Speakers

Over 75 sessions are scheduled, ranging in level from beginner through professional. Presenters include professors from acclaimed Boston area educational institutions and some of the foremost experts in Jewish genealogy.

Workshop and tutorial topics will include:

• Research methods in the U.S. and overseas
• Newly available resources
• Ellis Island records project and immigration history
• Computer and Internet use in genealogy
• The history, language, and culture of our ancestors

A detailed schedule of speakers and topics is now available.

The list of speakers includes:

• Jayare Roberts, Senior consultant on the Ellis Island records indexing project at the LDS Family History Library, on the Ellis Island project, and East European microfilming status
• Alexander Beider, author of A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire, and A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland on Ashkenazic Jewish given names
• Prof. Dov Levin, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Editor of Yad Vashem's Pinkas HaKehillot (Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities) volumes for Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
• Yale Reisner, Director of Archives and Research, Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, Jewish Historic Institute, Warsaw
• Susan King, Founder of JewishGen
• Bruce Kahn, on Internet resources for Jewish Genealogy
• Jeff Cymbler, on Polish-Jewish research, and cemeteries in Poland
• Miriam Weiner, Routes to Roots, certified genealogist, columnist, specialist in Ukraine, Moldova, Galicia and Belarus
• Gary Mokotoff, publisher of Avotaynu, co-author of Where Once We Walked, creator of the Jewish Genealogical Family Finder (JGFF)
• Dr. Neil Rosenstein, author of The Unbroken Chain, on rabbinic dynastic origins and their descendants
• Jonathan Shea, on translating Russian records
• Judith Frazin, on how to use an LDS Family History Center, and translating Polish vital records documents
• William Schoeffler, on US-Canadian Border Crossing records
• Walter Hickey, National Archives, on Naturalization records
• Frank Leister, creator of Reunion software
• Arline Sachs, on the International AJGS Jewish Cemetery Project
• David Mishkin, on photography topics for genealogists
• Ted Gostin, on using Russian Business Directories
• Dr. Michael Feldberg, Executive Director, American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS)
• Dick Eastman, Manager, CompuServe Genealogy Forum
• Richard Panchyk, on Jewish Marriage and Migration in 19th-CenturyAustria-Hungary
• Harry Boonin, on how to write and publish your family history
• Bob Weiss, President, Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, with tutorials on "Backtracking to the Old Country", and "Obtaining Documents from East European Archives"
• Hal Bookbinder on "The Changing Borders of Eastern Europe"
• Jack Arbeiter on European History for the Jewish Genealogist
• Sallyann Amdur Sack, editor of Avotaynu, co-author of Where Once We Walked, on research in Israel
• Maureen Taylor, User Services, New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
• David Dearborn, F.A.S.G., NEHGS Reference Librarian, on City Directories and Urban Research
• Jerome Anderson, NEHGS, on Canadian Census Records
• Nancy Arbeiter, Beginner's Workshop
• Ellen Smith, Curator, American Jewish Historical Society
• ChaeRan Freeze, on Jewish registration records, laws and practices in Czarist Russia
• John Garrard, University of Arizona, The Bones of Berdichev, on Soviet Holocaust records
• Eileen Polakoff, on immigrantion case studies
• Marian Smith, History Office, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), on what really happened at Ellis Island
• Rabbi Chaim Shapiro, rabbi of the Touro Synagogue (oldest synagogue in the US), on "Sephardic Odyssey: From Granada to Newport"
• Dr. Sol Gittleman, Provost, Tufts University
• Stephen Birmingham, author of The Grandees, Our Crowd, and The Rest of Us

There will be many additional speakers on genealogical research in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine, as well as Sephardic and rabbinic research; Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) meetings; noted historians from Boston-area universities; consultation sessions, and much more...

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This page is maintained by Warren Blatt.