Question → source → evidence → story
// RATS
NOTES
We write about Russian, Soviet and imperial records, migration routes, family mysteries, archive requests and ways to turn documents into evidence-based stories.
Why You Can't Find Your Russian Ancestors on Ancestry or MyHeritage
What the platforms actually hold, why the trail goes cold, and how to move from an index hit to the original register.
Read the guide →
How to verify a family legend
A route from oral story to evidence: hypotheses, sources, contradictions and confidence levels.
Investigate a mystery →Have a specific question?
Let’s see what can be investigated
Send us what you know: names, dates, places, a family legend, an unusual document or a question that has been unresolved for years. We will review the starting point and suggest whether there is an archive route.