Miriam Weiner (/ˈwiːnər/)[1] is an American genealogist, author, and lecturer who specializes in the research of Jewish roots in Poland and the former Soviet Union.

[1] In 1984, Weiner moved to Albany, New York, where her mother was born and many family members still lived, while she finished her college degree.

[19] Noted rabbi, historian, and genealogist Malcolm H. Stern, FASG, considered her "the most valuable person in the field of genealogy" and a "standard bearer of all that BCG upholds.

"[2] From 1986 to 1988, Weiner was executive director of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in New York City, which was founded by Benjamin Meed.

[7][21][22] From 1987 to 1996, Weiner was a syndicated columnist, writing the column "Roots and Branches", which was published in more than 100 Jewish newspapers and periodicals, both domestically and internationally.

In 1989, as a result of the genealogy research and outreach from Weiner's syndicated column, "Roots and Branches", the Polish National Tourist Office (PNTO) extended an invitation for Weiner to visit Poland for the purpose of meeting with the head archivists and also to make plans for subsequent Jewish tour groups to visit their ancestral towns in Poland.

Weiner found that the perception that Jewish documents were completely destroyed during World War II by the occupation of Nazi and Soviet governments was untrue.

The Routes to Roots Foundation hosts a website which includes a town-by-town index and inventory of surviving Jewish and civil documents held at archives and institutions in Eastern Europe,[26] Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

The website includes articles by archivists, historians and scholars; maps; document examples; name lists for about a dozen towns; as well as other reference material.

As part of the activities of the Routes to Roots Foundation, Weiner donated copies of the books to the individual archives in Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova in appreciation of their assistance and as a way to improve the discoverability of their holdings relating to Jewish genealogical sources.

The book also features document examples, maps, antique postcards depicting towns and daily life, and modern-day photographs.

[38] Zachary M. Baker, Head Librarian of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research stated, "This book is a testimony to its author's resourcefulness, years of hard work, persistence, and meticulous attention to detail.

[41][35] The book also features document examples, maps, antique postcards depicting towns and daily life, and modern-day photographs.

[42][43] The Routes to Roots Foundation website also includes articles by archivists and historians, maps and archive data from Belarus and Lithuania, presented in a similar format as Weiner's two books.

Maps Weiner is a former Advisory Board Member of the American Red Cross organization, Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center.

[58][59][60] Later that same year, Weiner entered into an agreement with the Library of Congress where she donated 95 volumes of telephone books for cities, towns and villages in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

Weiner's 90+ telephone book collection from cities and town in Ukraine were also scanned are now available at the Library of Congress website in a keyword searchable format.

[62] In 2018, Weiner entered into a partnership agreement with JewishGen and the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, wherein Weiner and the Routes to Roots Foundation contributed extensive material from Belarus and Moldova including archive inventories, archive documents, articles, name lists, maps, images, and other reference material that were subsequently placed on the JewishGen website.