Speaker: Judy Baston

Do you want to know more about your Litvak heritage? LitvakSIG’s searchable All Lithuania Database (ALD) provides the primary foundation for Litvak genealogical research, with translations of over 2.2 million Jewish records, census and vital records key among them.  Also in the ALD database are data from records in Lithuanian archives for a number of towns in Belarus and Poland. This presentation will survey the LitvakSIG database and website, as well as other major resources for Litvak research, such as JewishGen, Yad Vashem and district research groups. Learn how to determine what records are available and how to read and analyze your findings to achieve an optimal outcome.

Judy Baston is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of Jewish Records Indexing–Poland (JRI-Poland). She is on the Board of LitvakSIG, currently serving as Secretary. She has filled leadership positions and moderated discussion groups at both organizations and others, including BialyGen, for many years. Judy has been involved with the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco for nearly thirty years and coordinates its monthly genealogy clinic. She was the recipient of the 2015 International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) Lifetime Achievement Award.