A shloshim memorial book can be ready in thirty days as a priority commission. Its first edition holds the parent's life, the family's papers and photographs, interviews with relatives, the records that can be searched directly and the family tree, and printed copies arrive in time for the shloshim. Archive files that take months go into an updated edition, and a priority fee applies.
The shloshim, a month after the burial, is often the first time the whole family gathers again, and some families want a book about the parent in hand that day, to give to the children and grandchildren. This page sets out what a shloshim memorial book built in thirty days can hold, how the month is planned, and what follows once the archives answer. The same plan serves any family with a gathering about a month away, such as a celebration of life.
Key points
- A first edition of a memorial book can be built in thirty days as a priority commission, and printed copies arrive in time for the shloshim.
- It is built from the family's papers and photographs, interviews with relatives, and the record collections that can be searched directly.
- Requests to archives go out in the first days, and files that arrive later go into an updated edition.
- The family's part is to send copies of its papers, name the relatives who remember most, and read each chapter and the proof.
- A standard commission includes five hardcover copies and a PDF.
- When a month is too short, a family can give a short booklet at the shloshim and plan the fuller book for a later date.
What a first edition can hold, and what waits
A first edition is a finished book, printed and bound, with the parent's life set inside the family's history. It is built from what can be gathered and checked in thirty days. Archive files cannot be in it yet, because archives answer on their own schedules, so the book says plainly which records are still awaited.
| Part of the book | In the first edition | In the updated edition |
|---|---|---|
| The parent's life | Written from the family's papers, interviews with relatives and the records found so far | Corrected and filled out from records that arrive later |
| Papers and photographs | Read, transcribed, translated where needed, and captioned with names, places and years | Papers that relatives find after the shloshim |
| Records that can be searched directly | Census pages, passenger lists, naturalization indexes and registers already put online | Originals that have to be ordered in writing |
| Archive files | Requested in the first days, and listed as awaited | Read, translated and added as they arrive |
| The family tree | Hebrew names and dates, as far as the papers and records reach | Branches that later records open |
| The town's history | From published histories and the town's yizkor book | The family's own street, where records show it |
| Hespedim and divrei Torah | The words said at the levaya, if the family wishes | Those given at the shloshim and later |
| What is still unknown | Set out plainly, with the records requested | Questions that are answered move into the story |
No first edition can promise what an archive will send. Many archives take months to reply, and some never do.
The thirty days, week by week
The plan is counted from the first conversation. The shloshim is counted from the burial, so by the time a family first writes, fewer than thirty days usually remain. The earlier the conversation, the more the first edition can hold.
Days one to three: the first conversation
We listen to what the family knows and remembers, and agree what the book will cover: whose life, which branches of the family, how far back, and the date of the gathering. The family sends copies of the papers it has and names the relatives who remember most. Requests to the archives that may hold more go out at once, in writing, each about one person or one kind of record.
Week one: the papers and the records
Every paper is read and transcribed, and documents in Yiddish, Polish, German, Hebrew or Russian are translated in full. The record collections that can be searched directly are searched for every spelling of each name.
For a mother born in New York to parents from Poland, that usually means the census pages through 1950, the passenger lists of her parents' arrival, naturalization indexes, and the Jewish registers of their town where these have been indexed. Each entry that matters is checked against the original, since an index can misread a name; how to check that a record belongs to your family explains why, and how the example was researched follows one family's records.
Week two: interviews and the family tree
Relatives are interviewed, starting with the oldest, about the parent's early life and the family's town. The family tree is drawn with each person's Hebrew name and father's name, and with the yahrzeit dates the family keeps. Where memory and the records disagree, the book gives both and says which it prefers and why.
Week three: writing
The parent's life is written in chapters, set inside the history of the family's town and the years the family lived through, with every fact tied to its source. The family reads each chapter as it is written and corrects what it knows better.
Week four: design, proofs and printing
The book is designed with its photographs, documents, maps and family tree, and each document is set beside its translation. The family reads the proof and approves it, and the book is printed and bound. Printed copies arrive in time for the gathering, with a PDF for relatives who live far away. How we work sets out the steps of a priority commission.
What the family does, and when
A first edition in thirty days depends on quick answers from the family. These are the family's steps, in the order they come.
- Choose one person to speak for the family. Anyone can send papers, and one person answers questions and approves the proof.
- Write to us with the date of the gathering. Add what the family has.
- Send copies of the papers and photographs. Copies are enough to begin, with whatever is written on the backs.
- Name the relatives who remember most. Tell them to expect a call, starting with the oldest.
