Places: Everything previously said about people’s names applies to place names. Because names changed (both people and place names), the risk greatly increases for tracing the wrong family name in the right place, the right family name in the wrong place, or both! VERIFY, VERIFY!

Once you have exhausted readable records in your native tongue (for most of you this will be English) and as clearly as possible defined the four key areas of identification, you are ready to consult East European records. The two primary sources of genealogical information in Europe are civil registers (if these existed for the time period you are researching) and church records. Of course, most of these records will be written in one or more foreign languages and scripts.

For those planning to use microfilms or microfiche of original source materials from East European countries, the online version of the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) is very helpful. Many of the finding aids and tools from the library are made available to Family History Centers on microfilm or microfiche. Remember to check under the general heading of the country of interest in the catalog for such aids. CAUTION: The "Related Places" screen in the online version of the FHLC serves as a partial gazetteer, but it includes only those places for which the library holds materials.

Finding maps and gazetteers reflecting the correct place names with correct geopolitical and religious boundaries is challenging enough. But the real difficulty often comes when you try to use these tools and encounter their cryptic abbreviations and miserly archaic fonts. Example: Meyers Orts- unt Verkehrs- Lexikon versus SPIS for Polish Russia.