UK: Leeds celebrates Jewish heritage

The city of Leeds (UK) will celebrate 150 years of the city's Jewish history and heritage with an event titled LJ150. In connection with museum exhibits, an appeal is being made for items of interest. See below for details.

The Yorkshire Evening Post covered the story about the event which will be launched in October by Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks to mark the beginning of the first Jewish History Month in the city.

Organised by Makor, the Jewish cultural office for Leeds and Yorkshire, the event will feature memorabilia on the first purpose-built synagogue in Leeds - opened on Belgrave Street in 1860.

"We want to create a real celebration of our unique heritage and invite members of the wider community to volunteer their reminiscences and ideas," said Helen Frais, Makor's project manager.

On November 28, LJ150 will sponsor a heritage day at Leeds City Museum, featuring stalls exploring Jewish heritage over the ages and a mock Jewish wedding, and videos of Jewish life now and then.

Frais is appealing for vintage outfits for the mock ceremony focusing on clothing from Jewish-based firms Burtons and Marks and Spencer. She is also asking for sewing machines and textiles including tailors' dummies, stools and pressers for the museum exhibit.

On February 27, 2011, a sculpture day with Frances Segelman is planned. The artist, who has created pieces of art for the royal family, is offering an opportunity for a community member to have their head sculpted. Sealed bids over £1,000 will be accepted for nominations through the end of September.

For more information, read the complete article at the link above.

WDYTYA: Matthew Broderick's story, a caveat

Geneabloggers learn about each WDYTYA episode and the individual research process from Ancestry's PR & Events Manager Anastasia Tyler.

CAVEAT:Tracing the Tribe reminds international viewers that although the episodes will be online at NBC.com until September 18, 2010, the video links do not work for those outside the US and territories. Personally, we believe this is a very shortsighted NBC policy, when so many people around the world are interested in family history. Perhaps Anastasia might want to get involved in rectifying this situation?

The NBC FAQ clearly states:

Can I watch episodes outside the United States?

At this time, full episodes on NBC.com can only be viewed within the United States and the organized U.S. territories of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Another section reads:

Can I get NBC Direct outside of the United States?

At this time, NBC Direct is only available within the United States and the organized U.S. territories of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If you attempt to connect to the service outside these areas, you will not be able to download any new videos but you can download while in the U.S. and view it outside the U.S. until the license has expired.

And, in case you might have thought of asking someone in the permitted areas to download and send you the episodes:

Can I play downloaded videos on any computer?

NBC Direct videos will only play on the computer where the download request originated.

Here's what she provided about Matthew Broderick's episode for vicarious international readers.

Matthew Broderick’s first step in this week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was to talk to his sister, who shared details about his paternal grandparents and started him on his journey. Information from family members can be priceless when researching family trees, but what happens when family members aren’t immediately accessible? That’s the scenario the research team faced when they started researching Matthew Broderick’s tree.

One of the fantastic things about the format of Who Do You Think You Are? is that the celebrities really are starting out with what they know. We watch them on screen learning information from their families or from records for the first time. Likewise, the research team started out only with the information that the celebrity knew.

A Common Ancestor
For Matthew Broderick’s tree, the researchers had the name of his paternal grandfather – Joseph Broderick – and a few other clues about Joseph’s life. Using these facts, the researchers set out to discover more about Joseph Broderick.

They quickly ran into somewhat of a brick wall. “When we started the research for Matthew’s tree, all we knew was that his paternal grandparents were Joseph Broderick and May Martindale,” says genealogist Krysten Baca of Ancestry.com. “We were quickly stuck; there were many Joseph Brodericks and not enough information to determine who the correct ancestral Joseph was.”

Don’t Overlook Anything
But Matthew was able to provide the research team additional clues – his grandfather Joseph Broderick was a postman in New Hampshire . The occupation was a small, perhaps seemingly insignificant detail, but in this case it broke down the brick wall. Immediately after learning this information, the team found a record for a James Joseph Broderick working in the Post Office in Manchester , New Hampshire .

This record matched Matthew’s tree in three ways: (1) the name Joseph Broderick, (2) the location of New Hampshire , (3) the occupation of postal worker. In addition, Matthew’s father was named James Broderick. Based on these pieces of information, the team hypothesized that James Joseph Broderick was the ancestral Joseph Broderick, Matthew’s grandfather.

