared to accomplish your research objectives. The second half of the course concentrates on the world’s largest genealogical library, the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. It is your guide in the planning process, familiarizes you with how the FamilySearch Library is organized, and gives all the practical tips anyone can use to get the most from their research trip.

Optional Print Course Material: Research: Irish Ancestors

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course is an introduction to the first two centuries of family history research in Ireland, covering both Northern Ireland, which remains part of Britain, and the Republic of Ireland (Eire), which has been independent since 1922. The emphasis is in doing the research yourself from wherever you happen to live, rather than merely covering the resources available in Ireland. Irish records are available worldwide if you know where to look, and this course will show you where they are and how to utilize them.

Consideration is given to the difficulties inherent in Irish research, key items in Irish history and geography and to emigration (the Irish Diaspora). Major original sources covered are civil registration, census (including substitutes where this is lacking), church registers and probate. These are followed by discussions of the usefulness of occupational records, locating research already done or in progress and a brief guide to resources for planning a genealogy research trip to Ireland.

Course Length: 6 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Research: Jewish Ancestors

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Researching a Jewish ancestor may seem a daunting task especially when you consider the Holocaust and the incredible destruction of lives, synagogues, and cemeteries in Europe. You may ask “why should I even try?” Then there is the myth that immigrants had their names changed at Ellis Island that leads us to believe that our Jewish ancestors are nearly impossible to research. All of these things scare off many from researching their Jewish family and discovering that there actually is a great deal of information “out there.” Researching Jewish ancestors is challenging, but with the research techniques provided in this course it will be revealed that much information is available. 

This course is presented with the assumption that the student may have little to no first-hand knowledge of Jewish ancestry. At the completion of the course the student will have a solid foundation to research Jewish ancestors and will understand the types of records available. This course will start with an introduction to the history of the Jewish people to better understand the challenges of this research. We will then get a basic understanding of the languages, dates, and name conventions of this unique group. Immigration patterns of the Jews as they came to North America are a valuable component to ultimately discovering their origins and the resources to assist in this research will be presented. Jewish life and record sources as they settled can provide additional clues to their origins and experiences as they came to America and Canada. Effective research strategies for finding Jewish ancestors will be presented. Lastly, the course includes an extensive discussion on resources available to pursue the genealogy of Jewish ancestors. 

Optional Print Course Material: Research: Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters - Tracing Women

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Our female ancestors played significant roles in history. Yet, researching and writing about the women in our families can be a daunting task. If you have hit a brick wall in the quest to find information about your female ancestors, this course covers strategies and key sources to assist you with your research and show you how to document “her” story. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Writing the Genealogist's Memoir

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

As a genealogy researcher for your family, you can enhance the results of your work, as well as realize personal satisfaction and value, by creating a memoir to enlighten those who read it. Your memoir can tell them about the story behind your research: your inspiration, motivation and/or interest in genealogy; your process; “aha” moments; roadblocks and disappointments; and successes. The professional genealogist or personal historian can also offer a service to help clients create such a companion piece for their family trees or histories. 

This course will explore the importance and value of memoir, a method for accomplishing one, and special issues to consider. Exercises will offer practical application of the material and opportunities to work on writing your memoir. The course will focus on writing as a method but will explore other options, such as audio and video, as well. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Electronic Resources: Organize and Publish a Family Tree

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course is designed to give students a wide view of genealogical organization systems available. Geared toward making a sound decision and investment in one’s genealogical software, this course will include cloud-based systems, online trees, desktop software, as well as a brief survey of alternative programs and systems for organizing and displaying genealogical research.