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 Its library has more than 2,000 books, recordings and unpublished items.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.

Jamboree 2011: Call for Papers

We barely get through one cycle of great genealogy conferences before plans are announced for the next year!

This year's Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree was a great experience for Tracing the Tribe as a speaker, an attendee and as I helped out at MyHeritage.com booth.

The numbers at this very successful annual event every year, and dealing with the conference committee has always been a great experience. I don't know how they do it, but they always have smiles on their faces, no matter what's asked of them. Can we bottle that?

In any case, the SCGS has just announced the Call for Papers for 2011, and the deadline is September 1, so it's time to get cracking.

The 2011 theme is broad - "They Came from Some Place Else" - which provides many opportunities for programs on our ancestral origins, regardless of whether they are local, regional, national or international. Additionally, the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War will also be a focus.

There's a change this year, one with which international Jewish genealogy conference speakers are quite familiar. Submissions this year will be electronic, making it easier on everyone.

Download the Call for Papers and follow the instructions for electronic submission of your personal information and presentation summaries.

Click here for more information.

A wide variety of topics will be considered, including websites and electronic information sources, migration paths, use of records and repositories, research methodology, skill building, cultural and ethnic research, writing, computers and technology, genetics and DNA research, source records, immigration and naturalization, digital and brick-and-mortar record repositories, organization, recording sources and Genealogical Proof Standard, and others. We are considering adding a special Family History Writers track at Jamboree and welcome those proposals as well.

Jamboree draws attendees of all experience levels. We encourage the submission of advanced level sessions, as well as beginner and intermediate levels.

We are looking for fresh presentations, particularly those that have not been given at Jamboree within the past two years. The committee will consider proposals for panels, hands-on mini-course workshops and other innovative formats. The committee welcomes sponsored presentations and those from speakers whose 2010 presentations could not be scheduled due to capacity issues.

Tracing the Tribe hopes to see you at the 42nd Jamboree, to be held June 10-12, 2011, at the Los Angeles Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel!

JGSLA 2010: Breaking news!

Great news for procrastinators!

Breaking news for everyone interested in the JGSLA 2010 conference:

A flurry of last-minute program submissions means the deadline for the Call for Papers has been extended to midnight, Wednesday, January 20.

Additionally, due to technical delays, the start of conference registration has also been changed to Wednesday, January 20.

Were you thinking about submitting a program proposal and thought you'd missed the deadline? You now have a few more days to send in your materials.

See you in Los Angeles!

JGSLA 2010: Call for Papers

The Call for Papers is open for the 30th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (July 11-16, in Los Angeles).

The topics of interest are listed below. See the next JGSLA 2010 post for details and tips on submitting session proposals.

Your ideas are requested for what will be one of the most exciting conferences ever. Read all about the event, sign up for the newsletter, the blog and much more at the conference site.

There will be 5 1/2 days of information-packed programs and lectures by experts for all attendees from beginners to advanced. The program will include the Jewish Film Festival, computer classes/workshops, as well as artistic workshops and musical performances. It's the perfect time to network, collaborate, meet old and new friends, experts and archivists from around the world.

Mark your calendar: Proposals must be received through the online process only by 12:00am Pacific Coast time January 15, 2010. You may edit proposals through that time. No emailed proposals will be accepted.

These topics are of special interest, but this is just a guide to the possibilities:

Research sources/methodology: For beginning genealogists
Research sources/Jewish history: Los Angeles/State of California.
Research resources/methodology for:
-- Eastern Europe
-- Western Europe
-- Sephardim
-- Mizrahim
-- Converso/B'nai Anousim
-- Persian Jewish History
-- Israel (pre-/post-1948)
-- US/Canada
-- South/Central America
-- Other locales (Australia, China, South Africa, India, etc.)
Jewish immigration/migration
Jewish surname adoption/naming patterns
Genetics/DNA research
Holocaust research
The immigration experience
"Hollywood" and the Jewish community
Oral histories/family newsletters
Jewish history/culture
Yiddish theatre/Tin Pan Alley/klezmer music/Broadway
Roots/"shtetl" travel
Rabbinic research
Photographic/document preservation
Technology/Internet resources
Computer training workshops
Other workshops (photo identification, face-recognition, document preservation, etc.)

The program committee invites creativity, innovation, originality and even esoteric topics for new relevant sessions. Have suggestions for double sessions, panels, interactive and/or special presentations? Tell the committee.

Click here for more information, or email for answers to other questions about the program.

See the next JGSLA 2010 post for details and tips for preparing your proposals.

JGSLA 2010: What's happening?

JGSLA 2010 will feature nearly non-stop programming and activities for six days. The conference officially begins at 10am, Sunday, July 11 and ends at 12.30pm, Friday, July 16.

As the weeks go by, more details about the conference will be announced via the JGSLA Conference Blog, the Newsletter, the Facebook Page and Twitter. Sign up for the conference blog or the newsletter and you'll know exactly what's happening and when.

Some highlights:

• The keynote speaker and dessert reception will be on Sunday evening, July 11.


• On opening day (Sunday), there'll be beginners' workshops, films, classes and a Special Interest Group (SIG) Market Square.


