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Past Programs - 2008
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The following
programs and workshops were held in 2008; they are shown here so that
you may view the range of activities of JGSGW.
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| December |
Sunday, December 14, 2008 |
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| Program: |
Carol G. Freeman, "Solving
and Creating Family Mysteries:
Integrating U.S. Census records with the New York City Archives." |
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| Location:
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Beth El Hebrew Congregation,
Alexandria, VA |
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November |
Sunday, November 16, 2008 |
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Workshop: |
A Beginner's Workshop
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| Location: |
Fanaroff Hall,
B'nai Israel Congregation, Rockville,
MD |
| Leaders: |
Marlene Bishow and Rich Meyersburg |
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Jewish family history does not have to be a mystery. We and
our ancestors all leave a paper trail that can unravel the story of our
families for many
generations, across the ocean and into the smallest of shtetls.
Join
us for our FREE* Beginner's Workshop
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A great start for the novice...
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Even if you have been a member of JGSGW for a while, a
great way to get back to the basics...
This will be a 2-hour session jam-packed with resources, helpful hints and
motivation. |
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| Program: |
Genealogy Fest
- A comprehensive "brick wall" question and answer discussion in the
afternoon. |
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In the afternoon of November 16, at our
usual time of 1:30, we will have a broad-based "brick wall" session.
Our plan is to have several "area" desks available, each supported by an
expert in a particular area of research, to answer your questions. We
will seek to cover as many areas of research as our members want to ask
about.
Please feel free to
email your questions in advance of the meeting. Send them to
and he will ask one of our experts to be ready to answer on November 16. |
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October |
Sunday, October 19, 2008 |
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Genealogy Sites in Jewish Richmond with JGSGW |
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Richmond, VA, the sixth oldest Jewish community in America, will be the
subject of this day trip by bus. We will visit two Jewish
museums of special Jewish interest in Richmond. First is the Beth Ahabah
Congregation and museum, which specializes in the 400-year history of the
Jewish community in Virginia. Our other principal stop will be at the
Virginia Holocaust Museum, where we will have a catered box lunch before a
90-minute guided tour of the museum. If time permits, we will also visit its
cemetery, which is of special interest. |
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| September |
Sunday, September 14, 2008 |
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Program: |
Lindsey I. Tonsager, "What Every Genealogist Should Know about Copyrights" |
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Lindsey l. Tonsager, a lawyer in the media and
communications group at the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling,
will speak on copyright questions that may arise in the course of
genealogical research and the publication of family histories and other
works on genealogy. Ms. Tonsager is highly knowledgeable about copyright
law. She has, for example, spoken on this area of law to the Smithsonian's
General Counsel's annual program on developments in intellectual property
law, advised media clients on copyright and trademark matters, provided
copyright advice to a religious organization concerning its extensive music
portfolio, and assisted a non-profit entity with the development of its
intellectual property policy for its on-line service. |
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| June |
Sunday, June 8, 2008, Membership
Appreciation Luncheon |
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Program: |
Warren Blatt, "Jewish Given Names" |
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Learn why "Mordechai Yehuda" is also "Mortka Leib" is also "Max." Warren
will provide an introduction to Jewish given names (first names), focusing on
practical issues for genealogical research. Our ancestors each had many
different given names and nicknames, in various languages and alphabets -
this can make Jewish genealogical research difficult. This presentation will
teach the history and patterns of Jewish first names, and how to recognize
your ancestors' names in genealogical sources. Topics that will be included
are: religious and secular names; origins of given names; variants, nicknames
and diminutives; double names (unrelated pairs, kinnui, Hebrew/Yiddish
translations); patronymics; name equivalents; Ashkenazic naming traditions
(naming of children); statistics on the distribution and popularity of given
names in various regions and times; spelling issues; Polish and Russian
declensions; interpretation of names in documents; and the Anglicization of
immigrant Jewish names: adaptations and transformations.
Warren Blatt is the Managing Director of JewishGen (www.jewishgen.org), the
primary Internet site for Jewish genealogy, a division of the Museum of Jewish
Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (www.mjhnyc.org), in New York
City. He is the author of Resources for Jewish Genealogy in the Boston and
co-author (with Gary Mokotoff) of Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy. Warren
is the Editor of the Kielce-Radom Special Interest Group Journal. He was
the Chair of the 15th International Seminar on Jewish Genealogy. In 2004,
he was awarded the IAJGS’ Lifetime Achievement Award in Jerusalem. Warren has
over 25 years of research experience with Russian and Polish Jewish records,
and is the author of the JewishGen FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Jewish
Genealogy, located on the JewishGen website, and many other JewishGen InfoFiles. |
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| May |
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, and
Monday, May 12, 2008 |
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Bonus: |
Members-only sessions at National
Archives and Records Administration |
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Katherine Vollen and Rebecca Sharp, "Passport Applications 1795-1925" |
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Archives Specialists Rebecca Sharp and Katherine Vollen will discuss how to
locate passport applications and how these records can enhance your
genealogical research.
