POWER UP YOUR RESEARCH - A WEBINAR SERIES FROM LITVAKSIG - recording of all eight programs now available!

A series of programs presented by LitvakSIG Experts

Links to recordings of all programs will be available for the foreseeable future- keep checking back here for updates!

LitvakSIG is presenting a Zoom series of webinars: LitvakSIG: Power Up Your Research. The purpose of this series is to help researchers better understand the tools that LitvakSIG has to offer in order to build and enhance one’s research skills.

Our most recent program in this virtual series took place on Sunday, October 15, 2023.  All programs in this series have been recorded and are available for viewing.  The program on October 15th was led by Andrew Kapochunas, entitled "How to Find Any Shtetl on Topographic Maps".  

The link to our October 15, 2023 program is here.

POWER UP YOUR RESEARCH PROGRAMS

January 29, 2023 - Getting to Know LitvakSIG with Rhoda Miller

An introduction to the LitvakSIG organization and address common questions regarding LitvakSIG’s relationship with JewishGen, passwords, structure of research groups, and other general information.

To view the recording, click on Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research

February 19, 2023 - Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: Using Excel Spreadsheets
with David Ellis

This session shows you advanced techniques or analyzing data in the spreadsheets that go beyond the online database search interface capabilities.  Specific examples show how these analysis techniques helped me make some remarkable discoveries about a branch of my family from Lithuania, out of the reach of even the professional archivists in Vilnius.

To view the recording, please click on Using the Excel Spreadsheets.

March 26, 2023 - Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: Finding Your Shtetl with
Susan Feinberg and Ann Brody

This presentation provides practical tips, resources and case studies
for correctly identifying your ancestral Litvak shtetl(s) which is a
key step in finding online records for your family.

To view the recording, please click on Finding Your Shtetl.

April 23, 2023 - Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: Getting to Know
Lithuanian Archives with Russ Maurer

This program provides a guided introduction to the Lithuanian archives. Learn about
the different branches, their holdings, how to order records, online access to the catalogue, and online access to record images.

Whether your idea of fun is an afternoon browsing images of a fading old record book in search of an elusive record, or you just want to purchase a copy of a record, this talk has something for you.

To view the recording, please click on Getting to Know Lithuanian Archives.

May 21, 2023 - Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: Use of Collective Data
with Hatte Blejer

This program provides an overview and give examples of LitvakSIG’s
Collective Data. It consists of translated data from a wide variety of
sources and covers a broad geographical area and a time period from
the mid 1700s to the 1950s. Collective Data generally is guberniya or
country-wide and as such, does not fit into the district model. The
type of data ranges from lists of professionals, prisoners, and
soldiers to documents related to exit or entry, such as passports or
application for emigration to Eretz Israel to Kaunas court cases to
Grand Dutchy of Lithuania Poll Tax data. Collective Data even includes
some information on Lithuanian Jews living elsewhere, e.g., in Riga.

To view the recording for this program, please click on: Use of Collective Data.

June 11, 2023 - Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: Navigating the
FamilySearch Library and Polish State Archives with Jody Tzucker

This session provides a tutorial for finding your original documents in the FamilySearch catalog, and the Polish State Archives website, using the All-Lithuania Database.

To view the recording for this program, please click Navigating the FamilySearch library and Polish State Archives.  There was a handout for this program, and it can be downloaded as a pdf here.

July 16, 2023 - Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: When One Place is in Two
Countries with Judy Baston

The recording link for this program is here.

With the many border changes taking place in recent history, our Litvak towns may have been in Lithuania, Belarus, Poland and other countries in different periods. How does this affect the ways we search for our families’ records? How does this affect the way our surnames were spelled at different times? This presentation covers LitvakSIG’s role in translating and presenting records for towns now in other countries, as well as helping you understand differences in spelling conventions that will make your surname searches even more effective.

October 15, 2023 – Power Up Your LitvakSIG Research: How to Find Any Shtetl on Topographic Maps with Andrew Kapochunas

This session provides step-by-step directions for finding even the smallest shtetls on highly-detailed and downloadable topographic maps on a site with Austro-Hungarian, Prussian, Russian, German, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian maps of the historical Lithuanian area created from 1808 - 1945. 

The link to the program recording is "How to Find Any Shtetl on Topographic Maps".