Chicago, Chicago: 2008 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy

The first official announcement of the 28th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy has been made. The event will be held August 17-22, 2008, at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile, in Chicago, Illinois.

It is co-hosted by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, the Illiana Jewish Genealogical Society and the IAJGS.

This conference is the longest genealogy conference in the US, running from Sunday to Friday. The daily schedule starts in the early morning and continues through evenings with special events and programs, as well as an annual banquet, film festival and many more activities.

Attendees from around the world gather each year to learn, share expertise and collaborate with those researching the same locations and names.

As details are announced, Tracing the Tribe will provide information and highlights. A sneak peek at 2008 was provided at last year's event in Salt Lake City; click here for that posting.

In addition to presentations in 20 research categories (see separate posting on the Call for Papers), Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Birds of a Feather (BOF) groups will meet to focus on specific topics.

Some 16 SIGs will meet on such topics as German-Jewish Genealogy, Ukraine, Poland, and Litvak Jewish Genealogy research. European/Eastern European specialists and/or archivists are expected to present and advise attendees about country-specific resources. Larger SIGs will offer luncheons with featured speakers.

At least 16 smaller BOF meetings will meet on Yiddish Theater, Suwalki Lomza, Posen Prussia and Lublin & Zamosc Area.

Special sessions include aspects of Sephardic ancestry, the Midwestern Jewish experience, computer sessions, immigration records and more, and a resource room will provide a wide variety of materials for attendees.

Genzyme Corporation is underwriting a special mini-symposium - "Genetics, Jewish Diseases, and the Role of Genealogists." Speakers will include Dr. Lee P. Shulman, MD; Prof. Anna Ross Lapham (Chief, Division of Reproductive Genetics, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University); Gary Frohlich, Certified Genetic Counselor with Genzyme Therapeutics; and a Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders representative.

This 2008 edition of the Film Festival will feature a wide range of films relevant to Jewish genealogy.

Chicago - home to a large active and historic Jewish community whose descendants live today around the world - offers many opportunities for research at such venerable Jewish institutions as the Spertus Institute of Jewish Study (Asher Library and the Chicago Jewish Archives); the renowned Newberry Library; and many public institutions (including the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, the Office of the Circuit Court Clerk of Cook County, the Cook County Assessor’s Office, the Cook County Vital Records office) and the Great Lakes Regional branch of NARA (NationalArchives), as well as various university resources and special collections.

This event will make staying connected even easier as the hotel will provide free guest room internet service, as well as free access to onsite health facilities.

For more, click here.

Call for Papers: 2008 Jewish genealogy event

This year's main event for Jewish genealogists is the 28th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. It is set for August 17-22, 2008, at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Illinois.

The website - www.chicago2008.org - is now functioning and the call for papers has gone out. Hotel and conference registration will open in January.

The Call For Papers

If you are planning to submit program proposals, remember that the deadline is January 15, 2008.

Requirements for online submittal (prepare these in advance for cutting and pasting into the fields): 100 word biography, recent lectures given, title of proposed presentation and categories covered, 100 word abstract of presentation.

Proposal categories include:

Canadian Research
Computer Training Workshops (Hands-On)
Eastern European and Central European Research
Eretz Israel, pre- and post-1948
Genetics and DNA Research
Holocaust Research
Jewish History/Sociology
Latin American Research
Methodology
Migration and Naturalization
Mizrachi Research
Research in Other Locales (Australia, Africa, Asia, etc.)
Photographic and Document Preservation
Rabbinic Research
Repositories
Sephardi Research
Technology and Internet Resources
United States Research
Western European research
Yiddish theater/Jewish Music

Each session is 75 minutes, including 15 minutes for Q&A.

The committee is looking for presentations NOT given at the previous three conferences, as well as proposals providing specific research methodlogy with information for researchers to enable replication of the presenter's success in acquiring data. Also in the mix: the speaker's experience and ability to present a high quality oral presentation, topic originality and anticipated interest level.

All submissions must be made online. Submitters will be notified by March 1, 2008 as to acceptance, and handout/resource material (required for each accepted program)is due by April 10, 2008 (for the conference syllabus). Send questions to program@chicago2008.org.

Almost back to normal!

Dear readers,

My husband will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow (Sunday) and things should be returning to normal very quickly, although he's facing several weeks of at-home recovery.

We are most thankful for the excellent care he has received at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, and for the many private messages of concern and good wishes from friends and readers.

Your daily Jewish genealogy source will soon be up and running again!

Schelly

Why there have been fewer postings

Hello, Tracing the Tribe readers

Regular readers will note that the past week has seen a downturn in frequent postings.

Unfortunately, my husband underwent major emergency surgery 11 days ago and I've been at the hospital most nights as well as days. He is well on the road to recovery, thank G-d, and I hope to be back to a more normal schedule in a few days.

For those readers who knew and have sent personal messages, thank you for your concern and prayers.

Some have asked for his Hebrew name to offer a prayer for his recovery; we are grateful for this. The ritual name used is different for various communities. The Persian tradition includes the father's name, while others use the mother's name for this ritual. To cover all traditions: he is David ben Yakov va Ester (David, son of Jacob and Esther)

Thank you.

Schelly

Washington, DC: Sephardim and the Holocaust, Dec. 19

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will present "Judeo-Espagnol and the Holocaust: A discussion with Haim-Vidal Sephiha," at 1pm, Wednesday, December 19.

The program will address the little understood and under-researched fate of Judeo-Spanish through the experience of Auschwitz survivor Haim-Vidal Sephiha, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the Universite Paris IV-Sorbonne, and President of Judeo-Espagnol Auschwitz in Paris.