Breaking through the Brick Walls
Focusing on this hunch, the researchers looked for additional records about James Joseph Broderick of Manchester , New Hampshire . The records they found matched the few additional details known about the ancestral Joseph Broderick and allowed the researchers to confirm that James Joseph Broderick was indeed Matthew’s paternal grandfather.

The records gave the team another brick-wall-breaking clue – an alternate name for Joseph’s wife. Previously the researchers knew her only as May; the additional records listed her as Mary. This information allowed further discoveries about Mary and her life before she married James Joseph Broderick.

Of course, Matthew’s sister held some of this information all along. But similar to many researchers’ experiences, sometimes research begins before family members can be consulted. “If this case proves anything,” says Krysten, “it’s that even the smallest clue could be the key to unlocking a family tree.”

If you missed this episode, you can watch it online at www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are - but only if you live in the permitted geographical areas. Some have indicated that the episodes can also be viewed on http://www.hulu.com/, but that site is also unavailable to international viewers.

Passover: The perfect genealogy holiday!

As we read the Haggada during our seders, we are reminded that each of us is considered to have come out of Egypt into the Land of Israel.

For many of our families, it was only one stop on the immigration trail.

If our ancestors had not left their homes in many countries, we might not be here today celebrating this ancient holiday.

Here are two resources to consider for this holiday.

Looking for a way to bring some humor into your seder?

Jacob Richman has a list of 108 Passover YouTube videos at his website. It runs from serious to wacky to satiric to just fun - with something for everyone. Here are some of them:

Matzo Man
Manischewitzville
Matzah Madness
The Passover Seder Symbols Song
20 Things To Do With Matzah
Ask Moses: Why eat Matzah on Passover?
Who Let The Jews Out
Passover Blues
Get Down with Moses
Japanese Passover Tip
The Story of Passover in 7 minutes
Ofra Haza - Deliver Us
Shlock Rock - "Seder Too"
Moshe's Rap
The Gefilte Fish Chronicles
Passover Recipe - Kosher Brownies
The Aviv Matzha Story
The Barry Sisters Tribute - Passover Yiddish Medley
Sixty Second Seder
Aish: The Great Escape
Dayeinu (Hebrew, Sephardi)
Hand Made Matza Baking with David Sussman
Chad Gadya in Hebrew, Chava Alberstein
Had Gadya in Arabic (Moroccan singer)
Chad Gadya in Yiddish by Moishe Oysher

For a cyber exhibit of non-traditional Haggadot from the National Library of Israel, click here. Unfortunately, I can only find the section in Hebrew. However, there is a number on the right for each of the 28 items. Click on each and view the online exhibit or hit the PDF file on the right for each and see the Haggada that way, page by page. Videos and songs are lower down on the list.

Since the early 20th century, there has been a shift to non-traditional Haggadah - the text that provides the order of the Passover seder - which uses only some of the traditional text and has various additions.

It reflects changes in society, culture, Jewish history, new trends, the creation of Israel and more.

The Library has more than 600 non-traditional Haggadot. Of these, 28 have been chosen for the online exhibit. They represent various types: kibbutzim, youth movements, the Jewish Brigade, satirical Haggadot etc.

It also includes videos (kibbutz Passover and Omer ceremony) and recordings of seder songs.

Enjoy! And search previous Passover postings here on Tracing the Tribe.

RootsTelevision: The people have spoken!

Tracing the Tribe is delighted to report that, by popular demand, RootsTelevision.com will remain online.

Megan Smolyanek Smolyanek has announced that RTV viewers have convinced her - via emails, Twitter and Facebook - to keep the lights on!

Here's Megan's announcement in its entirety:

Dear RootsTelevision.com Viewer, OK, you convinced me! After getting inundated with emails, tweets, and Facebook postings and messages about the closing of RootsTelevision.com (RTV), I've decided to keep it going. I honestly had no clue how valued it was by the genealogical community, and I agree with the many of you who pointed out that it serves a somewhat different purpose than the prime time programming that's on TV at present (much as I've been enjoying that!).

At the same time, I think many had not realized that RTV is a one-person company, but one that's not inexpensive to provide. Thanks very much to all you who reached out to share your thoughts and experiences. Although I haven't been able to respond to all of you, I hope you realize that your comments made all the difference in the world. Thanks also to the more than 20 individuals, organizations and companies that contacted me to explore the notion of adopting RTV. It's refreshing to know how many were willing to step in and help. I also need to thank Brightcove, the video platform used by RTV, for working with me to find viable solutions.

