The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society is offering a number of free, online classes related to New York research. Click on the link to read more and to register: New York State and New York City Birth, Marriage, and Death Records -- March 16, 7 p.m.   Making the Most of FamilySearch for New York Research -- April 13, 6 p.m.   Searching New York Records on Ancestry -- July 20, 6 p.m.   Preserving Your New York Story: New York City Municipal Archives Collections -

Good news! Access to the recent release of George G. Morgan's webinar "Genealogy Orienteering: Using Maps to Find the RIGHT Place" remains free thru Feb. 27. Webinars by George and Drew Smith — the Genealogy Guys — are now housed at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, with new content being released every month. If you want to take advantage of their previous -- and future -- webinars, including those from other experts, membership is $49.95 for a year. You can join here .

Added to the Members Only Research Resources is a link to a blog with a list of more than 100 important databases for Russian and Ukrainian genealogy, including searchable databases. The blog is listed under "Russian and Ukranian websites".

FamilySearch recently expanded its online archives with more than 168 million new records from 35 different countries, including records from: Belgium Italy New Zealand United States Wales Philippines Sweden Honduras Read more and find links to these records here .

The Israel Genealogy Research Association has added a webinar in English available without a membership (others are available only with a membership -- outside of Israel, $45). You can find "Using Russian and Ukrainian Language Internet Resources for Jewish Genealogy" here . Those available for members include “Tombstones – The Stories They Tell” and “Family History Research at the Yad Vashem Archives: A Lesson from the Past for the Future.” Find out more about IGRA here .

A research website with databases has been added to the Members Only Research Resources page: Historical Jewish Press, the newspaper collection of the National Library of Israel, contains millions of pages and hundreds of newspapers available to read and search through online. Modified is the link to and information about Ukrainian Archives to reflect that this site, the Tsal Kaplun Foundation, has archives for Jewish communities in former Soviet republics, including links t

The society's 2026 genealogy all-day seminar takes place on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Largo Public Library, 120 Central park Drive. The seminar, which starts at 8 a.m., includes sessions on: Same Name Evidence Analysis; Ancestors Lives in Small Bites; breakout topics on Internet Archive and Befuddled by the Records?; Practical Approach for AI, and Elusive Southern Ancestors. Save $10 by registering by Feb. 17. Additionally, PGS member registration fee is $10 less than non-members

RootsTech by FamilySearch runs from March 5-7 and you can still register for FREE for the virtual event, which includes over 500 classes to choose from. You can see the full schedule here and add the classes you want to view to your online schedule. Click a day, select Online for how to watch, click the plus sign (+) next to the class you want to add and if you haven't signed into your FamilySearch account, it'll prompt you to do so and your schedule will be saved. Classes

Dr. Serafima Velkovich, head of the Family Roots Research Section at Yad Vashem Archives will speak at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 8, at The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. Her talk will be about how family memories can help families reconstruct their sense of belonging and identity through stories passed down across generations, fragments of documents. "In the aftermath of the Holocaust, when so many lives and entire communities were destroyed, family memory became

Gesher Galicia has added searchable summaries of Jews prosecuted by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet agency overseeing internal security and political repression in the USSR. From Gesher Galicia: These files cover arrests by the NKVD between September 1939 through 1941, with the content of the files extending further through interrogations and deportations to labor camps. The additions bring the total number of records to 3,700. Records includ

Yad Vashem has recovered the names of five million Jews of the six million murdered in the Holocaust new technologies like AI and machine learning. There are still an estimated one million names of Jewish victims who are unknown and many will likely remain so forever.  The names are compiled in Yad Vashem's  Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names .

In his Halloween edition of his blog "AI Genealogy Insights," Steve Little, AI Program Director for the National Genealogical Society, offers 16 AI prompts designed to "to conjure better AI responses."  Overall headings of these prompts are analysis, condensation, meta-prompts, specialized and advanced. Little points out what we all have to remember about using artificial intelligence: "Remember: AI is a tool, not a truth oracle." Get his prompts here . Check out his AI Gene

Get Artificial Intelligence links, Facebook group links and more in the Research Resources portion of the Members Only section of this website. Not a member but want to take advantage of these links? Join here .

Family Tree Maker Genealogy Community Ambassador Mark Olsen will showcase the latest edition of Family Tree Maker at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at Riverview Public Library, 9951 Balm Riverview Road. Olsen will give interactive demonstrations and have a Q&A session highlighting the software. Registration is not required. The event will take place in the James B. Jim Johnson Community Room 109 A & B. For more information, click here .

Registration has opened for RootsTech 2026, which will be held in Salt Lake City from March 5-7.  In-person, early bird prices are $99 for a three-day pass (standard price is $129) and $69 for a one-day pass. Online registration remains free. Hosted by FamilySearch, classes  will include Avoiding Research Pitfalls; Finding Records Using the Resources on FamilySearch 2026; Effective Search Strategies on FamilySearch; Seeking the Identity of Unknown Parents; Arriving at the Por

Joe Supan, a senior writer for CNET, warns people about AI-generated obituaries and websites in a piece on the CNET website headlined "Digital Grave-Robbing: How AI Is Plundering Online Obituaries." Even if services like Google eventually weed them out, genealogists might have already fallen victim of the made-up obits and incorporated fake info into thei research. You can read the piece here .

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay was featured in the April 28-May 11 Pinellas edition of the Jewish Press of Tampa Bay. Read the story here . An updated version of the story was printed in the Aug. 18-31 Tampa edition. Read that story here .​

Ancestry recently added two new data sets using data from Arolsen Archives that document Holocaust survivors. Lara Diamond explains the positives of accessing the information through Ancestry (no subscription required) as well as tips for using it. Read her blog post here .

From the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: On July 18, 2025, USCIS announced new fees that took effect in August 2025. See:  https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1055_0.pdf .  ​ G-1041A, Genealogy Records Request:   https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1041a.pdf ​ Go to: Genealogy Index Search Request   https://www.uscis.gov/g-1041 ​ G-1041 Genealogy Index Search Request ( https://www.uscis.gov/g-1041 ) General filing Paper

The Center for Jewish History has shared its video of a June 9 presentation by  Jenny Rappaport, the center's head genealogist, on interpreting DNA results for Ashkenazi Jews. Among the topics covered: How endogamy affects DNA matches, Ancestry DNA match hints, matches that look closer than they are, techniques to analyze endogamous DNA results without a chromosome browser, methods to sort DNA matches and other tools to analyze matches. You can watch the free video here .