Catalog of Lectures

With the influx of immigrants to America in the 20th century, many immigrant aid societies were created to assist new arrivals with job placement, medical support, finding lost family, and generally get them acclimated to life in America. Some of these organizations include Traveler’s Aid Society, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), Charitable Irish Society of Boston, the Irish Emigrant Society of New York, St. Raphael’s Society, and many others. The records and case files kept by each society can offer a detailed look into the life of your ancestor. This session will provide a brief history of the immigrant aid society movement in America, how they operated, what information can be found in records, and how to locate them. 

Beyond the all-important passenger list, immigration to America resulted in the creation of several other records. This presentation will demonstrate how to utilize several records, including: passports (both those from the origin nation and those later applied for by naturalized US citizens), border crossings, C-Files (naturalization certificates, 1906-1956), AR-2 Files (Alien Registration Forms, 1940-1944), WWI Alien Registrations (1918, gathered by each state), Visa Files (1924-1944), A-Files (1944-1951), and the Arolsen Archive database, which documents European refugee arrivals following Nazi persecution. 

Passenger arrival records, border crossings, passport applications, and records of special inquiry are just some of the types of immigration and naturalization records available at the National Archives. We will provide an overview of these important resources, how to access them, and how to make the most of them in your family history research. 

Notarial records are an essential—yet often overlooked—resource for family historians researching ancestors with roots in Quebec. From marriages to estate inventories to labor contracts these records can provide a wealth of genealogical information not found elsewhere. Join us to learn about what types of notarial records exist, how to access them, and how to get the most out of these important resources.

There are a variety of records available that can help you research land ownership of your Atlantic Canadian ancestors, including land board records, land grants, land petitions, land patents from the Indian and Inuit Affairs Program, maps, and more. This lecture will help you understand how to navigate the many record sets available and how to apply them to your research.
 

Canadian baptisms, burials, and marriage records date back to the early 17th century for some parishes, though there is no central repository for these records making it difficult to know where to look. This lecture will help you understand where to find these church records as well as civil vital records which have been recorded since the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Substitutes for these church and vital records, such as newspaper records, will also be discussed.
 

Many loyalists fled to areas firmly under British control including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. Still others crossed the Atlantic to the Mother Country, England. Some would stay for the duration of the war and eventually return to the U.S.; others would put down roots and stay for generations. This lecture will discuss the many resources available for learning about your ancestor’s lives in Canada, England, and other areas of the British Empire.

With your ancestor’s origins in hand, it’s time to start looking at records in the Old Country. In this lecture we will review what types of records exist, how to use them in your research, and how to access them. We will pay special attention to resources that can be accessed from home, online.

This lecture will review the different databases, repositories, and record collections available to research your ancestors who lived in Prince Edward Island, Canada. This lecture will focus on Irish immigrants and the records they left behind.