Alec Ferretti

Reclaimer of Records and Director of the Association of Professional Genealogists


  • Family History Research
  • Speaking / Presenting
  • Other Speciality

  • DNA
  • Document Retrieval / Record Agent
  • Dual Citizenship
  • Ethnicity / Religion
  • Immigration / Naturalization

  • DNA
  • Family History Research
  • Methodology & Resources
  • Technology
  • Available for in-person events
  • Available for virtual events

  • Dual Citizenship
  • Forensic Research
  • Heir & Probate Search
  • Heirlooms / Archivist
Alec Ferretti is a New-York-City-based professional genealogist, who has worked for the Wells Fargo Family & Business History Center, researching family histories for high net worth clients.  Alec specializes in the genealogy of 20th century immigrants to the United States.  He is a regular lecturer at genealogical societies and conferences.  He serves as the President of the New York Genealogy & Technology Group, serves actively on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and on the Board of Reclaim the Records, a nonprofit dedicated to wrangling public records from obstinate government agencies. 

New York City, Italy

"Alec was wonderful. He is very knowledgeable and very communicative. He goes above and beyond. He stayed in touch while he was on vacation which I appreciated. He does not nickel and dime you. He is an absolute pleasure to work with."

"Alec is extremely thorough and communicates in a clear and precise manner. He is willing to make changes until I was satisfied. He truly knows his away around the investigative methodologies."

Italian, FOIA

Immigration Themed Talks
The Five Families of the USCIS Genealogy Program 
The USCIS Genealogy Program: An Inside Peak (Made to be a Part II to the prior talk)
Welcome to New York: All About Arrival Records 
Alien Files Boot Camp
Off the Boat: Tracing Your Ancestor back to the Old Country
We Just Got a Letter: INS Correspondence Files
Niche INS Records (Feat. P-Files)
Women and Children (Citizenship) First: Naturalization, Derivative, Acquisition, Oh my! 

DNA Themed Talks
DNA Clustering: Automating Shared Matching
Strategies to Analyze Endogamous DNA

Records Themed Talks
Government of the People: Leveraging Freedom of Information Laws to Procure Novel Records
I Fought the Law and the Law Lost
Advocacy for Genealogy
FOIA and Find Out
Novel NYC Records
Finding the Living
Making the Most of Ancestry
The Mess of New York Vital Records
Finding Digitized NARA Content
Reclaim the Records: Who We Are & What We Do
XC Files: 20th Century Military Pensions

Ethnic Themed Talks
Latin American Genealogy 101
Life Lessons from the Deceased: Uncovering my Connection to a Rabbinical Dynasty
Italian History & Genealogy Crash Course
My Fellow Italians: Navigating Dual Citizenship


  • 21st Century
  • 20th Century
  • 19th Century

English, Italian

National Genealogical Society
New York Genealogical & Biographical Society
Jewish Genealogical Society of Long Island
Italian Genealogical Group 
Gesher Galicia

Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology & Italian)
Master of Arts (Archives)
Master of Library & Information Science