Professional Genealogist

Emily H. Garber, MA

An archaeologist by training (B.A., Vassar College; M.A., University of New Mexico), Emily Garber is a professional genealogy researcher, writer and speaker who specializes in Jewish genealogical research. She has researched both Eastern European and German Jewish communities and immigrants to the United States and Great Britain. She has toured family shtetlach (communities) and explored archives in Ukraine.

After retiring from her 30+ year career in natural resources management, Emily earned a certificate from Boston University's Genealogical Research program. She has an abiding interest in Jewish immigration to the United States and historical context. Since 2013, she has spoken at every International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference. She has also presented talks at National Genealogical Society conferences, for the NYG&B Society, the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, the Genealogy Society of Pennsylvania, and the Utah Genealogical Society’s Summit of Excellence. She has delivered talks and seminars in-person and virtually to groups throughout the United States, in England, Israel and Poland. She coordinated three week-long seminars on Jewish genealogy at the GRIP Genealogy Institute and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

Emily has authored several articles in Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy and completed two privately published volumes chronicling the 300-year history of a German Jewish family. She has published in an article, “Gone But Never Forgotten: Researching the Victims of the Holocaust,” in the National Genealogical Society Magazine 30:2 (April-June 2024). She also writes a family history blog, The Extra Yad (https://extrayad.blogspot.com/).

Emily is Secretary on the board of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. She also chairs the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group and is on the board of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society.