Sephiha was born in Brussels to a Sephardic family of Turkish origin, and was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943. He joined the Sorbonne faculty in 1963, authoring seven books, 10 booklets, more than 400 articles and directed directed more than 400 master's and Ph.D. theses on Judeo-Espagnol history, linguistics and culture.

He will discuss his personal Holocaust experiences, his life's work on the study of Judeo-Espagnol and opoprtunities for future research. The interview will be conducted by Radu Ioanid, International Archival Program Division director at the USHMM's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.

On the eve of World War II, the Judeo-Espagnol community was concentrated in the Balkan countries of Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania, with main centers in Salonika, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Sofia. During the Holocaust, these centers of were almost totally destroyed and unique language and traditions nearly eradicated.

For more information, click here.

Maryland: German Jewish records, Dec. 16

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington will present a two-part program at B'nai Israel Congregation (Rockville, Maryland) on Sunday, December 16.

The Beginner's Workshop - for members only - is set for 11am-1pm and will feature resources, tips and more, as well as a free copy of "Jump Start to Jewish Genealogy. Presenters are Marlene Bishow and Jeff Miller; advance registration is recommended.

At 1:30pm, Ralph N. Baer will present "Researching Pre-World War II German-Jewish Genealogy."

According to the JGSGW announcement:

Jewish research in Germany can best be divided into three eras: prior to about 1800, from about 1800 to soon after German unification in the 1874, and post-unification. It is simplest to start from the most recent and work backwards. Copies of vital records starting in 1876 can be obtained from the local Standesamt (registrar's office) but are currently only available to direct descendants.

In the middle period, vital records usually started to be kept at approximately the time permanent family names were adopted in the Kingdom, Principality, Duchy, etc., of interest. This date depends upon the place but is usually prior to the 1830's. The content and form of these records greatly vary.

In some regions, Jewish records were kept separately from Christian records, and in some cases they are together with them. Prior to this day there is even more variability, and almost every town has different types of records available. Examples of records will be shown and methods of obtaining them will be discussed.

Born in New York City in 1948, Dr. Baer's parents, grandparents and great-grandparent fled their native Germany in the 1930s. He has a doctorate in mathematics and has worked as a research scientist in Naval Research Laboratory's Acoustic Division in Washington, DC, since 1974. His interest in personal genealogy was piqued by a 1977 vacation in Germany, and he has conducted additional research on his family there. He is a JGSGW charter member and has given several previous presentations. He is the author of articles in Stammbaum: the Journal of German-Jewish Genealogical Research, Avotaynu and Mishpacha.

For address, directions and more, click here.

New York: 19th-century Holy Land photos

Yeshiva University Museum in New York has opened the first exhibition of 19th-century photographs of Israel by James Graham (1806-1869) and Mendel Diness (1827-1900). It will be open through April 6, 2008.

"Picturing Jerusalem" offers 70 rare prints of the Holy Land by Diness and Graham, and original items used by them. It features some of the earliest known images of the city.

The exhibit is the result of a garage sale discovery in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1989, an American photographer found old boxes of glass plate negatives, silver prints, ntoebooks and other materials.

The last known showing of Graham's work was in 1862 in London, and this exhibit is an international traveling exhibit; the last stop will be the Israel Museum.

A Scottish missionary, Graham was among the first Europeans to travel to the region under Ottoman rule in the 1850s. He documented landscapes, temples, tombs and other historic sites, and was one of the first photographers to live in Jerusalem.

Graham's student, English-born Mendel John Diness, a former watchmaker, became the first Jewish photographer in Jerusalem. He later converted to Christianity, eventually settled in the U.S. and became a preacher.

The exhibit includes unique albums by both men, photographs of historic sites, related paintings and prints, a camera lens, a wooden negative box and notebook. Images include the Dome of the Rock, the Temple Mount and Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. The notebook holds Diness' handwritten notes (1853-1857, Jerusalem).

A unique album of 87 Graham photographs was donated in 2005 to the Center for Jewish History and the Israel Museum by Katja B. Goldman and Michael W. Sonnenfeldt, as inspired by James Garfinkel, in honor of the Center for Jewish History's former executive director Peter A. Geffen. This album is jointly owned by the Center for Jewish History and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. "Picturing Jerusalem" was organized by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and curated by Nissan N. Perez, senior curator of the Noel and Harriette Levine department of photography.

The Yeshiva University Museum is located at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St, in New York City.

For more information, click here

Sacramento: SF museum archivist, Dec. 16

Join the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento for a look at the Judah Magnes Museum's Western Jewish History Center (Berkeley, CA), presented by Center archivist Aaron Kornblum, at 10am, Sunday, December 16.

The Western Jewish History Center is the world's largest repository of materials documenting the contribution of Jews to the life, experience and history of the American West. In California, the Bay Area is home to the third largest Jewish community in the US. Jews have settled in Northern California since the Gold Rush and played a very significant role in its economic and cultural development.

Founded in 1967, the Center offers 1,000 reference volumes; 60 Jewish newspapers; thousands of photographs; dozens of paintings; and 50 oral histories.

A third-generation San Franciscan, Kornblum will speak about his work as archivist and Center collections, particularly those of particular interest to genealogists, as well as Jewish cemeteries in the Mother Lode for which the Magnes Museum serves as a trustee.

The Center's archivist since 2001, he was previously a reference archivist at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in (Washington, DC), and worked there for more than 11 years.

The meeting will be held at the Albert Einstein Residence Center in Sacramento. For more information, click here