I should probably clarify one point of confusion. Many were under the impression that even if RootsTelevision.com closed down, the video archive would remain. Quite a few also wrote asking me to send DVDs of the videos, but with more than 700 videos on the site, popping them on a DVD is not an alternative. Hosting and streaming this wide array of videos is one of the most costly aspects, and there are rights issues involved as well, so if RTV had gone, so would have all the videos.

That's why I surveyed genealogists on Twitter and Facebook, asking whether you would be willing to tolerate commercials if it would help preserve RootsTelevision.com. I was beyond relieved how lopsided the response was! So please be aware that I will be adding commercials to help pay the bills.

Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to customize them, but I'll experiment with ways to make them as painless as possible. I'd also greatly appreciate it if you let me know of any people, companies or organizations that would be interested in running banners ads on RTV. Boston University and Family Tree DNA have both helped support RTV in the past by sponsoring ads, and more of the same would help ensure that the doors of RTV stay open in the future!

Og and I are going to do a little tinkering under the hood at RTV, so you'll see fewer new videos for a while, but please use that time to explore the hundreds of videos that are already there. Please also consider uploading your own videos (podcasters welcome!) through RootsTube and let us know of any great genealogical videos you come across in your online travels.

If we see something we like, we'll do our best to secure permission to share the video on RootsTelevision.com, so you can have the widest, high quality viewing selection possible all in one place. And finally, I would ask that you spread the word to your friends, relatives, libraries, and genealogical societies that the lights are still on at RootsTelevision.com! The more viewers, the better – so watch often!

Thanks again,
Megan
P.S. Be sure to follow us online for new videos, announcements and special events:
Megan on Twitter
Megan on Facebook
RTV on Twitter
RTV on Facebook

Way to go, Megan!

RootsTelevision: Disappearing act :-(

Although Tracing the Tribe has heard about these plans for some time, it is never official until the "letter" is sent out. Here's Megan Smolyanek Smolyanek's official announcement:

Dear RootsTelevision.com Viewer,

It's with mixed feelings that I'm sharing the news that I will be closing RootsTelevision.com (RTV) as of March 10th. Back in 2006, RTV was launched to fill a void. As I wrote at the time:

"We've been perplexed for a long time. These days, there's a horse channel, a wine channel, a sailing channel, a poker channel, a guitar channel, and even a shipwreck channel. So why, we wondered, isn't there a channel servicing the millions of people interested in genealogy and family history?"

The good news is that this yawning gap is now being filled.

Genealogy is finally going mainstream. Some of you are probably already watching Faces of America on PBS and The Generations Project on BYU. And many, I'm sure, have heard of the imminent launch on NBC of Who Do You Think You Are? (a series I'm proud to be affiliated with, and for which, I wrote the companion book).

The non-genealogical world is finally waking up to the long overlooked potential of what we roots-sleuths do on a daily basis, as you can read in this article: Roots TV Becomes New Branch of Reality TV

I'm honored to have had the opportunity to fill this void for more than three years.

I hope that you have enjoyed the hundreds of high quality videos that RootsTelevision.com has produced or selected. From the viewing numbers and kind comments, I know that many of you have. It's been a privilege to give the genealogical community this resource, but this seems the appropriate time to move on.

We'll be featuring some of RTV's most popular videos during our final days, so please come on over and enjoy them. Thank you for your viewership and friendship. Og and I will miss you!

Warmly,
Megan Smolenyak2
HonoringOurAncestors

P.S. If any genealogical entities would be interested in "adopting" RootsTelevision.com, I would be open to that possibility, but would need to hear from you immediately. (Contact Megan)

Tracing the Tribe has enjoyed viewing the offerings and has even been featured in some. It offered a new way of looking at, and learning about, genealogy and family history.

Marcy Brown and Megan were fixtures at some conferences, interviewing speakers and attendees. We'll miss the RTV booth!

I'm looking forward to seeing Megan at Jamboree 2010 in June.

Podcast: Save the deli!

The Book of Life offers podcasts on books and Jewish life.

The newest one at Book of Life.com covers the book launch for David Sax's "Save the Deli!"

Anne Dublin recorded the event live at Caplansky's Deli in Toronto, speaking with the author and fans, and capturing an a capella song about pastrami written especially for the occasion.

