Genealogical Research Institute of Virginia - GRIVA

01/24/2026

It's National Handwriting Day, so we thought we'd remind you of several crowdsourcing transcription projects that you can help with, from the Library of Virginia, Library of Congress, the National Archives, the North Carolina State Archives, and more! Check out our Transcription Projects page at https://griva.org/research-transcription-projects/griva-transcribes/ for more information, as well as resources to help you read old handwriting.

Might be a good activity for those stuck inside during the winter weather!

More and more records are being digitized and made available online now than ever before. Many organizations are digitizing records, and then crowdsourcing the transcription and indexing to regular…

01/12/2026

GRIVA board member Paula Williams is not only doing our DNA SIG tomorrow night, but you can also join her tomorrow afternoon at Legacy Family Tree Webinars to learn about using MyHeritage as part of your DNA testing plan! The webinar is free to attend, as is the DNA SIG in the evening!

We often need other family members to take a DNA test for us to help us solve our genealogical problems. We’ll discuss ways MyHeritage can help us find,...

12/25/2025

12/23/2025

We're canceling one more meeting of the German SIG (January), but Sylvia will be back in February! We hope you'll join us then!

12/02/2025

Part of GRIVA's mission is to preserve the priceless heritage bequeathed to us by our ancestors. You can donate to one of our two funds to help us achieve these goals! We have the Historic Records Fund, which identifies and adopts documents of significance in need of conservation.

The Andrew Hogwood Memorial Fund was established to fund scholarships at Clover Hill High School, the Memorial Fund has expanded to include projects of preservation, acquisitions, collaboration, and of course, genealogical scholarship.

Visit https://griva.org/donate/ for more information and to contribute to help conserve our history.

GRIVA is an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization. (EIN: 52-1258689). Established in 1981, we are an all-volunteer organization. GRIVA’s diverse membership is comprised of fa…

11/27/2025

GRIVA has wrapped up for the year except for next month's DNA SIG, but we invite you to visit our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com// to catch up on programs you may have missed.

One of our programs in 2022, about the history of Thanksgiving, was not recorded, but the speaker recommended this from our friends at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture: https://virginiahistory.org/learn/first-thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

11/26/2025

Did you miss Nonna Good's fascinating presentation about Obtaining Colonial Land in Virginia? Fear not! The video is now available on our YouTube channel for a limited time. See

11/24/2025

One of the best values for genealogical education out there at full price, let alone half off! This gets you access to their webinar library of over 2500 webinars and counting, from over 400 genealogical speakers. Check it out!

📣 Genealogists, this is THE deal of the year!
Our Black Friday Sale is live: 50% off new annual memberships!
That’s a full year of expert genealogy education for only $24.98.
Sale ends Nov 30th — get it while you can!
🔗 https://legacyfamilytree.com/checkout/?add-to-cart=93260
[new memberships only]

10/21/2025

We learned quite a bit about WWII research from KB Barcomb at our fall conference last Saturday (October 18). Thanks to all who registered! Registrants should have received links to the recordings, whether you attended or not.

If you did NOT register for the conference but now wish you had, fear not! You can still register and get access to the recordings and the syllabus! See https://griva.org/2025-fall-conference/ for more details about the conference and a link to purchase access to the recordings.

WWII Research featuring KB Barcomb *************************************************************************************** The conference is now over, BUT you can still register and watch the recor…

10/05/2025

Our German SIG may not be meeting this month, but we're still thinking about you! Check this out from the Library of Virginia.

October is German-American Heritage Month! Did you know that the Library of Virginia has German language newspapers in our collections? Explore two of our 19th century German newspapers online in Virginia Chronicle: https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=cl&cl=CL1&pcf=Non-English+Newspapers

10/03/2025

Check out this interesting webinar on October 8 from the folks at Encyclopedia Virginia!

Join Encyclopedia Virginia managing editor Patti Miller and contributors Rebecca Rose and Cassandra Good to learn about how Virginia women participated in the American Revolution—from the camp followers who served as “women of the army” to the enslaved women who sought freedom to the surprisin...

10/01/2025

If you're interested in Virginia research, this is a great new resource!

It's happening! Barbara Vines Little’s much-anticipated 𝑨 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝑮𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒂’𝒔 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 is now available in the VGS Store! At over 600 pages, this book delivers the depth of a two-week institute course between its covers. It explores Virginia’s local and state government records, probate and land laws, inheritance and women’s rights, military and ethnic sources, and substitutes for missing records—with helpful context that helps us truly understand what the records say (and what they don’t).

The book retails for $79.95, but VGS members pay only $63.96.* This new resource, paired with the Fall Conference, is the perfect way to sharpen your research skills and deepen your knowledge of Virginia genealogy.

https://www.vgs.org/shop/

https://www.vgs.org/event/vgs-fall-2025-virtual-conference/