DC 2011 Conference: Call for papers opens October 17

More than 1,200 genealogists from the US and more than 30 countries are expected to attend the summer 2011 international conference on Jewish genealogy in Washington DC.

This event will offer some 160 lectures, panels, workshops and breakfast sessions, a film festival, repository fair, vendor room, gala banquet, and much more.

The 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be hosted by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW), August 14-19, 2011, at the Grand Hyatt.

The Call for Papers opens October 17, so get out your thinking caps now. Presenters with unique expertise and experience are invited to submit proposals covering an unlimited range of relevant themes and programs.

To submit a program proposal, click here, click on “Call for Papers,” read the instructions and FAQ. The submission deadline is January 15, 2011. Accepted speakers will be notified on March 15, and will receive free conference registration.

Suggested topics topics cover Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi, while geographic areas cover the world (Russia, UK, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Israel, Australia, Ukraine, Romania, Czech Republic, India and elsewhere).

• Research using records of the International Tracing Service (ITS)
• Jewish life in the southern US
• Repositories in the Greater DC area
• Getting the most out of the 1940 census
• Technology and computer workshops
• Publishing family histories,
• DNA and genealogy,
• Cemetery research,
• Geographical/historical resources and methodology,

Click here for a complete list of geographic and topic categories. For more specific information, contact conference co-chair Marlene Katz Bishow or program coordinator Dr. Jeffrey Malka.

The JGSGW was founded 30 years ago and its members come mainly from DC, Maryland and Virginia. The society is very experienced in producing these annual conferences, as they have done so with great success in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1995 and 2003. In addition to monthly meetings, and its quarterly journal (Mishpacha), it also publishes “Capital Collections: Resources for Jewish Genealogical Research in the Washington, DC-area.” Its library has more than 2,000 books, recordings and unpublished items.

The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies ( IAJGS) is an organization of organizations formed in 1988 to provide a common voice for issues of significance to its members, to advance our genealogical avocation, and to lend its name and expertise to such areas as the annual Jewish genealogy conferences.