Washington DC: Arlington Cemetery Project

Due to blog problems, Tracing the Tribe could not inform readers about the Arlington Cemetery Project event on May 27 to take grave photos at the Arlington National Cemetery, sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington.

The project is too important to neglect, so here are the details.

The Arlington Cemetery Project is sponsored by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW). The original data was collected by Kenneth Poch (z'l) prior to his death in 2003.

In 2008, Ken's family donated his materials to JGSGW. Since that time, the society has created a database, added more than 1,100 names and digitized Ken's 2,000 photos. During his lifetime, he also interviewed family members, collected obituaries and other memorabelia from the families. This material will also be digitized and will be available to researchers from the JGSGW website.

The spreadsheet and photos will be donated to the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR), while Ken's original materials and photos will be donated to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington for preservation and conservation.

The project committee includes project manager Marlene Bishow, webmaster Ernie Fine, Rabbi Marvin Bash and Eli Savada. Visit the project site here. More than a dozen JGSGW members entered data for the project.

Even if you missed the volunteer day, there is still much that area residents can still do. Volunteers are always welcome to participate. For more information, email the project.

Marlene writes that anyone who would like to participate should contact the project administrator to obtain a list of needed photos. Volunteers may visit the cemetery on their own to take the photos.

Those who think ahead should mark their calendars for the 31st IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy - DC2011 - which will be hosted by the JGSGW in Washington DC.

For more information on the JGSGW, click here.