ExploreStory envisions a culture of understanding that seeks to repair historical harm and trauma.
ExploreStory provides far more than names and dates of your ancestors; we provide a socio-cultural, multilayered historical context of the time and place your ancestors lived in, and how it affected them. Our goal is to empower clients with a deep knowledge of who and where they come from, and to encourage them to draw upon their ancestors’ strength and to have firmer footing on which to walk through the world today.
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Eli Kirshner
Lead researcher/C.E.O.
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Historical researcher | Genealogy lecturer | Whiteness and anti-racism educator
Eli Kirshner is a genealogical and historical researcher passionate about telling the unvarnished truths of our past, and how that past lives within us in the present. He served as Oberlin College Liaison for the Oberlin African-American Genealogy & History Group (OAAGHG), and currently serves on the executive board of OAAGHG as its C.F.O/Treasurer. Eli twice co-taught a genealogy education course, “Climbing Your Family Tree,” at Oberlin College, and he has taught multiple semester-long and workshop-style courses on genealogy methodology for Ann Arbor Public Schools Recreation and Community Education (AA Rec & Ed). Eli is especially passionate about encouraging more Gen-Z and millennials to get involved in genealogy research.