Find your family in the story of New York.
The New York Family History School teaches genealogy, archival research, DNA interpretation and memoir writing — from Ellis Island manifests to Bronx tenements to Brooklyn brownstones.
Ellis Island Lab: Sold out 5× in 2025
Trace arrival records, ship manifests & name changes with archivists. Next cohort: Feb 2026.
A school for memory keepers, detectives & storytellers.
Founded in a Lower East Side tenement classroom in 2012, the New York Family History School helps everyday New Yorkers become family historians. We combine rigorous archival method with the art of storytelling.
Whether your people arrived via Castle Garden in 1868, JFK in 1974, or have lived in Lenapehoking for generations — we give you tools to find documents, read them critically, interview elders, test DNA hypotheses, and turn findings into a book, film or archive your grandchildren will keep.
Choose your research path
From 2-hour tasters to 12-week certificate. All include archive access, templates, DNA office hours and 1:1 coaching.
Foundations of NYC Genealogy
Census, vital records, city directories, church & synagogue books, tenement research. Build a verified tree to 4 generations.
Ellis Island & Immigration Lab
Ship manifests, naturalization, name changes, Castle Garden. Includes ferry field day + National Archives session.
DNA, Kinship & Unknown Parentage
Ethical DNA testing, triangulation, GEDmatch, endogamy in Ashkenazi & Puerto Rican families. With genetic counselor.
Oral History & Family Memoir
Interview elders, record audio, scan photos, write chapters that read like novels. Finish with printed chapbook.
Photo, Film & Heirloom Preservation
Digitize, restore, date clothing & studios, preserve letters in Yiddish, Italian, Spanish. Conservation lab included.
Certified Family Historian
Capstone + portfolio review + pro bono client. Our graduates work with museums, societies & media.
How we find the unfound
Our 5-step NY method taught to 8,400 students. We go where algorithms stop: block-by-block, language-by-language.
01. Map the family geography
We plot every address from census, draft cards, directories. Then walk the block — virtually or in the Bronx, Queens, Lower East Side.
02. Master NYC record groups
Municipal Archives, Surrogate's Court, NYPL Milstein Division, tenement & parish registers, burial societies, newspapers in 7 languages.
03. Read across languages
Decipher handwritten manifest columns, Russian Cyrillic, Italian atti, Yiddish memorial books with our translators.
04. Test with DNA + context
No blind matches. We combine shared cM, trees, migration chains and historical plausibility before any conclusion.
05. Preserve & publish
Turn research into archival boxes, private websites, documentaries and self-published family books printed in Brooklyn.
Learn from working genealogists
Archivists, historians, genetic counselors and storytellers — not just lecturers.
Miriam Feldman
Ex-NYPL Milstein. Specializes in Jewish NYC, name changes, Holocaust tracing.
Anthony Russo
Italian & Irish tenements, naturalization, parish records across 5 boroughs.
Dr. Carmen Vega
Genetic counselor. Puerto Rican & Caribbean endogamy, unknown parentage ethics.
James Okafor
Oral historian & filmmaker. Turns interviews into books and short docs.
“I came with one name — my great-grandmother Rosa. I left with 127 verified relatives, a ship manifest, and her tenement address on Orchard Street.”
— Priya S., Alumni 2024, Queens“The DNA class solved a 40-year mystery respectfully. They taught us ethics before matches. Profound, careful, brilliant.”
— Daniel K., Alumni 2025, BrooklynResearch notes, breakthroughs & guides
Fresh from our studio: how-tos, case studies, new digitized collections and student discoveries.
Journal entries are being digitized — check back soon for new family history guides.
Free guide: 27 NYC databases
Where to find birth, marriage, burial & tenement records without paying.
Get PDF →Saturday open archive
Bring a photo, letter or name. Leave with a research plan. Every first Saturday.
Reserve free →Questions, answered
Do I need experience or to be from New York?
No. 60% of students start with just one name. Half join online from outside NYC. We teach from zero — how to read a census line, order a vital record, interview a relative without awkwardness.
What if my family changed names or records are in another language?
That's our specialty. We work with Italian, Yiddish, Russian, Spanish, German and Chinese records daily, plus soundex, name variants, and town-finder tools for the Pale of Settlement, Sicily, Ireland and the Caribbean.
Will DNA testing reveal uncomfortable secrets?
Possibly — which is why ethics comes first. Our DNA track includes counseling, consent templates, and guidance for unknown parentage, donor conception and misattributed parentage, with optional private support.
Where do classes happen?
376 Fifth Avenue, Midtown + field days at Ellis Island, NYPL, Municipal Archives, Tenement Museum and cemeteries in Queens & Brooklyn. Online cohorts run live on Zoom with recordings.
Do I get a certificate?
Yes — Certified Family Historian after 12 weeks + capstone. Many alumni do freelance research, volunteer at societies, or publish family books.
Your great-grandchildren will thank you. Start today.
Join 8,400 New Yorkers who turned shoeboxes into archives. Winter enrollment closes January 15, 2026.
Visit the school
376 Fifth Avenue, Suite 402
New York, NY 10001
Mon–Sat 10am–6pm
Phone: +1 (212) 555-0147
Email: hello via contact form — we reply within 24h.
Request syllabus
Tell us your family puzzle. We'll send the right course + free database list.