So you want to use Raduraksti, but you’re intimidated, because you don’t know German or Russian. That’s okay! With a bit of work, you can find everything you need to know from these records, without needing to be fluent, or
Working With Revision Lists
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the Kurland revision lists are up on Raduraksti. Good news – the Livland (Vidzeme) revision lists are up too! Now here is your guide to making sense of these documents! I’m going
Kurland Revision Lists!
I was looking around on Raduraksti, and I saw that they have posted what appears to be the full collection of the revision lists for rural Kurland (modern-day Kurzeme and Zemgale). They can be accessed by going “Saturs” -> “DvÄ“seļu
Records after 1905
In my last post, a reader requested that I talk about records after 1905. So here we go! There are lots of different types of records available for the post-1905 period – however, as of right now, none of them
Making Sense of Exonyms
So after puzzling through the various alphabets and orthographies, you have been able to establish what your ancestors’ names would have looked like back in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This is a great first step towards tracking them
Getting Started with Latvian Research
I’ll admit, this post is long overdue. It should have been one of the first posts on this blog. But it is here now! For the purposes of this post, I am assuming several things. The main assumption is that
International Tracing Service
I first read about the International Tracing Service about a year ago when searching for more information about post-World War Two Displaced Persons Camps. According to their website, their history starts in London in 1943, as a tracing bureau for
Myths About Latvian Research
[This post was written for the 26th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, hosted by Jessica’s Genejournal.] There are thousands of people in the West with Latvian ancestry. Many are searching for their Latvian ancestors, but
Old Newspapers Online at the Latvian National Library
Through the website Periodika, the Latvian National Library offers digital scans of newspapers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most newspaper editions available are from the 1920s and 1930s. The user interface is available in Latvian and in
Navigating Raduraksti
I make many references to LVVA’s Raduraksti. It is the best resource for people researching their Latvian family history if they’re not able to go to the LVVA itself. The collection of documents available there is growing – recently they