Oregon: Searching for Mrs. Buchholz, Sept. 21

Margot Perry will detail her search for Mrs. Buchholz, a distantly-related housekeeper who lived with her family at the next Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon meeting on Tuesday, September 21.

The program begins at 7pm, at Congregation Ahavath Achim, 3225 SW Barbur Blvd., Portland.

While growing up, Perry did not ask questions about Buchholz, a refugee from Nazi Germany. Recently, Perry decided to use her research skills to learn more about the woman.

Learn why she conducted the search and her successful methodology.

A former investigator for the Oregon Bureau of Labor, Civil Rights Division as an investigator of complaints alleging discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, Perry is interested in history, genealogy and archeology.

Avotaynu recently published an article about Perry's Buchholz search.

Fee: JGSO members, free; others, $5. For more information, click here.

JewishGen: ShtetLinks, recent updates

JewishGen's ShtetLinks Project provides a way for genealogists and family historians to memorialize the communities of our ancestors, and provide resources for others who discover their roots.

Here are the newest ones as provided by Susana Leistner Bloch, who is in charge of the project.

-- Berehove (Beregszasz), Ukraine
-- Dzikow Stary (Dzikhev)
-- Kamennyy Brod, Ukraine
-- Klykoliai (Klikol), Lithuania
-- Philippson JCA Colony (Itaara), Brazil
-- Raducaneni, Romania
-- Szczercow (Shtchertzov, Stertzev)
-- Velke Kapusany (Nagykapos), Slovakia

Some pages were started by individuals who can no longer maintain them. One page in this category has now been adopted:

-- Leova, Moldova

Orphaned webpages available for adoption:

-- Borisov, Belarus
-- Krnov (Jaegerndorf), Czech Republic
-- Lask, Poland
-- Rozdol, Ukraine

ShtetLinks webpages recently updated:

-- Raducaneni, Romania
-- Tarnobrzeg, Poland

If you would like to create a webpage for your ancestral shtetl or adopt an orphaned page, send an email to Susana Leistner Bloch. Volunteers are available to help you create your page.

Washington DC: 2011 Jewish genealogy conference, Aug. 14-19

As soon as one conference ends, we look forward to information on the next.

As we congratulate the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles for their excellent program and event, we're already looking forward to see what the JGS of Greater Washington - 2011's host - has in store for the international Jewish genealogy community.

SAVE THE DATE!

Join the international Jewish genealogy community in Washington DC, from Sunday, August 14-Friday, August 19, for the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. The JGSGW has been working for some time to prepare for 2011. They've hosted the annual event several times - Tracing the Tribe has attended two - and the team is very experienced.

Click here for the conference website, which currently only lists basic details.

The Grand Hyatt Washington, with its 12-story atrium and lagoon, is the event venue. It's so centrally located that attendees will find the Washington Metro subway system accessible from the hotel lobby!

Conference-goers will be only five blocks from the National Archives I, six blocks from the White House, and close to many additional resources.

The call for papers will go out in October, so start working on your proposals now. Registration and hotel reservation information will be listed in the fall, while program details will be posted in the spring.

Trying to budget for next year? Room rates at the Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street NW, will be $199 for single/double and $204 for triple/quadruple. This is the same rate as 2010.

The hotel has 888 guestrooms of all types, offers five on site dining possibilities and it also has a separate kosher kitchen.

Tracing the Tribe checked out the conference and event spaces at the hotel site, and it appears that less hiking will be required than at this year's event.

Start planning for next year!

Bookmark the conference site above and stay tuned to Tracing the Tribe for all details as they are announced.

JGSLA 2010: Conference makes NBC news!!!

JGSLA 2010 made NBC News Los Angeles' around town event page.

Read all about it here - as if Tracing the Tribe's readers didn't already know that more than 1,000 researchers and experts from around the world will be meeting from Sunday, July 11-Friday, July 16, at the JW Marriott at L.A. Live, in downtown Los Angeles.

The NBC conference story covers the event's attraction for local Jewish families to research their backgrounds and emphasizes that Sunday is targeted to those just beginning the quest for family with how-to sessions, workshops, a Market Square, Klezmer concerts and much more.

The Market Square Fair on Sunday will include craft displays and demonstrations, a daylong film festival and more.

For all conference information and to see the program online, click here.

