Jewish Genealogical Society
of Greater Philadelphia (JGSGP)

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia was presented the 2006 IAJGS Award for Outstanding Programming or Project that Advances the Objectives of Jewish Genealogy.

The Plaque Reads:

This Award is for all four Ethnic Bank projects -- Blitzstein, Lipshutz, Rosenbaum, and Rosenbluth. The credit for these projects and the award they garnered rests with the volunteers who created the indices and the project leader, Selma Neubauer. These proud volunteers are Eileen Bobman, Joan Gross, Joan Rosen, Steve Schechter, Al First, Harriet Kasow, Maurice Goldberg, Marty & Helen Gusoff, Lora Hull, and Renee Nachbar.

The Blitzstein and Lipshutz projects are complete and these databases can be searched on JewishGen at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/USA/PhilaBlitzstein.htm and http://www.jewishgen.org/ databases/USA/PhilaLipshutz.htm. The Rosenbaum project is nearly complete and Rosenbluth will be indexed last.

JGSGP has purchased the Conference Syllabus, the Conference CD containing the Syllabus, and the Conference MP3 CD containing recordings of most of the Conference lectures. These can be found in our Library.

Felicia Alexander reported on her research experience at the New York City Municipal Archives at 31 Chamber Street, where she found a 1873 marriage certificate for her great-great grandparents.

When the co-chair of the New York Conference, Linda Cantor, visited JGSGP in March, she provided a handout detailing all New York repositories and a summary of their genealogically relevant collections. This handout is reproduced here.

Joan Rosen reported on the Computer Labs run during the Conference. These were organized and supervised by Phyllis Kramer. Phyllis gave a Lab on using Excel to organize your genealogical research. She suggested organizing by Surname and preparing a table of what is known and unknown about each person.

Joan also attended a Lab at the New York Public Library and how to use their collection for genealogical research.

Mark Melmed reported on the organized visits to New York area Cemeteries. He contacted the Cemeteries by phone before the visits to determine where his ancestors tombstones were located. Mark reported that most NY area Cemeteries are organized by Landsmanschft Society plots. Some of these plots have tributes to people who perished in the Holocaust.

The New York JGS has a database on their website of over 10,000 Burial Societies in the New York area at http://www.jgsny.org/searchcity.htm. Ada Green won the 2006 IAJGS Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy award partly for her work on this database.

Harold Waitsman, along with two other members from Cherry Hill, commuted to the Conference each morning and found parking in Manhattan for $11 per day. Harold reported on his DNA testing performed by Family Tree DNA. This Company found 12-marker matches with 10 or 11 other Jewish men, whose families come from many areas of Eastern Europe. Harold talked about moving up to the 24 or 37 marker tests, which can be performed with his existing sample.

Harold also mentioned that Ron Aron’s Internet presentation was wonderful. Ron will give this talk at the Society’s November 2006 Meeting.

Evan Fishman reported on the musical and film offerings at the Conference. The Conference organizers created a program of films and other cultural events that provided registrants the opportunity for some unusual experiences.

Overall, the JGSGP attendees enjoyed their attendance and would urge all members to attend a Conference in the future. The next opportunity is July 15-20, 2007 in Salt Lake City, where participants will also be able to avail themselves of the research opportunities of the LDS Church Family History Library.