In this lively, interactive workshop, learn how to locate and access birth, marriage, and death records in New York City and New York State. Explore major collections, where records are held, and how to use indexes and databases effectively. Learn to recognize genealogical clues, connect generations, and confirm relationships. While focused on late 19th- and early 20th-century New York, these research strategies apply across record types and ethnic backgrounds. This lecture contains nearly 100 slides and explores how these records and collections work — where to find them, how to use indexes and databases effectively, how to recognize genealogical clues, and how to evaluate what the records are actually telling you. Even if NYC or New York State is not your primary research area, there are valuable research skills here that apply much more broadly, particularly how to approach, understand, and work through a record collection. We will also talk about the very close relationship between New York City, New York State, and New Jersey research. Immigrant families frequently crossed back and forth across the Hudson, so records on one side of the river can be extremely important to research on the other.