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Past Programs - 2015
The following
programs and workshops were held in 2015; they are shown here so that
you may view the range of activities of JGSGW.
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January |
Sunday,
January 25, 2015 |
Program: |
1) The Resources of the JGSGW Library
2) Webinar: "The Changing Borders of Eastern Europe"
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Location:
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements, and Program
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Speakers: |
Vera Finberg, Hal Bookbinder |
Program 1:
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1:30 PM: Vera
Finberg (bio), JGSGW
Librarian: An Overview of The Resources of the JGSGW Library
Of the many benefits of membership,
access to the JGSGW library remains a crown jewel. What are the
resources that make it so? Our JGSGW Librarian, Vera Finberg will fill
you in on the collection that has taken more than thirty years to amass.
From books and maps to family histories and recorded lectures. you will
learn how the library is organized and how you can check out the library
inventory from the comfort of your home computer. What are the online
resources? How can you get personal help with your research. Join Vera
and find out.
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Program 2:
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2:30 PM: Hal Bookbinder
(bio):
Webinar: The Changing Borders of Eastern Europe
Few Jews lived in Eastern Europe 1,000
years ago. Yet, it was to become the home of 80% of the World’s Jews. As
Russia expanded westward, more and more Jews came within the Russian
Empire. This talk examines Russia’s efforts to limit the Jews in its
midst and the Eastern European border changes which frequently resulted
in ancestral towns coming under the rule of several countries over time.
Recognizing which governments were in control at various times can help
in understanding the environment in which ancestors lived, events that
stimulated migration, languages in which records were kept and likely
locations where these records might be found. |
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February |
Sunday,
February 8, 2015 |
Program: |
By Way of Canada
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Location:
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements, and Program
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Speaker:
Bruce J. Brown |
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If your ancestors ever visited Canada on
vacation or immigrated into the U.S. via a Canadian port, there may be
genealogical golden nuggets to discover. Bruce Brown will explain how to
locate and interpret these resources. Mr. Brown will also present
historical highlights, such as how Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey
facilitated Jewish immigration, and the 1970’s rock group named after a
means of transportation for many U.S. immigrants.
Bruce J Brown is a professional electronics engineer by day, and
avocational genealogist by night. He served for several years as a
research assistant for the JewishGen.org classes. Bruce now helps daily
on the Ancestry.com message boards specializing in Chicago and Canadian
research.
This session will be followed by
a Brick Wall session – your questions answered by our “experts.”
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March 8 |
Sunday,
March 8, 2015 |
Location:
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Workshop: |
10:00 AM - Noon:
Workshop |
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"How to Design and Construct a Family History
Book Entirely by Yourself"
The workshop will be conducted by Elayne and Steve Denker.
"It is better to publish something now, than
everything never."
There is probably no gift that can have greater impact on future generations
than the book of your family history and stories. We all have spent
considerable amounts of time gathering genealogical materials and historical
information. How do we take this mass of stuff and share it with our family?
Taking a DO-IT-YOURSELF approach to the entire process, including the
challenge of trying to produce beautifully edited attractive pages is an
alternative worth considering.
Elayne and Steve Denker researched, wrote and published four different
family history books for their families, including on-site research in
Havana, Cuba. They will discuss the practical details of how to design and
construct your family history book – its organization, layout, aesthetics,
preparing images. They will provide page design examples to illustrate
techniques and options, discuss software tools and shortcuts and how to
select and work with today’s digital printing vendors. In addition to giving
workshops, Elayne and Steve published a fifth book – On Your Own: How to
Design and Construct a Family History Book to Inform and Captivate Readers,
available after the meeting or on
Amazon.
The workshop is free to JGSGW members; no preregistration is required. |
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Program: |
From the Spanish Inquisition to the Present: A Search for Jewish
Roots
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Location:
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements, and Program
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Speaker:
Genie Milgrom (bio) |
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Genie Milgrom will share the details of
her journey back in time as she searched for her Crypto-Jewish
ancestors. She was able to trace an unbroken lineage of 15 grandmothers
going back to the early 1500s in Fermoselle, in the province of Zamora
in Spain. She was also able to prove that her family were Converso Jews
from before the Spanish Inquisition. |
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March 15 |
Sunday,
March 15, 2015 |
Program: |
After the Courthouse Burns: Rekindling Family History through DNA
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Location:
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Time: |
1:00 PM
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Speaker: Judy
G. Russell (bio) |
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Catastrophic records loss due to fires and other
disasters at courthouses is a fact of life for genealogists. When a
disaster takes out birth, marriage, death, court, land and probate
records all in one fell swoop, it may still be possible to light our
family's research fires - to rekindle our interest in our ancestral
roots - using DNA evidence. This event is free and open to
the community. |
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April |
Sunday,
April 19, 2015 |
Location:
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Beginner's Workshop: |
10:00 AM - 12 Noon |
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The workshop
will start with an intro to Jewish genealogy in general, beginning with
basic guidelines and strategies . Then the participants will break into
small groups with 4 different "experts" for 15 minute sessions with
each. Everyone will have a chance to ask questions and take notes. The
four different sessions will be on DNA, Online Resources, Local and
National Resources and info on the holdings of the JGSGW library, which
is at B'nai Israel, and how to use them. Attendees will be given a copy
of the JGSGW publication “Jump-Start Your Jewish Genealogy Research: A
Beginner’s Guide.”
