Philly 2009: Day one activities

Tracing the Tribe saw many old friends today such as Steve Morse.

Some conference attendees arrived late as Philadelphia Airport was closed due to a thunderstorm. Now, however, the sun is shining. Unfortunately, Pamela Weisberger was one of those stuck in Chicago and her anticipated program on "New and Improved Jews in the News: Historical Newspaper Research" had to be cancelled.

This morning I interviewed Dr. Dorin Dobrincu, the Romanian national archivist and will post that tonight, as well as a report on the JRI-Poland luncheon on the current state of Polish cemeteries and property restitution.

One table receiving major traffic is that of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, hosts of the 2010 conference. The co-chairs were providing T-shirts for donations of $20 and they were going , as well as logo stickers. The logo is great and Tracing the Tribe will unveil it here this week. Many were sporting the JGSLA 2010 stickers as well as Tracing the Tribe's new logo stickers.

More later, but now I'm on my way down to the IAJGS reception for society presidents. I'm the representing delegate for JFRA Israel, so will be attending.

Not yet sure about dinner plans, but at 7.30pm the opening session begins with keynote speaker Father Patrick Desbois ("Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews").