Helping researchers of Germanic ancestry through new literature, German-language communications, and conference presentations.
Roger P. Minert
PhD, em. AG, em prof., FUGA
How does German Immigration Research (GIR)
help you find your ancestor's German hometown?
1
GIR Team Collects Records
GIR team collects obscure genealogical data from American church records in the target location.
2
Data is Collected, Extracted and Sorted
GIR employs a team of university students (working under the direction of Roger P. Minert, Ph.D professor emeritus) to collect, extract, and sort the data.
3
Data is Published
Data are published in a series of books entitled German Immigrants in American Church Records.
View the entire collection of
German Immigrants in American Church Records (GIACR)
German Immigration Research (GIR)
A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization EIN: 84-3043567
GIR is a non-profit organization and was originally created by Dr. Roger P. Minert in 2003.
It is Dr. Minert's aspiration to facilitate a solution to the toughest problem in German research in the United States.
Help is needed to extend this program to additional areas of the United States.
Donations are tax-deductible and are greatly appreciated.
Become a member of the GIACR team and a part of the German research solution
by making a tax-deductible donation today!
During the past twenty years,
over a hundred university students have been employed and 38 volumes of GIACR have been published.
According to
Fritz Juengling,
Ph.D., AG,
"GIACR has changed the
way we do Germanic genealogy
in the Family History Library."
Empower
Growth
Being a member of the German Immigration Research team has truly been an enormous blessing in my life. When I was hired over three years ago, I knew very little German and had no experience with transcribing old German
Being a member of the German Immigration Research team has truly been an enormous blessing in my life. When I was hired over three years ago, I knew very little German and had no experience with transcribing old German handwriting. Within a short period of time, Dr. Minert taught me how to read and transcribe documents that not even my full-blooded German relatives could read!
Not only have I been able to help strangers through my work with GIR, but I have also been able to find many of my own ancestors using the transcription and research skills that I have developed. Recently, I was finally able to trace one of my immigrant ancestor's family lines back to a small town in southern Germany after 5+ years of searching, all thanks to what I have learned with the German Immigrants in American Church Records project!
In addition to helping me learn more about my German ancestors, my work with GIR has helped me pay my way through college and learn how to work hard with great attention to detail. As I prepare to graduate and move to Washington, DC to begin my career in January, I am so grateful for the role that GIR has played in my college experience.
I will forever be grateful for the skills I have gained and the service I have been able to give during my time on the GIR team.