Listen to live event here:

Save the Deli! sound bite

See the accompanying book trailer video here:


Listen to other Book of Life podcasts here.

Only in America: The Jewish experience

The new Philadelphia-based National Museum of American Jewish History has produced a video, "It's Your Story." Perhaps it should be titled "Only in America."

The new National Museum of American Jewish History is dedicated to telling the still-unfolding story of Jews in America, who embraced freedom with its choices and challenges as they shaped and were shaped by our nation.

The Museum envisions its new home as a place that welcomes all people, inviting them to discover what they have in common with the Jewish experience in America, as well as to explore the features that make this history distinctive.

Rising five stories above Independence Mall, in the heart of historic Philadelphia, the National Museum of American Jewish History will join Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell and other landmarks at the hallowed site of America's birth. There could not be a more fitting place for a museum that will explore the promise and challenges of liberty through the lends of the American Jewish experience.

Tracing the Tribe recommends the video, which demonstrates various aspects of the American Jewish community's achievements.

View it here or below

IPhone: Genealogy podcast app launched

Geneablogger colleague Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems Podcast has just informed Tracing the Tribe about the first genealogy podcast application for IPhone/iTouch.

Genealogy Gems Podcast - the top ranked podcast in the iTunes genealogy category - has launched the first genealogy podcast app, in partnership with Wizzard Media, for iPhone and iTouch.

The app will provide users with streaming genealogy audio and video on the go and exclusive bonus content. Genealogy Gems Podcast is a free "online genealogy radio show" and has provided innovative research strategies, family history expert and celebrity interviews, and genealogy news since 2007.

Tracing the Tribe was featured in an interview with Lisa at the 2009 Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

Her podcasts provide information that can inspire family history researchers of all skill levels and help them use their research time appropriately. With the new app, the podcast can reach many more people.

“Mobile technology is the wave of the future,” says Producer and Creator Lisa Louise Cooke. “At Genealogy Gems we strive to be out in front bringing the highest quality genealogy education to those seeking to enrich their lives through family history research. The app makes this possible on a whole new level.”

All the episodes are included (including show notes) and new podcasts are downloaded automatically. Bonus content includes audio files and custom genealogy-themed wallpaper, as well as Lisa's 20-page PDF ebook, "5 Fabulous Google Research Strategies for the Family Historian. " New content will be added as episodes are published.

Learn much more about Lisa's work at the link above.

In addition to Genealogy Gems Podcasts, she's also created the Genealogy Gems TV channel at YouTube, the Genealogy Gems News Blog, a toolbar, authored "Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies," produces and hosts The Family Tree Magazine Podcast, teaches online webinars and writes and produces videos for the magazine. Contact Lisa if you have questions.

And you thought you were busy!

Now, if Tracing the Tribe only had an iPhone.

Singing in the snow!

Tablet Magazine's Marc Tracy wrote a piece about the top 10 Christmas songs written by Members of the Tribe.

As a kid growing up in the Bronx (Parkchester), I always loved the music of the season. There was a sort of tent-igloo where Santa resided, opposite Macy's, and the loudspeakers filled the air with many of these melodies. It's impossible not to hum along whenever they are aired.

David Lehman, who authored, A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs (Nextbook Press), listed the numbers in the Tablet story.

In reverse order, here they are with their YouTube links. Read the complete story at the link above for Lehman's comments, including names of the composers, lyricists and other tidbits.

Tracing the Tribe has frequently listed the people connected to these songs. How many do you know?

10. “The Christmas Waltz”
9. “Silver Bells”
8. “Winter Wonderland”
7. “Santa Baby”
6. “Sleigh Ride”
5. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
4. “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”
3. “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow”
2. “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”)
1. “White Christmas”

Enjoy!

Fun: New Jewish tunes for the holiday

Many Tracing the Tribe readers - at least those in the US - will be eating Chinese and going to the movies tomorrow.

Here's something else to occupy you if that's a relevant description of your day: The Forward's J.J. Goldberg offers a selection of very funny holiday videos in his blog post, Give It a Rest, Adam Sandler: The New Jewish Holiday Tunes.

He begins by telling us to give Adam Sandler's “Chanukah Song” a rest after 15 years, lists some new ones and provides some very funny videos, straight from YouTube.