An opening day (Sunday) pass is $105, and $85 daily for the balance of the conference. Tickets are available online.

See you at the conference!

Florida: Genealogy beyond the Internet, April 14

Genealogy beyond the Internet is the program at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County on Wednesday, April 14.

The meeting runs from 12.30-3pm, with a brick wall session, business meeting and main program, at the South County Civic Center, Delray Beach. Members are free; others, $5. SIG groups for Hungary and Ukraine will meet from 11.30am-12.15pm.

Mark Jacobson, Jerry Naditch and Dennis Rice will present the main program, as they discuss genealogy resources not generally available online.

Researchers tend to forget that genealogists discovered useful sources of information well before the internet existed!

The presentation will focus on several “hard copy” resources such as: vital records, grave markers, published obituaries, city directories and Social Security applications.

The speakers will demonstrate examples of source material; how and where to obtain it. They will review resources of the Family History Centers (FHC), sponsored by the Mormon Church.

Many valuable genealogical documents are available only on microfilm, which can often be ordered and read at the Boca Raton Family History Library and other Palm Beach County sites.

Submit questions in advance for the Brick Wall program.

For more information, visit the JGS of Palm Beach County.

UK: Manchester conference, May 9

The Eighth Northern Conference of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain is set for Sunday, May 9, in Manchester.

Organized by the JGSGB's Manchester Regional Group, it will take place at the Greater Manchester Police Training College (Prestwich).

In addition to the excellent roster of expert speakers, there will be a display of some outstanding family history research and family trees produced by group members.

See complete details - including detailed speaker bios and topic abstracts - of this year's program in the event newsletter here, including registration form, venue directions and more.

Speakers are:

Anthony Joseph
JGSGB President
-- "In Search of Jewish Ancestry"

Petra Laidlaw
Architect of the 1851 Anglo-Jewry Database
-- "1851 and Manchester"

Elizabeth Wilburn
Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archives
-- "Alien Registration Books"

David Lewis
Assisted with reorganisation/cataloguing, Hull Jewish Archives
-- "Treasures of the Hull Jewish Archives"

John Cowell
Manchester Regional Group committee member
-- "Researching the Preston Jewish Community - surprises and discoveries"

Michael Tobias
JewishGen vice president
-- "JewishGen: Overview of main databases, and how lesser sources can lead to major breakthroughs"

Tickets are £20 for the full day, including refreshments and buffet lunch. The registration form is included in the newsletter. Tracing the Tribe readers who live in or near Manchester should enjoy this full-day event.

Melbourne: State Library of Victoria

Tuesday was tour day for conference attendees.

While some visited the National Archives of Australia (NAA) and the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV), others visited the State Library of Victoria (SLV).

SLV genealogy librarian Anne Burrows - who presented her institution's holdings to conference attendees on Monday - was the guide for our group. Her colleague Grant led another group.

The SLV's main reading room is a busy place, offering desks, computers as well as comfortable chairs for visitors. The room was full of people busily working away on their own laptops as well as the library's computers.

Just off the main reading room is the Genealogy Library, which is located in a former outdoor courtyard, now roofed over. Once considered for a restaurant, the space features elegant marble floors and tall stained glass windows of the surrounding buildings' exterior walls. Sunlight streams through the roof's glass panes into the room which holds shelving units, microfilm and microfiche cabinets and readers, as well as computers.

In honor of the Australian Jewish genealogy conference, a dual-sided display of Jewish genealogy books, journals and newsletters was at the entrance to the room.

Standing by the book display (left) is an old genealogy friend - Dr. Albert Braunstein of Melbourne - whose family, like mine, has roots in Mogilev, Belarus.

Anne took us through the room describing holdings in more detail.

In addition to the display at the entrance, there are more Jewish genealogy books on shelves, including many of Avotaynu's publications - even Jeff Malka's "Sephardic Genealogy" - and the Avotaynu journal. Of course, there are extensive general genealogy reference works and materials.

Microfiche includes holdings of the Australian Jewish Historical Society and other resources as indicated on this drawer label.

Computers also hold reference materials for those searching Jewish genealogy, such as databases on this computer in the center. A search for Australian Jewish Historical Society pulled up hits in the manuscript collection.

Patrons and researchers have access to printers for microfilm and microfiche images; digital cameras are allowed or users may download images directly to their own flash drives or memory sticks.

