Belarus "How to" Guides

Europe

Belarus

"How to" Guides

How to use the guides

Select a guide from the list below based on your interests. Please note that some guides need to be completed in sequence to ensure a successful experience. Build your research knowledge and confidence with each activity you complete.

Each guide comes with three parts - Instruction, which includes a guided activity, Assignment, to test what you've learned, and an Answer key, to check how you did on the assignment. The guides are also rated as either Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. The majority are designed for beginners.

The guides are available in PDF form designed to be downloaded and printed. To view a guide, click on its title. Once the guide has opened, use the PDF tools found in your browser to print and save the document.

PLEASE NOTE: Some guides are designed to be completed using resources found in the FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. These are indicated by an ^* following the title of the guide. If you cannot visit the FamilySearch Library, check your local library or your local FamilySearch FamilySearch Center for availability of the resources described in the guide.

Available Guides

This is a work in progress. Please check back often for new and/or updated guides.

Maps and Gazetteers:

These resources will help you locate the town and important political and religious jurisdictions that will help you locate records.

• RGN Gazetteer - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Spiski Gazetteer - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• JewishGen Communities Database and Gazetteer - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• (1930s) Skorowidz Gazetteer Online - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Arcanum Maps - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Russian Alphabet and Handwriting:

Many records from Belarus were recorded in Russian. These guides will help you learn how to read Russian handwriting.

• The Russian Alphabet - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Deciphering the Handwriting and Understanding the Grammar - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Reading Records:

• Reading Revision List Records - Instruction
• Reading the 1897 Census - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Russian Orthodox Records

• Reading Russian Orthodox Birth Records: Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Russian Orthodox Marriage Records: Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Russian Orthodox Death/Burial Records: Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Catholic Records - Column Style

• Reading Lithuanian and Belarusian Roman Catholic Birth Records Written in Russian Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Russian Language Roman Catholic Marriage Records from Lithuania and Belarus Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Lithuanian and Belarusian Roman Catholic Death Records Written in Russian Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Catholic Records - Paragraph Style (Russian)

• Reading Russian Birth Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Russian Marriage Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Russian Death Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Catholic Records - Paragraph Style (Polish)

• Reading Polish Birth Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Polish Marriage Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Polish Death Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Jewish Records

• Reading Jewish Birth Records written in Russian - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Jewish Marriage Records written in Russian - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Reading Jewish Death Records written in Russian - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Military Records

• Pamyat Naroda (WWII Database) - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key