- Read each chapter as it is written. Correct names and dates you know better, and say what should stay private.
- Approve the proof. The book then goes to print.
Checklist
- The parent's Hebrew name and father's name, and the Hebrew date of the death.
- Certificates, passports, naturalization papers and letters, however few.
- Photographs, with whatever names and dates are written on the back.
- The names of the oldest relatives, and of the family's towns in Europe or elsewhere.
- The text of the hespedim from the levaya, if the family wants them in the book.
In the first weeks, visitors tell stories the children have never heard, and a cousin may remember a town no one else does. A notebook kept by a grandchild, with each story and the name of its teller, often points to the first records.
After the shloshim: the updated edition
A state archive in Poland or a grandparent's immigration file held by the United States government can take weeks or many months, and some requests are never answered. The government's naturalization files, for example, are ordered through the USCIS Genealogy Program, which answers on its own schedule. What arrives is read, translated and added to an updated edition, and any correction to the first edition is stated openly in it.
The unveiling and the first yahrzeit, when the family gathers again, are natural times to give the updated edition, if the replies have come by then. A standard commission includes five hardcover copies and a PDF, and, if the family wishes, publication on Amazon at no charge, so relatives anywhere can order a copy. Premium packages, priced on request, add heirloom-bound copies, sewn and bound in cloth or leather, in a slipcase, made from the updated edition.
What a researched book holds
The example on this site shows what a researched family history holds once the archives have answered. It follows one family from Poland to England and America, in two volumes of 570 pages, with 23 maps and 190 photographs and documents, from letters to about 29 archives and institutions in six countries. A first edition for the shloshim is smaller, and it grows as replies come in, with each fact tied to its record in the same way. Family history book examples shows finished books, and Inside a book shows the example page by page.
A memorial booklet, a first edition or a later book
Some families decide that a month is too short, or want the archives' replies in the book before it is printed. Many make more than one of these.
| Kind of book | What it holds | Who makes it | When it is ready |
|---|---|---|---|
| A memorial booklet | A few printed pages: a short life story and photographs | The family | In a week or two, for the shloshim |
| A first edition, as a priority commission | The parent's life inside the family's history, from papers, interviews and records searched directly | Zichronos | In thirty days, for the shloshim |
| A full commission | The same, with archive files read and translated before printing | Zichronos | In three to four months, for the unveiling or the first yahrzeit |
How to write a parent's life story shows how to write a booklet's pages. When the date is more than four months off, a priority commission may not be needed. What a memorial book is compares every kind, from the funeral guest book to a sefer zikaron, and memorials and tributes has the guides to the obituary and the eulogy.
Sources: the US National Archives on the 1950 census and on naturalization records; the USCIS Genealogy Program; the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's passenger search; Jewish Records Indexing, Poland. Checked October 2026.
Questions families ask
Can a family history book be ready by the shloshim?
Yes, as a priority commission. A first edition is built in thirty days from the family's papers, interviews with relatives and the records that can be searched directly, and printed copies arrive in time for the shloshim. Requests to the archives go out at once, and replies that come later go into an updated edition. A priority fee applies.
How long does it take to write a memorial book about a parent?
Most Zichronos commissions take three to four months from the first conversation to printed copies, much of it spent on letters to archives and on reading what comes back. A first edition can be built in thirty days when the book is needed by a fixed date. A family doing the work itself should expect longer, since some archive replies alone take months.
What goes into a memorial book for a parent?
A life of the parent, from childhood to the last years, with photographs and documents, and the family tree, often with Hebrew names and yahrzeit dates. Many add the history of the places the family came from, and frum families often add hespedim and divrei Torah. A researched book also holds the records found in archives, with translations, and a plain account of what is still unknown.
Is it too soon to start a family history book after a death?
Many families start in the weeks after a death, while relatives are together and memories are fresh, and the stories told then are often where the research begins. Any relative can make the first call and gather the papers, such as a son-in-law or a grandchild. If a month is too short, the book can be planned for the first yahrzeit instead.
What if the family has very few papers?
Most families begin with less than they think: a few photographs, a naturalization certificate, a name and a town. The census, passenger lists and indexed registers can be searched from the parent's name and dates, and the oldest relatives often know more than the papers. The first edition says plainly what is still unknown and which records were requested.
What happens when archive records arrive after the shloshim?
They are read, translated and added to an updated edition, and any correction to the first edition is stated openly in it. Archives reply on their own schedules, and some never reply, so the first edition lists the records still awaited.