There are numerous GenieGuides covering Australian states and topics, such as convict material. Each binder holds many pages of additional sources of information (including selected microfiche, microfilm, CD and online records in the Genealogy Center. Although now only in hardcopy, future plans include online accessibility to this information.

Although I'm focusing in this post on the specific Jewish resources at the SLV, its extensive holdings include immigration records, vital records and much more, including the Ancestry.com Library Edition, available to all library visitors.

While the SLV's Genealogy Collection focuses on sources from Australia, the UK and New Zealand, it also reflects Victoria's ethnic diversity with an expanding range of Italian, Vietnamese, Chinese and Jewish material.

Core sources include indexes to civil registration for all Australian states and territories (as they are released), Australian cemetery and immigration records, electoral rolls and directions, and much more, including collective biographies and "how-to" guides.

The SLV's Newspaper Reading Room holds more than 91,000 newspaper volumes in its Newspaper Collection - almost every newspaper published in the state since 1882, as well as earlier papers 1838-1880 (with some gaps).

Israel: Harold Rhode, Feb. 24

Harold Rhode (from the Washington DC-area) will speak on modern methods of genealogical research at the Petah Tikva branch of the IGS/JFRA society, on Wednesday, February 24 at 8pm.

NOTE: Readers may be confused as to the designation of the IGS/JFRA society. As of January 1, 2010, the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS) and the Jewish Family Research Association (JFRA Israel) have joined forces to cooperate in all aspects of Jewish genealogy in Israel. Both societies are members of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). Michael Goldstein (Jerusalem) is president of both IGS and IAJGS; Ingrid Rockberger (Ra'anana) is JFRA Israel president. JFRA's 400-strong English-language Yahoo group is now named IGS/JFRA. Watch for a separate press release on this recent development.

Tracing the Tribe knows Harold through many annual Jewish genealogy conferences and his close connections to our Philadelphia-area cousins. I first met him years ago at a conference in Salt Lake City where we spoke Farsi together - he's multilingual in Middle Eastern/Near Eastern languages.

Unfortunately, Tracing the Tribe will be in Hong Kong and will miss his visit.

The meeting is in a member's home; advance registration is essential. See below for email contact. If you are in the area, try to attend this program.

Harold has been researching his Litvak family roots for more than 30 years.

Using vital document analysis and rabbinic texts, he's been able to demonstrate that the Jews were mobile and that our Eastern European ancestors actually resided in localities that covered large geographical areas, not single communities.

A past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Washington, Harold has had numerous articles published in Avotaynu, speaks at Jewish genealogy conferences and is the author of "Jewish Vital Records, Revision Lists and Other Jewish Holdings in the Lithuanian Archive."

A foreign affairs analyst at the US Department of Defense, he holds a PhD (Middle Eastern History) and speaks many languages, among them Farsi, Hebrew, Turkish and others.

For more information on this meeting, send an email.

Jamboree 2010: Librarians' genealogy boot camp

When people first become interested in family history, they often ask the staff at their neighborhood public library.

To help librarians help their visitors, the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) will offer a free three-hour Librarians' Genealogy Boot Camp at the group's Jamboree 2010 (June 11-16, Burbank), at the Marriott Burbank Hotel.

The free two-session boot camp is scheduled for opening day, Friday, June 11, from 9am-noon.

Who better to help librarians at this event than two of our famous colleagues, George G. Morgan and Drew Smith.

George is an internationally recognized genealogist and author of eight books, several online columns, and hundreds of articles for genealogical publications. As president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., he conducts seminars for libraries and genealogists. He's a director of two genealogical societies and co-host of “The Genealogy Guys Podcast.”

Drew holds an MLS and is a University of South Florida librarian. He's also co-host of the Genealogy Guys Podcast, author of "Social Networking for Genealogists," and a columnist for Digital Genealogist magazine. Among his other hats: Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) director and Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) president.

George will present the first session - Using the HeritageQuest Databases.

The HeritageQuest Online databases by ProQuest undoubtedly contain some of the richest American genealogical materials. Many libraries provide remote access to library cardholders to this collection. Learn how to unlock the power and content of this great resource.

Drew will present the second session - How to Help Your Patrons Find the Book with Their Family in It.