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Workshop: |
Sunday, May 18, 2008 |
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Gene Sadick, JGSGW Librarian, Vera Finberg and Elaine Apter, "Orientation to the New JGSGW Library: Its Holdings, Facilities and Use" |
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The JGSGW Genealogy Library at B'nai Israel will open in May, 2008. Members
are encouraged to learn about the organization of the holdings of this
wonderful facility from the members of our own Library Committee. Policies,
volunteer opportunities, hours of operation and who may use the library will
be discussed. In addition to more than 500 books, the library has a large
collection of periodicals, audio and video tapes, CDs and DVDs, as well as
maps, collections of specialized articles organized in binders and files.
There is a nearly complete collection of Mishpacha and copies of JGSGW
Membership Directories. For the first time in the Society's history, we have
volumes of scrapbooks with photos, meeting announcements and other historical
documents.
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Program: |
Sunday, May 18, 2008 |
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Rabbi Leonard Cahan, "Origins of Jewish Marriage Customs" |
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The Jewish legal requirements for marriage represent only a
small part of the rituals that take place at a Jewish wedding ceremony. Rabbi
Cahan will guide the participants through the customs that characterize weddings
today, as well as others that have fallen by the wayside. He will explore rituals
that have grown up in the many different societies in which Jews have lived,
and the rich symbolism that has made them so appealing and enduring.
Rabbi Leonard Cahan is the Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac,
Maryland, where he served, until 2001, as the Senior Rabbi for 27 years. He was
born and grew up in Philadelphia and attended the Akiba Hebrew Academy and Gratz
College. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he entered the
Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, from which he was ordained
in 1961. Prior to coming to Har Shalom in 1974, Rabbi Cahan was a Navy Chaplain
in Japan for three years and a congregational rabbi in Detroit and Oakland,
California. He has served as the Membership Chairman of the Rabbinical Assembly,
the President of the Rabbinical Assembly's Washington/Baltimore Region, and the
Washington Board of Rabbis. In 1995, he was chosen by CBS This Morning as one
of America's outstanding clergy. Rabbi Cahan chaired the Editorial Committee
of the new, extensively revised edition of Siddur Sim Shalom, published in
1998 and now used by more than half of the Conservative congregations in America.
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| April |
Sunday, April 13, 2008 |
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Program: |
Ron Arons, "The Kosher Nostra - There's a Criminal in Every Jewish Family" |
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In this triple-header talk, Ron provides the "greatest hits" from three
of his other presentations. His presentation starts with how he got involved
in researching criminals. (It wasn't by choice but, rather, beshert). Next
Ron discusses his research into the thousands of Jews who served time in
Sing-Sing Prison "up the river" from New York. His talk concludes with a review
of the lives of Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky (neither of whom served time
in Sing-Sing) who were life-long friends and the men behind the Fabulous
Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Along the way you will learn about the various
types of records available for both a) researching criminals and b) piecing
a person's life together (whether the individual is a criminal or not).
Ron Arons has presented at six of the past seven IAJGS conferences and to
local JGSs across the country. His expertise is in researching the lives of
criminals (mostly Jewish ones, but others as well). Ron's won a Hackman
Research Grant from the NY State Archives in 2005. In January of this year,
Ron appeared on the PBS documentary, The Jewish Americans. His book, The Jews
of Sing-Sing, will be published this year. Ron earned a B.S. in Engineering
from Princeton and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
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Workshop: |
This is a members-only workshop |
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Ben Fassberg and Rich Meyersburg,
"Beginner's Workshop" |
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Jewish family history does not have to be a mystery. We all leave a paper
trail that can unravel the story of our families for many generations,
across the ocean and into the smallest of shtetls.
Join us for our FREE Beginner's Workshop
- A great start for the novice, or
- Even if you have been a member of JGSGW for a while. A great way to
get back to the basics..........
This will be a 2-hour session jam-packed with resources, helpful hints
and motivation.
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| March |
Sunday, March 16, 2008 |
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Workshop: |
Dr. Stephen Greenberg, ""How the resources of the National Library of Medicine can help you
in your Genealogy Research" |
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The National Library of Medicine is located on the NIH campus in Bethesda.
The speaker will address what resources are available to genealogy researches.
Do you have relatives or ancestors who were medical or science professionals?
Records at NLM may fill in blanks regarding birth, education and death, as
well as their professional career. He will demonstrate the use of the
internet at the NLM website, as well as those materials in the library
stacks.
After receiving his graduate degree in Early Modern European History, Dr.
Greenberg taught history for nine years, with a research emphasis on the
history of printing and publishing. Looking for a career change, he
attended Columbia University where he received his Masters in Library
Service with an emphasis on rare books and special collections and
archives management. Upon graduation, he began his position with the
National Library of Medicine. He was a recipient of the Murray Gottlieb
Prize from the Medical Library Association and the Paul Levack Award from
Fordham University.
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Program: |
Marian L. Smith, "Documenting Immigrants to America 1882-1954" |
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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have records which
document the arrival and later naturalization of millions of American immigrants.
Ms. Smith will discuss records such as ship passenger lists, land border arrival
records, and visa files, and will focus on immigration and naturalization records
of a typical late 19th and early 20th century immigrant.