Since Tracing the Tribe has already covered the usual Christmas songs written by MOTs, here are Goldberg's choices for more holiday expressions, sure to put a smile on your face.

His choices include "Chinese Food for Christmas," a Chipmunks' parody, rap and gangsta-rap renditions, Lex Friedman's medley of holiday songs that haven't made the top 10 (yet!), the hysterical "Jewish Christmas Song" by an unknown, and a few more.

Go to his blog link above and enjoy a little!

Israel: Persian Gulf Jewish Communities

A conference held by the Ezri Center for Iran & Persian Gulf Studies (University of Haifa) now features the presentations via video online.

The international colloquium, titled "The Jewish Communities of the Persian Gulf: New Themes in Their Modern History," took place May 15, 2006.

Among the speakers:

Conference Welcome

--Dr. Meir Ezri, former Israeli Ambassador to Iran. (Watch, Listen)

-- Prof. Amatzia Baram, Department of Middle Eastern History, University of Haifa (Watch, Listen)

Session 1: The Realm of Baghdadi Jewish Entrepreneurs
Chair: Prof. Amalia Levanoni

-- Dr. Chiara Betta: Rethinking Baghdadi Jewish Networks in Shanghai Watch, Listen)

-- Prof. Gad G. Gilbar: The Sassoons in Iran, Amin al-Zarb in Hong Kong: Some Lessons (Watch, Listen) (NOTE: Tracing the Tribe watched this very interesting presentation of the Sassoon family, whose empire stretched to Hong Kong).

-- Questions from the Audience (Watch)

Session 2: Jewish-Muslim Socio-economic Relations in Late Qajar Iran
Chair: Prof. David Yeroushalmi, Tel Aviv University

-- Dr. Heidi Walcher: Commercial Relations and Mercantile Networks in 19th Century Isfahan(Watch, Listen)

-- Dr. Daniel Tsadik: Shi'i-Jewish Relations in the pre-Constitutional Years: The Shiraz Incident of 1905 (Watch, Listen)

Session 3: Cultural Aspects of Jewish Life: Iran and Iraq
Chair: Dr. Soli Shahvar, University of Haifa

-- Prof. Goel Cohen: The Iranian Jewish Press during the Pahlavi Period. This was not recorded.

-- Dr. Ronen Zeidel: Once City, Different Views: Baghdad in the Recent Writings of Sami Michael, Sasson Somekh and Salim Fatal (Watch, Listen)

Concluding Remarks

Prof. Amatzia Baram (Watch)

These are interesting topics and perspective not usually addressed elsewhere.

Webcast: Dr. Mark Ozer on the 'Litvak Legacy'

Calling all Litvaks - and everyone else - to a great webcast by author Dr. Mark N. Ozer of "The Litvak Legacy."

Ozer spoke at the Library of Congress on October 15, 2009; view the 54-minute talk here.

His talk focused on his book, which documents the contributions of Lithuanian Jews to the English-speaking world and Israel.

From the 1880s to the 1920s, an estimated one million Lithuanian Jews (Litvak) left their native Lita, on the western edge of the Russian Empire, due to the anti-semitism of the Czars. They emigrated to the United States and other countries throughout the world.

He is introduced on the webcast by the LOC's Peggy Pearlstein of the Hebraic Section, one of the world’s important centers for the study of Hebrew and Yiddish materials.

She personally assisted Tracing the Tribe to find the books of poems by our cousin Leib Borisovich Talalay, a Yiddish poet killed in the Minsk Ghetto uprising in 1941. The two books were at the LOC and Tracing the Tribe received copies of both. The poems provided many details, confirming family and places.

A Boston native Dr. Mark N. Ozer MD, lives in Washington, D.C. He studied modern European history as a Harvard undergrad and, since his retirement as a Georgetown University clinical neurology professor, he has written and lectured extensively on the history of cities through the world.

He's also authored or edited nine books on health and learning issues, and is currently working on a book on Massachusetts Avenue.

'Cool' Chanukah videos

In Israel, Jacob Richman's website offers so many resources in so many categories. He's just created a list of 115 cool Chanukah YouTube videos.

Chanukah begins Friday, December 11 at sundown.

Laugh a little! It's good for you! And count the different ways the holiday is spelled!