Show your patrons how to do an exhaustive search for books and other published materials about their families that will help them begin their research.

Attendance is limited to 100 participants with advance registration.

Learn more at the SCGS site for registration details and more information. Under SCGS Events and Programs, look for “Librarians’ Boot Camp.”

Check out all the Jamboree 2010 sessions. We all hope the librarians will stay around for the entire weekend and learn even more for themselves and for their patrons.

Have a question about Jamboree? Send an email.

UK: 1939 census may hold answers

Looking for ancestors who lived in the UK in 1939? The following new resource may help, according to London researcher Laurence Harris.

While census records are a major source of information for family historians and genealogists, access to recent records is limited in most countries, thus access to this 1939 collection may be useful to researchers.

Laurence writes that there has been a UK census (England and Wales), recording individual names and other relevant details, every 10 years since 1841, with 1911 being the last publicly released census data for individuals:

• There was a 1921 census (data to be released in 2021).


• The 1931 census data was destroyed during WWII.


• There was no 1941 census due to the war.


• There is a massive gap (1911-1951) in currently available UK census information.


• In preparation for war, an effective census (1939 National Registration Act) was taken on September 29, 1939, including such details as name, sex, age, occupation, marital status and membership in the armed forces.


• Data was later used for issuance of ID cards, post-war National Insurance numbers, and other purposes.

In a recent development, individuals may now apply to have a copy of the data in this 1939 register (relating to those then living in England or Wales) by applying to The Information Centre of the NHS (National Health Service).

CAVEAT: Data is only supplied about individuals known by the NHS to be deceased (they know about the deaths of most individuals who died in the UK) or whom the researcher can prove is deceased.

Laurence has personally contacted the NHS department handling applications for 1939 data and shared the following information.

There are two main ways of applying:

• Supply the full name and (exact) date of birth of an individual - and you will be sent all the details they have about that individual including their 1939 address, OR


• Supply a 1939 address in the UK and they will supply the details of up to 10 persons living at that address at that time.

The data is not publicly available online, and each application costs a hefty non-refundable £42. CAVEAT: The fee is non-refundable even if no information is found or if it is incomplete or illegible, or if information is located but cannot be released because it relates to a person whose death cannot be proved by the NHS or the researcher.

However, says Laurence, "Despite the high cost of obtaining this data and the restrictions on its availability, this unique source may provide some researchers with breakthrough information about their ancestors at the outbreak of WWII."

For details about the process (England and Wales only), click here for the application form, payment information and more. For access to the 1939 Scottish data, click here for more information.

Researchers should bear in mind, adds Laurence, that to get details of family members in 1939 - if you don't know their September 1939 address - might require two separate sequential applications:

• Step 1: Apply to obtain an address, AND


• Step 2: Apply to find out who else was living at that address.

No information will be given for individuals who are or could be living.

Those who request an address search will only be provided the names and details of people known to be deceased. If there were other family members who could still be alive, the researcher will not be told.

Readers who would like more information about this data or other sources for tracing people who lived in - or passed through the UK - from 1880-1950, should contact Laurence, who is a specialist in UK Jewish family history research.

Cleveland: All about Chicago resources, Jan. 3

Chicago genealogy resources are the topic at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland on Sunday, January 3, 2010.

The meeting begins at 1.30pm, at Park Synagogue East. There is no fee.

"Another City by the Lake: Jewish Genealogy Resources in Chicago," will be presented by Chicago historian, genealogist and attorney Charles B. Bernstein, who has been involved in Jewish genealogy since 1965.

Bernstein's great-grandfather founded a congregation in the city in the 1880s. In 1977, he was a founding member of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Genealogical Society (New York),; he's a member of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois.

For three decades, Bernstein has conducted personal research and private research for clients, in addition to lecturing widely, teaching Jewish genealogy and serving as scholar-in-residence.

He has authored or co-authored six books: "The Descendants of Moritz Loeb, A History of Community Service," "Torah and Technology: The History and Genealogy of the Anixter Family," "The Rothschilds of Nordstetten: Their History and Genealogy," "From King David to Baron David: The Genealogical Connections between Baron Guy de Rothschild and Baroness Alix de Rothschild," "Chaya Ralbe Hovsha and Rabbi Yechiel Michel Hovsha and Their Descendants," and "The Loeb Family of Trier and the Myer Family of Illingen." He has contributed to both the "Encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy" and the "Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy."