The workshop is FREE to JGSGW members but is limited
to 20 enrollees. Nonmembers may
join JGSGW in advance of the
workshop (if space is available). To register, please send an e-mail
to
Coordinator: Faith Klein.
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Program: |
"Galician Portraits.The Story of Jews, Gentiles and Emperors"
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements,
and Program
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Speaker:
Dr. Andrew Zalewski, MD
(bio) |
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In his first book, Galician
Trails, Andrew Zalewski traced his mother’s family from the 18th
century to the mid-20th. Now, in Galician Portraits, he discovers
his father’s side, who also lived in Galicia, but whose experiences were
very different simply because they were Jewish.
Galician Portraits is much more than a record of one family. The
story is anchored in Austrian Galicia (1772–1918), which once spanned
parts of today’s Poland and Ukraine, but it also covers centuries of
Jewish history in the region, before and after Galicia existed. Large
cities, small towns, and tiny farming villages are the tale’s backdrop.
In them, people from a variety of ethnic groups live alongside a large
community of Israelites.
In these pages, Galicia’s Jewish community emerges as far more diverse
than one could ever imagine. The laws and trends of the day were hotly
debated within it. A perpetual tension between old and new sometimes
brought dramatic consequences, even breakaway factions. Passionate
arguments about language, customs, and loyalties easily erupted. But
even in difficult times, there were brave voices that spoke loudly
against prejudice.
Tracing Jewish heritage anywhere in Europe is complicated; and
certainly, the long shadow of WWII broke any continuity between past and
present in the place that was once called Galicia. Yet the author has
discovered many voices that had long been forgotten, as well as
surprising details about his own family. The talk “The Story of Jews,
Gentiles and Emperors” will be illustrated by the archival pictures of
Galicia, genealogical findings, and old maps of Galicia.
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May |
Sunday, May 17, 2015 |
Program: |
The Margarine Moonshiners from Minsk: Conducting Story-Driven
Research
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Location:
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Time: |
1:30 PM - Schmooze
1:45 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements, and Program
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Speaker:
Tammy Hepps (bio) |
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In
spring 2011 a routine search on my great-grandfather revealed the
shocking surprise
that he had been incarcerated in Leavenworth. What followed was a
rollicking genealogical
journey tracing a group of brothers and brothers-in-law recently
emigrated from Minsk,
who set out to sell margarine as butter in defiance of one the stranger
pieces of
legislation ever passed. Learn how my desire to tell this story in its
entirety led to
uncovering the hijinks of my great-grandfather, who fled with his family
repeatedly
before the feds finally nabbed him, my great-grandmother, whose pleas to
the warden still
survive, the brother-in-law he fingered who was excommunicated for
selling lard as
butter, another brother-in-law who was arrested for threatening to kill
a witness, the
soon-to-be-famous inspector who was hot on their tail the entire time,
and more. Numerous
historical and genealogical repositories will be discussed as I retrace
my multi-year
journey to get to the bottom of his long-concealed chapter in my family
history and offer
advice for how you can better pursue the fascinating leads in your own
tree when you
think like a storyteller. |
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June |
Sunday,
June 7, 2015 |
Program: |
Membership Appreciation Luncheon
*** Members Only - no Guests ***
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Location:
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Time: |
Noon - Meeting and
Luncheon
1:00 PM - Program
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Speaker:
Prof. Glenn Dyner, PhD: "Jews, Liquor,
and Life in Eastern Europe"
(bio) |
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In pre-modern Eastern Europe, the
Jewish-run tavern was often the center of leisure, hospitality,
business, and even religious festivities. This unusual situation came
about because the nobles who owned taverns believed that only Jews were
sober enough to run taverns profitably, a belief so ingrained as to
endure even the rise of Hasidism's robust drinking culture. As liquor
became the region's boom industry, Jewish tavern keepers became integral
to both local economies and local social life, presiding over Christian
celebrations and dispensing advice, medical remedies and loans.
Nevertheless, reformers and government officials, blaming Jewish tavern
keepers for epidemic peasant drunkenness, sought to drive Jews out of
the liquor trade. Historians have assumed that this spelled the end of
the Polish Jewish liquor trade. However, newly discovered archival
sources demonstrate that nobles often helped their Jewish tavern keepers
evade fees, bans and expulsions by installing Christians as “fronts” for
their taverns. The result—a vast underground Jewish liquor
trade—reflects an impressive level of local Polish-Jewish co-existence
that contrasts with the more familiar story of anti-Semitism and
violence. |
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September |
Sunday,
September 20, 2015
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Location:
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Workshop: |
One-Step Webpages: A Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools
(members only) |
Time:
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10:45 AM: Workshop registration and new
member signup
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Workshop
This is a members-only workshop. No pre-registration required. Please
arrive at 10:45 for check-in and seating – the workshop will begin
promptly at 11:00. Those who are not JGSGW members and wish to join can
do so during check-in, then attend the workshop and afternoon meeting
and program.
