Q. How do I search the records?

Searching through decades of records in Russian [in old Cyrillic], Hebrew, Polish, German and Lithuanian may be required. Most of the records are in Russian and Hebrew. This is beyond the capability of most researchers. Even with knowledge of these languages, one needs to have the ability to read handwritings that are 150 years old. Handwriting quality varies widely.

Q. Do I need to know what town my family was from to participate?

A. No, however, without the knowledge of which town your family was from creates a situation of trying to find a needle in a haystack. One small feature we have added to the site is a surname list for towns for which some records have been extracted. These lists may prove useful for rare surnames, but will not help for more common surnames.

Q. Can you please tell me if my family is among the records for my town? If they are, I will contribute to the translations.

A. This is impossible to do, since the records were given to us in untranslated form and number over 800,000 in over 225,000 pages. We raise the monies necessary to translate a reasonable number of records, then move the first set of records into a translation queue for scheduling.

Q. Please describe the entire process from the fundraising through record distribution.

A. The process is as follows [subject to change]:

A Shtetl Coordinator volunteers and raises the funds for a given town. When a threshold is reached [currently $500], the first record set, defined as those records for which funding is available, is added to the translation queue. A priority date is assigned to these records, locking  these records in the queue. A translator is assigned, moving the records into the sub-queue of the translator selected. Translators are assigned based on the language of the records, the quality of the images and the inherent difficulty of reading the records, their track record handling large numbers of records, etc. Individual translators have had as many as 5 towns in their queue, due to the relative difficulty of certain records, as well as the ability of this particular translator to assemble a team of like-minded, high quality translators. Other translators have only a single town assigned to them, due to the volume of records and their desire to translate every word, such as determining the cause of death by investigating the language used in the records, leaving no stone unturned. The translators facile with 19th Century medical terms in Russian and Yiddish play a part in how long it takes to receive  translations of death records and any other records which contain test in these languages. The translations are received and the unedited version is archived. The records are then sent to the Shtetl Coordinator for proofing. Currently there are no Shtetl Coordinators for The task is relatively simple, since the proofing is only for format and does not require foreign language skills. Once proofed, the translations for that town are sent out to qualified donors. Currently, a qualified donor is one who has contributed at least US$100 to the translations for that town. This is subject to change, and structural changes allowing this project to move along faster are finally being discussed. As a point of reference, the $100 rate has been in effect since 1998, when the SIG began the large procurements of district records. Suffice it to say that some other sources for genealogical records [sans translation] have increased their fees by up to 100 per cent since then. In addition, commercial online databases that are wildly successful have taken root that charge on an annual fee basis. These and other developments have caused the re-opening of the discussion regarding fee structure.

Q. At this time, I cannot afford to commit the entire amount necessary to qualify to receive the translations. Is there anything I can do to ease the burden?

A. Yes, there most certainly is. The VRI Project looks at accumulated donations. As such, you can make a payment of one-half the required amount now, and follow up with the remaining half in 6, 9, or 12 months. You will receive translations when they are ready for distribution.

Q. How much is expected from a researcher, specifically for Vilna records?

A. The VRI Project currently requires a $100 minimum contribution in order for a researcher to qualify to receive the translations. This is currently under review by the LitvakSIG board, due to the difficulties involved with the number of records, the limited number of researchers, etc. Suffice it to say that under the current structure, the limited number of Vilna researchers, coupled with the enormous record set  [approx. 200,000 records] will require me to ask for annual donations.

Update: The Board decided to do nothing to change the existing fee structure for 2008. I encourage all Vilna researchers to make additional donations over time even if it is of amounts less than $100. The translations will continue to flow if we continue to pump funds into the project.

Q. What about smaller towns - do you see annual donations being required?

A. That is more difficult to answer right now, since the Board is deliberating.

Update: The Board decided to do nothing to change the existing  fees for 2008.