This should be a fascinating meeting with one of Chicago's true Jewish genealogy experts.

Montreal: McCord Museum resources, Dec. 14

Learn about the McCord Museum's extensive collections and resources at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal in association with the Jewish Public Library, on Monday, December 14.

The program begins at 7.30pm at the Gelber Conference Center.

Guest speaker François Cartier is the McCord Museum curator of archives and history. He's an expert in the field of museum archives.

His presentation will describe the many resources at the museum which are of interest to genealogists and family historians.

A quick search using "Jewish" as a keyword retrieved some 15 photographs and documents, including this one below, a list of offerings at the 1794 wedding of Ezekiel Hart:
For more information about the JGS of Montreal, click here.

Seattle: Jewish libraries conference, July 2010

The Association of Jewish Libraries will hold its 45th convention in July 2010 in Seattle, Washington.

Set for July 4-7 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, the annual AJL event draws librarians, educators, archivists, authors and others to share their interests.

The call for papers is now open for workshops, panels or presentations on any aspect of Judaic librarianship or scholarship related to libraries, archives, museums, schools, synagogues and related institutions.

Previous topics have included literature and other resources, collection management, programming, reader advisory services, special collections, cataloging and classification, digital and electronic sources, technology and local Jewish history.

This year, three areas are being emphasized: Advocacy, technology and sustainability.

Tracing the Tribe believes that Jewish genealogy might be addressed in a number of these categories.

Submissions should include: Author's name, address, affiliation, email, telephone and fax numbers, brief author biography, title of presentation, proposal summary, and specific technology or access needed.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is December 1, 2009. Send the required information to the AJL

Proposals will be reviewed by the program planning group composed of national and local AJL convention committee members. Accepted speakers will be notified in January 2010.

For more information, see the Northwest AJL website.

Pennsylvania: Daniel Horowitz to speak, Aug. 13

Sorry I received this so late, but readers in the Hollidaysburg (Blair County), Pennsylvania area will have an opportunity to hear Daniel Horowitz tonight (Thursday, August 13) at a meeting of the Blair County Genealogical Society.

The meeting is from 7-9pm, at 431 Scotch Valley Road, Hollidaysburg. There is no charge to attend.

The session will be helpful for those interested in new computer and Internet technologies, conducting general or Jewish family research or just helping others. Find out how to access resources for Jewish research in surprising areas and also learn about resources for pre-state Israel research.

Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, he and his family have lived in Israel since 2005. Daniel is translation and database manager at MyHeritage.com, a genealogical social networking site with many exciting features for connecting families around the world.

He's a computer instructor, teacher/creator of the "Searching for My Roots" genealogy project for young people. He was a founder and lecturer for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Venezuela, and is a member and webmaster of the Israel-based Jewish Family Research Association (JFRA Israel) and the Horowitz Family Association.

He's lectured at several international conferences, and is a board member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS).

Philly 2009: PJAC revised information

Corrections have been made to the post, Philly 2009: Resource Room adds more records, as communicated by Sarah Sherman.

Sarah's information has been incorporated into that post, but for the sake of clarity and reducing confusion, please note the following:

The address of Paley Library is 1210 West Berks.

Conference attendees visiting the Philadelphia Jewish Archives should note that, the PJAC will be operating out of the Lecture Hall in Paley Library, where resources will be. Both the Lecture Hall and Urban Archives (PJAC's new administrative home) are in the basement of Paley Library, Temple's main library, at the address above.

Additionally:

REVISED HOURS: Tuesday-Thursday, August 4-6, from 1-5pm. (No Monday hours).

ACCESS: Each visitor will need to present a photo ID (such as a driver's license) to enter Paley and to use materials.

PROCEDURE: Visitors should inform Paley Library entrance attendants that they want to go to Urban Archives. Visitors will be asked to show ID and sign-in. They may use microfilm one reel at a time, after handing their photo ID to Urban Archives personnel. Urban Archives personnel will search cards for relevant names. Copying will be done by Urban Archives personnel.

For more information on what records will be in the Resource Room at the hotel and what records will be accessible Tuesday-Thursday afternoons at Urban Archives at the Library, see the post at the link above.

Tracing the Tribe thanks Sarah Sherman for the updated information.

