Michelle Tucker Chubenko – Piecing Together History: Using Maps and Directories to Rediscover Eastern European Towns
and
Spotlight Talk: Understanding Eastern European Geography: Borders, Peoples, and Histories
April 26, 2026 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm EDT
– at New Art Center (hybrid meeting)
JGSGB members: Program is free. Members do not need to register.
Join us in person, or you can find the Zoom link by logging in to your JGSGB Membership account. Once logged in, use the “What would you like to do” dropdown to locate the Members-only Page for the Zoom link. You will also receive an email with the Zoom link the morning of the program.
Non-members: Pay $5.00 at the door to attend in person, or click here to pay $5.00 fee to receive the Zoom link.
If you do not receive an email with the link to the program within 15 minutes, please check your Spam folder.
Both programs will be recorded and available for 3 months on the member’s page.
Main Program Description:
Our ancestors’ lives were more than the events of birth, marriage, and death. Information about the places where they lived isn’t always readily available. The presentation will demonstrate how to use published materials such as gazetteers, schematisms, directories and maps to pinpoint your ancestral town or village. Using examples from Central and Eastern Europe, Chubenko will also show you how to use the statistical data and incorporate visual details to create historical vignettes for these places.
Spotlight Program Description:
In this session, Chubenko will help you navigate the complex history of the shifting borders in Eastern Europe. You will learn how empires and key historical events from the 18th century through the Cold War shaped our ancestral landscape and you will receive practical tips for locating towns, interpreting multi-language records, and accessing relevant archives.
Speaker Bio:
Michelle Tucker Chubenko is an accredited Professional Genealogist and specializes in the Mid-Atlantic region and Eastern European research. She serves in leadership positions for the Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS), and a Family History Group at the Ukrainian History and Education Center (Somerset, New Jersey). In 2023, she coordinated the institute course Researching Your Ancestry in the Crownland of Galicia, Austria-Hungary.