Russian Ancestry Research Services: BLITZ Information Center

Copyright © 1996-2017 Russian Ancestry Research Services. All rights reserved.

Since 1992, Russian Ancestry Research Services has worked with the historic archives in St. Petersburg and Moscow as well as local regional archives throughout the former Soviet Union to provide information and genealogy research, document retrieval and translations for clients around the world.

Russian Ancestry Research Services is located in St. Petersburg Russia as well as California, USA. All research is done out of the St. Petersburg office. The California office stays in touch with all clients throughout research phases and handles client payments for the work.

Russian Ancestry Research Services began offering research services in 1992, during the Gorbachev era, as soon as private businesses became possible. Russian Ancestry Research Services has a small team of in-house researchers and also hires very experienced researchers who provide professional work. Although we cannot guarantee the results, because of the nature of this research in the Russian Archives, we have had good success for many of our clients thanks to the high experience level of our researchers.

Each genealogy search presents specific problems and the Russian Ancestry Research Services researchers have been very resourceful in locating sources and information which would be practically impossible for a person outside of the former Soviet Union to find by dealing directly with the archives. Russian Ancestry Research Services communicates with clients during each step of research and strives to answer all questions regarding the details and background of information found.

PRELIMINARY GENEALOGY SEARCH: Russian Ancestry Research Services begins with a Preliminary Genealogy Search for a fixed fee of US $80.00 (U S Dollars). During this phase, our researcher spends five hours in the St. Petersburg archives using as many reference books and archival finding aids as possible to look for clues and information on the family. This step is critical because of the nature of the Russian archives and their unreliable and sometimes non-existent index system.

At the conclusion of this preliminary search, Russian Ancestry Research Services will be able to give clients an assessment as to the existence of records pertaining to your family and the direction of further research. Hopefully, but not always, we will find specific information during this first step. We also tell clients if there are documents which they may be interested in ordering. On the other hand, if we believe that further research will be unproductive, we will let the client know along with our reasons.

Beyond the US $80.00 Preliminary Search, we charge US $20.00 per hour for research. There are also separate document copying and mailing charges.

(See also Genealogy Research in Russia)

Russian Ancestry Research Services has conducted successful genealogy searches for many clients seeking Russian, Polish and Baltic noble families and aristocracy, land owners, government bureaucrats and professional people, military officers, and people who had dealings with the government. Often a great deal of information can be found on these families. Usually Russian and Polish families who emigrated around the time of the 1917 Russian revolution were of this group.

Russian Ancestry Research Services has been successful in tracing a number of Jewish families using a variety of sources and piecing together the local history of a specific shtetl or village. In some cases, detailed village maps have been found with the names of the resident on each house depicted. However, tracing Jewish families can be difficult unless a family member owned a business, worked for the government, or was otherwise prominent. In some cases, a Jewish business owner had to operate his business under the name of a Russian. Unfortunately, many archive records of Jewish families have never been organized or catalogued. There is now more interest in Jewish research and more records are being made available.

The German colonists generally stayed in their own settlements and did not integrate into Russian society. Theoretically, it should be possible to trace German families through the church records in the "Metrical" books which are kept in the Russian State Historic Archive in St. Petersburg. However, there are some 300 metrical books which are unindexed and very difficult to use since they are organized by year and parish, the boundaries of which often changed. In order to trace a German family, it is essential to know the vital dates and the exact parish. If a family member had a civilian or military service record, then the tracing is much easier. If not, it may be necessary to start by attempting to find more initial information from other sources. 


CONTACT US

Please contact Russian Ancestry Research Services if you are interested in taking on a search. Go to our Genealogy Search Order Form and use this guide to provide us with your search information. We look forward to working with you.

If your genealogy group is interested in having Russian Ancestry Research Services come speak about the conditions of research in Russia, please send an email to Kristin Nute. Although we are based in California, it is a possibility to travel for talks.

Russian Ancestry Research Services USA
Kristin Nute
enute@igc.org
Telephone: (415) 453-3579
Fax: (415) 453-0343

Postal Address:
907 Mission Avenue
San Rafael, California, 94901-2910, USA

Russian Ancestry Research Services RUSSIA
Elena Tsvetkova
rublitz@gmail.com
Telephone: 7(812) 436-9405

Postal Address:
Pereulok Grivtsova, 10
Russkoe Geographicheskoe Obschestvo
Sankt Petersburg, Russia 190000