The list includes these and many more:

Adam Sandler's - The Chanukah Song
Kenny Ellis sings his hit single Swingin' Dreidel
I Had a Little Dreidl - Bagel Blvd Chanuka Edition
Left to Right - Michelle Citrin
Captain Smartypants sings Dreidel
The Funky Gold Menorah by The Mama Doni Band
Chabad: Chanukah Around the World
Light Up - Moshe Skier Band
Poway Chanukah: Yes, We Can!
Nefesh B'Nefesh: Modern Day Miracles
Birthright: Light em Up
Hanukkah Bird (animation and song)
My Menorah - The knack is back! (animation and song)
Ahmedinijad admits he is addicted!
Eli Yazpan, Hanukkah (in Hebrew)
Jewlarious: he Miracle on 42nd Street
Benji Lovitt: Happy Chanukkah from Jerusalem!
Meshugga Beach Party - Oh Hanukkah
"First Time Lighting" - with Matisyahu, Nosson Zand
Al Hanisim - Six13 @ Chabad Chanukah Telethon
Hannukah Song Texas Style
Oy Cappella - Adam Sandler Chanukah Song
Voices of Liberty singing O Hannukah
Aish: Just Jew It - True Chanuka Story
Chana Zelda
"The Latke Song" by Debbie Friedman
How to play Chanukah Dredyl
LeeVees - Latke Clan
Gerber Folk Skewer The Dreidel Song
The Eight Nights of Hanukkah, as told by Jewish celebrities
Purim Homintaschen vs. Hannukah Latke debate
Feed Me Bubbe - Latkes

Enjoy many more!

Jewish humor: 5 must-read books

Laughing is good, because too much genealogy is too much of a good thing!

Tracing the Tribe likes laughter, and Sarah at the Jewish Publication Society Blog has just listed five must-read books on Jewish humor.

Take a laugh break, thanks to Sarah, who adds her comments on each book and some Jewish humor links.

William Novak and Moshe Waldoks' The Big Book of Jewish Humor

Jon Stewart's Naked Pictures of Famous People

Jerry Seinfeld's SeinLanguage

Woody Allen's Mere Anarchy

David Minkoff's Oy!: The Ultimate Book of Jewish Jokes

Have fun!

And, if this doesn't keep you occupied, read the previous JPS blog post on Jewish jokes spotlighting a website that offers - every Tuesday and Thursday - a new very short video with a new (old) joke.

Technology: Warm - but not fuzzy

A new technology for $50 will fix your video's pixelated, fuzzy frames.

MotionDSP Inc.'s download will help many of us faced with less-than-professional videos. The market of course also includes those who post to YouTube and other online sites.

According to this New York Times technology article, it is also great for those who shoot videos with their cellphones and other mobile devices. The program analyzes the color and position of pixels in frames that are next to the ones with poor images, adds the nearby info and improves the result.

See it in action at the MotionDSP site.

The company also makes Ikena (much more expensive, nearly $8,000) a powerful product used by law enforcement authorities to recover details from low-quality videos, like license plate numbers. We've all seen how that works on the various CIS-type forensic shows on television.

The algorithms used for the enhancement are part of a research field called super-resolution. It's used in university research labs and professional video software, but not often in consumer products.

The software can do some edit (cropping, rotating, etc.) but the main purpose is to improve the clip by fixing shaky, noisy home videos. According to the company its for any standard video, including anything transferred from VHS.

Jon Peddie, who heads Jon Peddie Research, a consulting firm in Tiburon, Calif., said specialized software like vReveal might prove popular with consumers as more of them create and post videos.

“There’s a huge potential market for products like this,” Mr. Peddie said. “If two of us are at the same soccer game, each photographing it with a cheap camera, but I do some enhancing afterward,” that video will look better and get more views.

The market may increase as video calling and conferencing become more common and mobile. And we only have to look at all that cellphone video coming out of Iran these days to see how useful it may be.

It is also being tested to clean up live streaming videos.

According to the company, “The difficulty with this kind of product is that you have to see it or use it to appreciate it.”

So the product - vReveal - will be offered as a one-month free membership, so people can compare before-and-after videos, then decide whether to purchase it.

It works with Windows XP or Vista - not Macs, sorry - and a modern graphics processing card from Nvidia will make the process go faster. Nvidia is a marketing partner with vReveal. Other graphics cards means the process will be slower.

“If you have other graphics cards, your computer will just use its central processing unit,” Dr. Varah said, but the process will be slower.

Sounds like a good idea. I have tons of stuff that was transferred to VHS and not with the best results. I think I'll try out the free deal.