Marian L. Smith is the Senior Historian at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security (formerly the Immigration
and Naturalization Service). She regularly lectures at national and international
genealogy conferences on the history and uses of immigration and naturalization
records. Her articles appear in the National Archives journal Prologue, the FGS
Forum, and other publications. Marian’s research focus primarily involves official
immigration agency records held at both USCIS and the National Archives in
downtown Washington, D.C.
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Bonus: |
Members-only workshop |
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Suzanne Levy, Librarian, "An Introduction to the Holdings and Facilities of the new Virginia
Room" |
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JGSGW has arranged for a workshop for
members at the Fairfax City Regional Library on Sunday, March 9 from 1
PM to 3 PM. Librarian Suzanne Levy will be our guide and presenter.
The Virginia Room collection has grown from being just Virginia Genealogy to
include basic US resources with heavy emphasis on the states Virginians came
directly from or went directly to. This would mean PA, NC, WV, OH, DE, MD, KY
and TN. We have many New England resources and materials on Chicago and New
York City, as well as materials on many other states. We have the CT town
records, for instance, genealogical periodicals from a number of states in the
midwest, some French Canadian material, the various ships passenger series:
Irish, Italian, Russian Empire and German. And of course the materials on
Jewish and east European and Sephardic research. There are 16 workstations in
this room and the collection includes 20,000 books plus other items, including
a rare book collection. |
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| February |
Sunday, February 3, 2008 |
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Program: |
Jonina Duker, Boris Feldbylum, Arline Sachs, Barry Shay,
"Breaking Through the Brick Walls" |
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As a new or experienced researcher you are conducting genealogical research
on your family and have learned a great deal about them. One piece of information
has led to the discovery of more facts. Now you have come across a piece of
information that will greatly expand your knowledge of your family but no matter
what sources you have examined the information you are seeking proves elusive.
You have hit the proverbial brick wall! At this point, you don’t know where to
go or what to do next. It’s time to turn to other genealogists who, hopefully,
can put you on the right path or provide the answers. Please come prepared
with your “brick wall” questions to ask our panel of experienced genealogical
researchers. |
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| January |
Sunday, January 6, 2008 |
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Workshop: |
Members-only workshop |
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David Zinner, "Exploring Jewish Traditions Surrounding Dying and Death" |
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David Zinner is the founder and Executive Director of Kavod v'Nichum, (Honor
and Comfort), which works to restore to Jewish death and bereavement practice,
the traditions and values of kavod hamet (honoring the dead) and nichum avelim
(comforting the bereaved). For 700 years, the Chevra Kadisha (Holy Society)
was the sole provider of Jewish funerals and burials. The Chevra Kadisha cared
for their fellow congregant, from their sickness through death, from preparing
their body to burying them in the ground. Modern day Chevra Kadisha groups
continue this work and also help families handle logistics while offering comfort
and support.
Since its inception in 1998, David has edited and managed the web site “Jewish
Funerals, Burial and Mourning,” which is co-sponsored by Kavod v'Nichum
and the Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington. This
site, visited by over 120,000 people a year, is a
comprehensive resource containing over 350 pages of information and links to
Jewish and other sources on death, funeral practice, tahara, burial, cemeteries,
mourning and healing, suicide, organ donation, consumer rights and the death
care industry.
This workshop will address Jewish traditions and practices that relate to death
and dying and the Jewish communal institutions that can provide assistance. As
Vice-President of the Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington,
David participates in developing citywide contracts with funeral homes and is
a member of the Cemetery Committee. David is also on the Maryland Cemetery
Advisory Board and will bring us up to date on the issues being discussed.
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Program: |
Paul Shapiro, USHMM, "Opening the Archives of the International Tracing Service" |
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All 11 countries overseeing the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive
located in Bad Arolsen, Germany, have ratified the agreement that officially opens
the massive Holocaust archive. This archive contains more than 100 million
images of material relating to the fates of approximately 17.5 million people—both
Jews and non-Jews—who perished in the Holocaust or who otherwise fell victim to
the Nazi regime. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American
repository for the archive, is in the process of receiving a complete digital
copy of the archive and is working to make the documentation accessible in
January 2008, so that it can begin responding to survivor requests for
information. The archive is being transferred in installments, and the Museum
expects to have a complete copy of the material by 2010. Mr. Shapiro will
discuss the efforts to open the archive, the acquisition of the material, and
the role of the Museum in making the information available to survivors and
researchers.
Paul Shapiro is Director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Since 1997 he has led the Museum's
effort to provide focused leadership to the field of Holocaust Studies in the
US and abroad. Prior to this, Mr. Shapiro was involved for over a decade in
the development of the Museum's archival collections, undertaking numerous
archival research and acquisition missions to Romania, Moldova and Ukraine in
particular. Before joining the Museum, he served in the Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs at the United States Information Agency and Department
of State, where he was responsible for the Fulbright Fellowship Program and
other major international exchange programs. Mr. Shapiro holds a BA degree
in Government from Harvard University; a Master of International Affairs
degree and a Master of Philosophy degree in History from Columbia University.
He has been a Fulbright scholar, and IREX scholar, and a Visiting Fellow at
the Institute for Eurasian Studies at The George Washington University.
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