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Speaker:
Steve Morse
(click
here for bio)
The
One-Step website, www.stevemorse.org,
began as an aid for finding passengers in the Ellis Island database.
Shortly afterwards, the site expanded to help with searching the 1930
census. It has continued to evolve, and today includes approximately 200
web-based tools, divided into 16 diverse categories. There are helpful
tools for many aspects of genealogical searches, as well as astronomical
calculations, and even last-minute bidding on e-bay. This presentation
will describe the range of tools available and highlight the features of
each one.
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12:30: Brown Bag Lunch
Bring your own dairy sandwich. JGSGW will provide beverages and dessert. |
Program: |
Case Study:
Genealogy of Renee Kaufman
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Maven Table and Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements,
and Program
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Speaker: Steve Morse
This
lecture presents a case study illustrating how to transform minimal
information into a detailed genealogy using One-Step Webpage tools and other
websites. The presentation also teaches how to find records in spite of
name misspellings, and how to analyze evidence to avoid accepting wrong
information.
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October |
Sunday,
October 18, 2015
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Location:
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Program: |
History and
Genealogy of the Jews of Rhodes and their Diaspora
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Maven Table and Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements,
and Program
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Speaker: Leon Taranto
(click
here for Bio) |
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The Mediterranean
isle of Rhodes was home to vibrant Jewish communities from antiquity
through the Holocaust. This lecture will review the development of the
Romaniote community, the Judeo-Spanish community that flourished from
the time of the Ottoman Turkish conquest, the Israel rabbinic dynasty,
whose rabbis served as chief Rabbis and scholars throughout the eastern
Mediterranean Basin (Israel, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and
Italy), and the colonies founded by Rhodeslis émigrés in the early 1900s
in southern Africa and the Americas. The lecture will then describe the
many genealogical sources available for researching Jewish Rhodes,
including gravestones, burial records, pre-war Italian census records,
synagogue plaques, ship manifests, Holocaust records, Hebrew books and
manuscripts, marriage, tax, and Alliance Israélite Universelle records,
the DNA project involving the Jews of Rhodes, the Rhodes Jewish
Historical Foundation, and social media, such as the Facebook page for
the Children of the Jews of Rhodes. |
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November |
Sunday,
November 8, 2015 |
Workshop: |
Assisted Research (members only)
(CANCELLED) |
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Program: |
Cinema Judica: The War Years
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Location:
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements, and Program
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Speaker:
Ken Sutak (click
here for Bio)
“Cinema Judaica, The War
Years, 1939-1949,” weaves together the rich history of Jewish-American films
and filmmakers during the period leading up to and during World War II. The
narrative, posed alongside a striking visual collection of rare,
museum-quality posters, trade ads and stills, tells the story of how Jewish
movies, filmmakers, and movie studios influenced American cultural,
political, and even military history of the period. “Cinema Judaica, The War
Years,” a $20 value, will be available for purchase for $15 at the lecture.
Ken Sutak will autograph purchased copies after the program. |
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December |
Sunday,
December 13, 2015
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Location:
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Workshop: |
The Ellis Island Experience (members only) |
Time:
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10:45 AM - Noon |
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Leader:
Barry Nove (click
here
for bio) Author and JGSGW
member Barry Nove has researched the stories of his family's immigration
to America through Ellis Island. He will share the story of that
immigration experience, based on what he's documented and learned of the
history; providing insight into what arriving at Ellis Island was like
in the early 20th Century.
The event will culminate in a book signing of The Ellis Island
Experience ($10).
12:30: Brown Bag Lunch
Bring your own dairy sandwich. JGSGW will provide beverages and dessert. |
Program: |
U.S.
Passenger Arrival Records, 1820-1930's: Sources and Strategies for
Challenging Cases
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Time: |
1:00 PM - Maven Table and Schmooze
1:30 PM - Short Business Meeting, Announcements,
and Program
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Speaker: John Colletta, Ph.D. |
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This lecture
summarizes the sources for finding the arrival record of a 19th- or
20th-century immigrant to America. It then elaborates on alternative
sources and methods for overcoming particularly challenging issues that
hinder success, such as variant spellings of names, conflicting arrival
dates, confusion of ship names, various ports of departure and arrival,
and missing passenger manifests. The event will culminate in a book
signing of “They Came in Ships” ($15); By advance reservation, copies of
the following books will be available: “Finding Italian Roots” ($19),
“Only a Few Bones” ($30). |
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© 2016, Jewish Genealogy Society of
Greater Washington, Inc.
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