See more in the article link or at the company site.

Great Yiddish book migration to begin

The National Yiddish Book Center (Amherst, Massachusetts) is almost ready to begin its "Great Shlepenish," as president Aaron Lansky calls it.

His efforts have been widely written about and called "the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history."

The NYBC, founded in 1980, is supported by more than 30,000 members. It is the largest and fastest-growing Jewish cultural organization in the US, and has preserved some 1.5 million Yiddish works and other modern Jewish literature with the assistance of many volunteers.

Six workers and a supervisor will take six weeks - hopefully to finish by mid-July - to move the holdings into a new secure, fireproof and climate-controlled library in the Kaplen Famly Building.

The goal of the Shlepenish is the physical and informational transfer of thousands upon thousands of Jewish texts, periodicals, and other items such as sheet music from its current location at a factory space in Holyoke to the Center's newly constructed state-of-the-art library annex at the primary Hampshire College site, whose design was modeled after Harvard's long term book storage facility and features "an airlock entrance, gasketed doors, geothermal energy and precise computer-controlled temperature and humidity"—theoretically sufficient to preserve books for 300 years or more.

The Center is asking for tax-deductible donations to help finance the expensive move - about $74,000. Donations received in excess of the goal will be used to fund innovative bibliographic and educational programs. Visit the NYBC site to contribute.

The NYBC includes sound and video collections, and the Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library (founded 1998) which digitizes titles and makes available high-quality reprints.

Read more here, or click on the NYBC link above.

Yad Vashem: Database updates

Holocaust Remembrance Day - Yom haShoah (Hebrew) - is April 21.

For those readers who may not be aware of the Hebrew phrase, shoah refers to the Holocaust, and is frequently used in conjunction with Holocaust-related events and research, such as that detailed below.

According to Yad Vashem, during 2008, its databases have been updated.

The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names has been enlarged and now includes nearly 3.6 million names of Holocaust victims, all accessible online.


The Names Database now contains more than 2.15 million Pages of Testimony, about two-thirds of the total number of names in the Database. Tens of thousands of Pages of Testimony were gathered as a result of intensive activity of the Names Recovery campaign in the Russian-speaking sector.

Additionally, more than 600,000 name occurrences of victims and survivors from archival lists and other documentation were digitized, among them archival documents gathered in Hungary, the former Soviet Union and other areas.

It is always worth searching Yad Vashem's resources online. Individuals around the world are continually adding new Pages of Testimony, new records are being located. The databases have been responsible for solving many family mysteries.

"Unto Every Person There is a Name" is a worldwide Holocaust memorial project in its 20th year. The goal is to perpetuate the memory of Shoah victims through public recitation of their names on Yom Hashoah. For more information, click here.

Here is a video interview with Boris Maftsir, who manages the Shoah Victims' Names Recovery Project in the Nazi-occupied territories of the former Soviet Union. He describes intensive efforts to recover Ukrainian Shoah victims' names to restore the personal identities of each victim.

Yad Vashem also launched its Spanish language site here. The comprehensive new website offers extensive Holocaust resources, a multimedia exhibit of The Auschwitz Album and material on Righteous Among the Nations, and educational materials in Spanish including lesson plans, ideas for working with testimonies and two online courses: "Ghettos" and "The Final Solution."

Uploading the library: YouTube, iTunes, Flickr

Digital media is the way to go, and the Library of Congress (Washington DC) is doing just that.

It is loading audio archives to iTunes, posting YouTube videos, and has already loaded photo archives, in January 2008, to Flickr.

The photo archive has been viewed about 15.7 million times; 3,100 photos were uploaded at first and added about 50 a week since then. iTunes has received 39 uploaded podcasts, and plans are to upload 100 videos to YouTube .

Those resources include early films, author interviews, first-person oral history and LOC resources.

All of this means that the LOC's resources - which includes some 15.3 million digital items - are becoming easier to use and more accessible to people around the world.

"The Library of Congress launched the first U.S. agency-wide blog two years ago and continued its pioneering social-media role with initiatives such as the immensely successful Flickr pilot project," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "We have long seen the value of such interaction with the public to help achieve our missions, and these agreements remove many of the impediments to making our unparalleled content more useful to many more people."

To keep on top of LOC's plans and announcements, follow its Twitter page, sign up for RSS feeds or email alerts, and follow its blog.

