Have you ever dreamed about walking where your ancestors may have walked? Most genealogists have experience that fantasy on an occasion, but some lucky ones get to fulfill their dreams. Hear what five of our JGSGW members have to tell us about various aspects of their trips – the the planning through the execution. 

This program will be a series of presentations by JGSGW members. Each will focus on a specific location and each will address an aspect of the planning and execution of that trip. Each of the presentations will be accompanied by slides from the trip. 

Jeff Miller                Lithuania
Faith Klein               Ukraine
Ben Terner               Kishinev, Moldova
Jeff Malka               Transcarpathia
John Hirschmann      Germany 

At the end of the program, there will be ample time to ask questions of the panel.

June

Sunday, June 9, 2013

 Membership Appreciation Luncheon
"Clued-In: Case Studies from Sherlock Cohn, The Photo Genealogist"
         Note: This meeting is for members only.

Potomac Community Center

Step aside NCIS and CSI! There are no greater detectives than Jewish genealogists when it comes to loving the hunt for information about our ancestors, and no greater tool to find out about the people and the personalities in our family trees than through our family photographs.  

In this fun and informative talk, Sherlock Cohn, the Jewish genealogy sleuth, will introduce attendees to the discipline of Photo Genealogy. She’ll explore how and why it is important to find the clues our ancestors left for us in their photographic portraits. The program leads off with a definition of Photo Genealogy and explodes commonly held myths about dating Jewish photos. Participants will learn what clues an expert looks for in photos, how to organize your approach to dating and interpreting photos and how to match photo information with vital records to tell the stories within the photos.  

 In the second half of the presentation, Sherlock will present two of her challenging cases, “The Case of the Mistaken Date” and  “The Case of the Immigration Snafu.” In the true cerebral style of a Basil Rathbone character, she’ll offer examples of how accurate photo dating, identification of individuals in our photos, knowledge of fashion and decorative arts, and the process of matching photographs with vital records can illuminate our relatives’ lives and the social context in which their photos were taken.   

After the presentation, Sherlock will help attendees get started on exploring the dates and answers to other questions they may have about their own photographs. Attendees may bring their photo for evaluation. Limit is one photo per person, unless a second photo is brought for purposes of identifying the person in the first photo. Due to time constraints, not all attendees will be able to have their photos evaluated. Selection of attendees to have their photo evaluated will be by lottery.