• Arriving early to recover from jetlag? The conference will offer Shabbat-friendly, pre-conference learning on Friday and Saturday, July 9-10, as well as tours and classes.


• There will be a special afternoon Talmud study session, Friday and Saturday dinners, Jewish-themed tours, Classes are free; tours and special meals are for fee.


• Attendees will be able to meet with foreign archivists and international experts who will be lecturing later in the week.


• Remember that the banquet is Thursday, July 15 (details soon).

Go to JGSLA 2010 and sign up for the blog and the newsletter.

Remember that the Call for Papers will open November 15, so start preparing a proposal if you're interested in speaking.

Call for Papers: Journal for study of Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewry

Florida International University is now publishing a new Journal for the Study of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry; the call for papers is out for the Winter 2009 edition.

It is an ongoing, interdisciplinary project which draws upon the expertise of leading scholars and covers all aspects of the Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish experience.

Even better, the new journal is free, fully online, and easily accessible to everyone via the journal website. Four issues are now online.

The publication is part of FIU's President Navon Program for the Study of Sephardic & Mizrahi Jewry. Dr. Zion Zohar is editor, and Abraham Lavender (well-known to Sephardic Jewish genealogists and the Society of Crypto-Judaic Studies) is the book review editor. The editoral board includes Jane S. Gerber, Norman Stillman, and other experts.

Perusing the four online issues, there seem to be many Kabbalah-focused articles (many aspects), which is not one of Tracing the Tribe's favorite subjects although other readers are fascinated by this topic.

Tracing the Tribe found the following articles interesting.

Abraham D. Lavender: DNA Origins and Current Consequences for Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Ashkenazi Males and Females: Latest Results from Medical, Genealogical-Familial, and National-Ethnic Research

Matthew Warshawsky: Trans-Atlantic Crypto-Judaism and Literary Homage: Tomás Treviño de Sobremonte and the Women in his Life

Abraham D. Lavender: Book review: Jonathan Ray. The Sephardic Frontier: The Reconquista and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia. The book's seven chapters are 1-The Migration of Jewish Settlers to the Frontier, 2-Jewish Landownership, 3-Money-lending and Beyond: The Jews in the Economic Life of the Frontier, 4-Royal Authority and the Legal Status of Iberian Jewry, 5-Jewish Communal Organization and Authority, 6-Communal Tensions and the Question of Jewish Autonomy, and 7-Maintenance of Social Boundaries on the Iberian Frontier.

Here's only a small portion of Lavender's four-page review:

The Sephardic Frontier uses a large amount of unpublished material in royal, ecclesiastical, and municipal archives, as well as rabbinic literature, to suggest a new view of this time period. Ray, studying Jewish and non-Jewish life in the frontier of al-Andalus following the expulsion of the Muslims, argues that the significant depletion of population caused by the expulsion of most Muslims from al-Andalus, and the subsequent successful efforts to repopulate this area with Christians as well as with Jews from other sections of Iberia and areas outside Iberia, resulted in Jewish life that was different from that in other parts of Iberia. This challenges the traditional historical view which has taught that already developed Jewish communities, mostly from other areas of Iberia, were reestablished in al-Andalus ...

Samantha Baskind: Picturing Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam. This is a very interesting 13-page article focusing on how Jews were depicted in contemporary art of the time. Here's a small portion (I highly recommend reading the entire article for interesting insights into how our ancestors lived):

By showing the Ashkenazim bound to ritual, artists offered a particular vision that fulfilled the imaginings of the Gentile population. In contrast, by picturing the less “serious” (and by extension seemingly less “religious”) Sephardic Jew in fashionable attire and with trimmed facial hair, artists presented the Sephardim as understandable within a Dutch context, thereby defying the “physiological and psychological unknown” to borrow Barbara Stafford’s apt phrase. The manner by which the Sephardim were pictured in prints during this period gave assurance to viewers fearful of the Other, of the foreign Jew who, in fact, was not so foreign. Moreover, as an observed subject, the Ashkenazi Jew became an understood subject, and even more significantly, the Sephardic-Ashkenazi disparity demonstrated that “the Jew” was clearly able to reform (i.e., become Dutch, to a degree), as the Portuguese Jews had already done.

Each issue also features a list of books received and available for review - I wish I had them all. Here are a few:

Aviva Ben-Ur. Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History, (New York: New York University Press, 2009) 321 pages.

Joseph B. Glass and Ruth Kark. Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem: The Valero Family 1800-1948, (Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2007) 440 pages.

Emily Gottreich. The Mellah of Marrakesh: Jewish and Muslim Space in Morocco's Red City, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007) 211 pages.

Antonio Munoz Molina and T.A. Perry. Traces of Sepharad/Huellas de Sefarad, Etchings of Judeo-Spanish Proverbs, (New York: Gravity Free Press, 2008) 143 pages.

Zion Zohar. (Editor), Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry - from the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Times, (New York: New York University Press, 2005) 352 pages.

Academics in Sephardic and Mizrahi studies are invited to submit articles and contribute to the new journal. Among the benefits is the short time span between submission and publishing compared to other journals. If you are interested in contributing to this online publication, see submission guidelines and instruction sheet here. The Call for Papers is here.

Read the complete articles at the links above.