Greek State Archives  and  Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU)  Microfilming Project in the 1970s and 1990s In the 1970s and 1990s, the GSA collaborated with the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU), with the aim of microfilming archives of genealogical interest that are kept at the GSA.  The result of this cooperation was the creation of a series of microfilms.  A copy of this work is held by the Genealogical Society of Utah and a second one is held at the Greek State Archives. (excerpt from speech prepared for The First National Hellenic American Genealogy Conference by Marietta Minotos, Director of the Central Service, General State Archives of Greece, April 25, 2015) There are also additional materials and microfilms available that were created by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) from various areas of Greece. Some of these records may already be digitized.  You may want to check the following two sites prior to ordering (they do...

GREEK MEN IN A COFFEE HOUSE IN DENVER: FIVE LIFE HISTORIES by G. James Patterson Published in the Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Summer 1976  From the article: In 1968 and 1969 I did anthropological field work among unassimilated Greeks in Denver, Colorado, which resulted in a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Colorado (1969). Since then there has been a resurgence of interest in "white ethnics" in the United States, and publication of these stories, which are taken from my thesis, seems timely. All but one of the men who tell their stories here are old men who came from Greece to the United States in the first decades of this century. They all worked hard to achieve the American Dream, and most failed in their quest. Few were economically successful, few learned to speak good English, few have been active in church affairs in later years and few belong to the larger Greek community in Denver, which centers around the middle class church and community ...

ST. BARBARA'S CHAPEL AT GREENWOOD CEMETERY The Greek Orthodox section of Greenwood Cemetery in southwest Atlanta was formally established in 1911, only 6 years after the founding of Annunciation parish.  Due to growing need, by 1928, the Greek Ladies Auxiliary Society (formally called Σύλλογου τών Κυρίων και Αγία Βαρβάρα, or the St. Barbara’s Association), which was the forerunner of our local Philoptochos chapter, made the decision to construct a cemetery chapel.  These dedicated women were determined to have a proper place from which to conduct services for their departed loved ones. At the time, Annunciation parish was located downtown, in a renovated Presbyterian church building on Garnett Street at Central Avenue.   Our community was still tightly knit, after having weathered World War One and the Venezelist controversy, and our Archdiocese had only been formally established in 1921.  Many parishioners spoke Greek-accented English, and widespread assimilat...

Left:  Epi Stathopoulos.  Right:  The Stathopoulos Family in America.   THE STATHOPOULOS FAMILY: ARTISANS IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY GREEK AMERICA Published in The National Herald, February 14-20, 2015 Issue Authored by Steve Frangos, TNH Staff Writer ------------------------------ We are excited to announce that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ One of the most enduring fallacies within Greek-American studies is that Hellenic sojourners never brought any traditional crafts to North America.  Nothing could be further from the documented truth.  As a case in point we need only look at two generations of the Stathopoulos family to see not only the presence of traditional Greek artisans in the United States but also how those unique skills and talents ultimately merged into an American legend....

GREEK WORKERS IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF THE RAILWAY WORKERS AND THE CIGARETTE-MAKERS, 1905-1914 by E. A. Mantzaris Published in the Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Numbers 3-4, Fall & Winter 1987  From the article: It is common knowledge that the average South African sees the Greek immigrants in this country as a "middleman minority," that is, as small entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, and restaurant owners.  Although this is possibly true during the contemporary period, this was not always the case.  Large numbers of Greek immigrants in South Africa worked as miners in the goldfields of the Witwatersrand during the period 1900-1920, and many of them, skilled and unskilled, became occasional laborers in the railways and the existing manufacturing establishments.  In this paper, I will examine the material conditions that compelled the latter to choose these occupations, as well as their activities during that turbulent period of South African la...

The digital collections of the Greek State Archives offer a wealth of information to those of us interested in Greek genealogy.  As part of their online collection is the "Election Material From the Collection of Vlachoyiannis" .  This includes "General Election Lists" for each Municipality; recorded by community (city, village, settlement, etc.). You can view a scanned copy of each list, printed in the Greek language.  This is a GREAT resource, but very difficult to navigate for those who do not read Greek.  Each row includes:  Line # -  Given Name, Surname - Father's Name -  Age - Occupation. I have translated these pages and made them available in both Greek and English, doing my best to transcribe the information accurately.  I would always recommend viewing the original scanned copies (link below).    - To the best of my knowledge, these lists include all Males who were eligible to vote in ...