Catskills Institute: New York, Baltimore

When Prof. Phil Brown, Catskills Institute founder, spoke at the 2006 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, it was a moving experience.

As the granddaughter of Kauneonga Lake bungalow colony owners Sidney and Bertha Fink, and as someone who spent years of summers "in the country," I always point people to Phil's great site, where he archives everything about the special legacy of the Catskills' Jewish experience.

If you're in the New York area Phil will speak on "A Summer Eden: The Jewish Legacy in the Catskills" on Sunday January 7, 2007, 9:30 AM at the New City Jewish Center in New City, New York, near the Tappan Zee Bridge. He will also show more than 150 photographs.

And if you are further south, you may wish to calendar his talk at Baltimore's Jewish Museum on Sunday, February 11, which will examine multicultural issues in Catskills life, include Jewish-Black relations. Visitors can also view the exhibit - "The Other Promised Land: Vacationing, Identity and the Jewish-American Dream" - which the Catskills Institute helped organize. See the museum's Web site for more information.