Indiana: 5,600 Jewish graves databased

A three-year project in Indianapolis has documented 5,600 graves in the city's 11 old Jewish cemeteries on Kelly Street. The database is now online in JewishGen's Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Register (JOWBR).

Gloria Green recently completed effort has been hailed by genealogists and historians in the preservation of the city's Jewish past and was covered in this IndyStar.com story.

Green and volunteers sifted through handwritten congregational and mortuary records dating to 1935. And they went headstone to headstone through the crowded rows of graves. In some cases, Green dived into thickets searching for headstones lost to time and overgrowth.

The richest trove of new information may be the record of the dead buried by poorer ethnic immigrant groups whose recordkeeping was the spottiest -- those of Russian, Polish and Hungarian Jewish descent and one cemetery owned by a synagogue known simply as "the peddlers congregation."

The wave of Jewish immigration to Indianapolis began with a trickle of German Jews who arrived in the decade before the Civil War. Other groups followed. But at its peak in the 1920s, the area bounded by Bluff Road and South Meridian, McCarty and Raymond streets was a thriving Jewish enclave of merchants and tailors, butchers and scrap dealers -- roughly 6,000 in all.

In 1856, the city's first congregation -The Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation (IHC) - was established and recognized the need for a cemetery. The synagogue purchased land on Kelly Street alongside the Catholic and Lutheran cemeteries. In turn, it sold pieces of the cemetery to new congregations as they formed.

Older graves in the section that belongs to IHC's mostly German immigrants are spaced wide apart and sometimes feature towering monuments. But graves in the sections of poorer Poles, Russians and Hungarians -- cemeteries set aside for defunct congregations such as Shara Tefilo, Knesses Israel and Ohev Zedeck -- are wedged so close together there's barely room for a blade of grass.

"Poorer people have less space in this world and the next," said Rabbi Arnold Bienstock, whose Congregation Shaarey Tefilla in Carmel is the spiritual escendant of Shara Tefilo, Knesses Israel and the "peddler's congregation," Esras Achem.

Until Green's effort to document the burial sites, Bienstock's congregation had no records of its ancestors in the Kelly Street cemeteries.

Jewish burials are still conducted in the old Kelly Street cemeteries, but most burials today are in the newer cemeteries near today's center of Jewish life on the Northside and in Hamilton County; there are some 10,000 Jews in the Indianapolis area.

For Green, an office manager in a commercial real estate business, this journey into the past began during a meeting of her genealogy club at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck. A representative of a Jewish genealogy Web site said people from around the world would call for information about relatives buried in Indianapolis' Kelly Street cemeteries, but there was none to give. Green took up the cause.

The fruit of her labors -- and those of her volunteers -- is evident now that information is available on the Web site. As to why she took on the task, Green points to the song from "Fiddler on the Roof." It is all about "tradition," in this case, of honoring the dead.

Birth and death dates are recorded by the Hebrew calendar; some stones have only Hebrew, some have English on the back and there are Jewish symbols (Star of David and the menorah). Some stones bear black and white photos of the deceased.

Read the complete article at the link above.

Philly 2009: New York, Philly research spotlight

Philly 2009 will provide presentations on New York City and Philadelphia research.

Jewish Genealogical Society of New York president Linda Cantor and professional researcher Avrum Geller will present Wednesday and Thursday programs.

Linda offers "Only in New York" at 8.15am, Wednesday, August 5. She will discuss research that can be done only in the city. This includes originals of NY naturalization petitions; originals of NY WW II draft registrations; NY court records for name changes, business contracts, or civil and criminal actions; NY wills and probate records; European and immigration records such as HIAS case histories, landsmanshaftn records, European community records, and Industrial Removal Office Records.

And if you need more than one shot of New York, Avrum is the Breakfast Expert for New York City Research (7am, Thursday, August 6). The program will:

• provide a Virtual New York Jewish breakfast.
• disclose secret files hidden in backs of rooms with which brickwalls can be busted.
• suggest worthwhile repositories that are off-the-beaten-track, some of them quite grand.
• provide answers that direct researchers to utilizing resources in all boroughs of the City of New York.
• provide strategies and tricks for getting results not only onsite if you can, but also by phone if need be.
• reveal surprising resources for breakthrough City of New York research online that can be accessed from Philadelphia after the sidewalks are rolled up, or in Margate after the sand is rolled up, or anywhere.

