Currently accepting clients for...

• Family History Research
• Speaking / Presenting

Professional genealogist and researcher serving individuals, families and other professionals. Expertise working with 19th & 20th Century immigration to the United States, and with areas such as Austria-Hungary, British Isles, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Particular experience in Federal Records, Immigration & Naturalization, Jewish Genealogy and Holocaust records.

Renée regularly researches at the National Archives, Library of Congress and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and maintains partnerships with researchers in Europe, Australia and Israel. She served as senior researcher for Season 3 of Genealogy Roadshow on PBS and was also a member of the research team for Season 2.

She advocates for immigration records access as a member of RecordsNotRevenue.com, and advises the group on federal policy action. Renée also serves on the APG Advocacy Committee. She is a highly-regarded speaker at the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (Warsaw, 2018; Cleveland, 2019; Virtual 2021 & 2022; London 2023) and many local societies.

Publications/Media
Why Did They Go There? Finding Answers in the Industrial Removal Office Records," Avotaynu: 37: 2 : 39-43 (Summer 2021).

Lectures
Stuck: Immigration, Naturalization and Repatriation in the WWI Era
The Alphabet Soup of Naturalization Records: Meet the P- File
The Alphabet Soup of USCIS Records: Meet the Foreign Address and Occupation Index (FAOI)
Why Did They Go There? Finding Answers in the Industrial Removal Office Records 
Building Brickwalls and Dismantling Oral History: A Research Journey in Latvian Records
Three is Not the Magic Number: Better Ways to Add Up Evidence and Improve Analysis
Witness to War: Jewish-American Soldiers and the Liberating Units of WWII (in development)

Repositories
National Archives (Washington DC and College Park); Library of Congress; US Holocaust Memorial Museum,

Research Time Periods

• 21st Century
• 20th Century
• 19th Century

Degrees
Masters (Museum Studies & Education), Bachelor of Arts (Cultural Anthropology)