For more information go to LOC.gov, and a new individualized website myLOC.gov.

Look for other federal agencies as well to participate in new media. On March 25, The General Services Administration announced agreements with Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and blip.tv that will allow other federal agencies to participate in new media. GSA plans to negotiate agreements with additional providers.

Switzerland: Major WWI casualty archive discovered

British historian Peter Barton has unearthed information that could help thousands of people with their family histories, according to this BBC News story.

Barton was commissioned to carry out research into the identities of World War I casualties discovered in a mass grave at Fromelles in France, and received access to the Geneva-based Red Cross headquarters basement, the first researcher to see these records.

Details deal with capture, injuries, death, or field burials of servicemen from more than 30 countries, and sometimes include personal effects, home addresses and grave sites. The Red Cross received these details from the combatants; volunteers recorded details before sending them to the home countries.

Some of the records refer to other mass graves, with exact directions as to where they were dug, and the identities of the soldiers who were buried. Where possible, the registers include home addresses and next of kin.

He examined records untouched since 1918 and estimate there could be as many as 20 million records in the old cardboard boxes filled with thousands of index cards and hundreds of registers, compiled between 1914-1918.

According to Peter Barton, the UK's copies no longer exist, but the originals are still here and are immensely important.

"To a military historian, this was like finding Tutankhamen's tomb and the terracotta warriors on the same day," he told me.

"I still can't understand why no-one has ever realised the significance of this archive - but the Red Cross tell me I'm the first researcher who has asked to see it."

The records could potentially reveal the whereabouts of individuals whose remains were never found, or never identified. Grave after grave in the World War I cemeteries mark the last resting place of an unknown soldier.

The Red Cross must now address preservation and digitization of the paper records. Two million pounds has been earmarked for the project which will start in the fall, and will involve experts from all over Europe. The organization says it will almost certainly ask for volunteers to join their own archivists.

The organisation's head of press, Florian Westphal, admitted they had never faced a challenge quite like this: "First we have to make sure that we preserve the original records," he told me. "Then, this autumn, we will begin the process of digitising the World War I section of the archive - we expect that phase of the project to cost around four million Swiss Francs."

According to the Red Cross, it hopes to have the archive online by 2014, a century after the start of WWI. Those records and today's technology will unlock a piece of history.

There may be more to come, as this careful record-keeping extended through World War II, and to more recent conflicts. There are many more index cards in more boxes on more shelves.

Read the complete story at the link above, and see the video on the same page which covers Barton working with the records.

The Bagnowka Project: Photos, videos, maps

Here's a look at pre-Holocaust towns in a video created by Tomek Wisniewski from historic footage and photos taken in Eastern European towns and shtetls. His The Bagnowka Project website offers extensive Polish Jewish cemetery information and additional useful links, old pre-war Polish and Eastern European maps.

Thank you to Reeva Kimble of Eugene, Oregon for this pointer to the video and the website.

Among the maps, I found a 1915 view of Suchostaw my maternal grandfather's shtetl, Suchostaw, which has been part of Galicia, Poland, Russia and is now in Ukraine.



The Project has its own YouTube channel with some 25 current videos. I viewed one for the forgotten town of Orla, which Wisniewski says does not appear on any tourist map. Its magnificent synagogue is still standing, unused and ignored, although some preservation work was undertaken in the 1980s. View it here.

The website currently includes 60,000 images and videos from Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, with galleries on history, culture, cemeteries, synagogues, wooden architecture and more. Users are invited to submit photographs, videos and other information to assist all researchers.

The Bagnowka Project has been set up by a group of historians, linguists, journalists, naturalists and guides, united by a common interest in the history of Poland and the eastern borderlands, and their cultural and ethnic legacy.

Our members include authors, collectors of old photographs and maps, professors of diverse languages, specialists in archival work and genealogy, and people responsible for mounting exhibitions and creating internet sites dealing with these matters.

It is our sincere wish that the passion we share in preserving and disseminating the resources gathered here will inspire our audience to recognize that both the richness and harshness experienced by the varied cultures of Poland must be preserved in order to understand the present and move toward a more peaceful and tolerant future.

This wish again is reflected in the symbol of our project - Bagnówka, three distinct religious cemeteries that today adjoin peacefully in northeastern Poland.

Thank you to Reeva Kimble of Portland, Oregon, for this head's-up.