The breakfast is $29 (update your registration here)

If Philadelphia is your interest, there's a two-hour opening day (Sunday) session on "Getting the Most out of Your Philadelphia Research" with local professional researcher and author. Susan Koelble, a local experienced professional researcher and author, and Steve Schecter, JGS of Greater Philadelphia Program VP and the societies leader of beginner seminars.

It starts at 11am and is followed by a Repository Fair, where a dozen or so local archives, libraries and research facilities will provide information on their holdings and answer questions from 1-4pm.

On Monday morning, three local research facilities - The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Free Library of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center - will provide more on their holdings.

The Philadelphia Research Breakfast with expert Steve Schecter is set for 7am, Monday, August 3. He'll answer your questions and:

• sort out what documents are held where
• better prepare you to search at repositories
• improve your ability to deal with the nuances of various sites
• the unwritten rules to help you get what you need
• identify who at the Conference may be able to give you specific help

Breakfasts are $29; update your registration.

British Columbia: Jewish genealogy, resources and techniques, May 13

Here's something for family history researchers in the Greater Vancouver area who are looking for Jewish ancestors. Our geneablogger community works together to let the right people know about programs in interesting locations.


M. Diane Rogers of CanadaGenealogy and the British Columbia Graveyard Rabbit let me know about the May 13 Jewish genealogy persentation at the British Columbia Genealogical Society.

Presenters will be archivist Janine Johnston of the Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia and president Catherine Youngren of the Jewish Genealogical Institute of British Columbia.

Janine will focus on JGSBC projects, collections and resources, while Catherine will talk on Jewish genealogy and techniques to find Jewish ancestors.

For more information, go to the British Columbia Genealogical Society website.

Thanks, Diane, for this opportunity to let Tracing the Tribe readers know about this program. And do check out Diane's two blogs if Canada plays an important role in your own quest.

And more for visitors: If you'll be in the Vancouver area this summer, you might be interested in the historic walking tours (two-hour tours cover about a mile) of Jewish Strathcona and Gastown, the early Jewish neighborhoods, offered on Sundays and Thursdays in June and July.

To see what the Jewish Historical Archives hold, click here for a listing; the reference room also offers free access to Ancestry.com and FindMyPast.com.

Seattle: Russian Jewish genealogy resources, April 13

"Russian Jewish Genealogy: Utilizing early-19th-mid-20th century genealogical documents" with Michael Steinore, is the topic for the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State.

The event begins at 7pm, Monday, April 13, at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island.

Numerous sources of genealogical information exist for those with ancestors who lived in Czarist Russia and/or the Soviet Union. Some are harder to find and translate than others.

This presentation will offer practical advice on how to locate, understand, and utilize some of the important sources of Russian Jewish genealogy.

With one significant exception - Yizkor books - few broad-in-scale historical sources of genealogical information were created for that purpose. To understand how other documents were created (and their contents), Steinore will offer an overview of major Russian history events and how they resulted in documents to be discussed. He'll also provide information on whether such documents are likely to be found for a specific town or region.

The focus will be on sources more easily accessible in the US, such as census documents, metrical books and passports, Duma voter lists. yizkor books. Extraordinary State Commission records, etc.

Michael Steinore is the author of numerous articles and web pages on Jewish genealogy, focusing on the history and genealogy of Jews who lived in Czarist Russia.

He has translated and made available a number ofRussian-language materials on the internet, including maps, Duma voter lists, Holocaust victim lists and Czarist decrees. He has also catalogued the two primary Yizkor book collections in the Pacific Northwest.

Steinore is a software engineer at a well-known software company in Redmond.

For more details, click here. Admission: JGSGW members, no charge; others, $5.

Washington State: Library treasures, March 16

Access to a good genealogical reference library is one benefit of joining a local Jewish genealogy society. In addition to good programming and assistance from local experts, most societies have reference libraries of essential books, journal collections and other important materials.

The JGS of Washington State's next program will feature hidden treasures from its library. The meeting takes place at 7pm, Monday, March 16, at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island.

The society's complete library will be on display and, in addition to browsing and researching, experts will be available to answer questions.

The JCC also offers WiFi, so bring your laptops. There will also be additional computers available for online research.

Admission: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

For more information, click here.