Out of the Whirlwind: Finding the Family You Lost in the Holocaust

Speaker: Deborah H. Long   The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Deborah Long has been researching her family history and looking for family members for more than 50 years. She has found surviving cousins in Sweden, Hungary, Canada and Israel. Deborah will review the best (as well as some of the more obscure) resources and methods for determining the fate of those caught up in the Holocaust, survivors as well as victims. She will use examples from her own research to present the documents and artifacts she has discovered. Deborah Long grew up in Skokie, Illinois, and is a professional educator and speaker. She has written more than 20 books, including ...

Belarus: Jewish History & Research Strategy in Belarus Archives

Speakers: Yuri & Irina Dorn Yuri Dorn and his wife Irina will present a brief history of Jewish Belarus, followed by a description of the different record types available for research in Belorussian archives. They will explain which records you can expect to find and suggest the best strategy for approaching one’s research. Keep in mind that your Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Polish ancestors may have migrated from Belarus to these other areas or vice versa.  Yuri Dorn is a well-known genealogist, specializing in Jewish genealogy and ancestral tourism to Belarus. In 2002 he founded the Jewish Heritage Research Group, which consists of professional historians, ...

Fragments that Remain: The Search for My Mother's Lost Family

Speaker: Jennie Milne In this presentation, Jennie Milne will describe her extraordinary journey to understand her mother’s mysterious background. Elizabeth Lis, Jennie's mother, was born to a Polish woman in London in 1943 and placed in a wartime babies' home in Devon, England. Elizabeth's mother, known only by the name on her daughter’s birth certificate as ‘Ellen Lis,’ did not return to collect her baby after the war ended as she had promised, and Elizabeth was subsequently raised by the matron of the Home and her surname changed. Elizabeth’s father was a highly decorated Polish Officer under British command. Ellen had also ...

Virtual Visit to ANU Museum of the Jewish People

Members-only Zoom visit to the newly opened ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. Founded 42 years ago as the Museum of the Diaspora Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum has been transformed and has tripled its space, making it the largest Jewish museum in the world.  During this virtual tour, a senior educator at the Museum will tell us about its new Core Exhibition, which explores the unique and ongoing story of the Jewish people. We will visit Synagogue Hall and the exhibition Hallelujah! Assemble, Pray, Study — Synagogues Past and Present, which portrays the diverse expression of global Jewish life related to the synagogue. ...

Researching US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Records

Speaker: Marian Smith Marian Smith will present an overview of three historical eras (1820-Present) of US immigration and naturalization records, illustrated with documents of Jewish immigrants. Using a timeline tool (included in the handout), she will demonstrate how plotting an immigrant’s life events can identify what records may exist for that particular immigrant and where these records can be found. A question and answer session will follow the presentation. Marian Smith retired in 2018 after thirty years as an Historian for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), later US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). She now speaks to groups on US immigration and ...

Scandals, Shandehs, and Lies: The Stories Families Don't Tell

Speaker: Renee Steinig In the course of decades of genealogical research for family, friends, clients, and, occasionally, complete strangers, Renee Steinig has uncovered many a "skeleton in the closet" — cases of mental illness, illegitimate birth, infidelity, abandonment, and even murder, all hushed up for decades. A Viennese refugee whose baby was born in a New York State psychiatric hospital; a suburban businessman who led two lives; a Romanian immigrant hanged — or so his family thought — for "stealing horses;" a Jewish GI's love affair in Belgium during World War II; a young woman who married, had a baby, then ...

Here Comes The 1950 U.S. Census! What To Expect

Speaker: Joel Weintraub  The U.S. 1950 census will become public on April 1, 2022.  Joel will prepare us for its debut by covering what is a census, who uses the census, census caveats, how the 1950 census was taken, training of enumerators, enumerator instruction manuals, census sampling, 1950 population and housing forms, census questions, post enumeration codes, 1950 undercount, and a summary of the results.  Joel will conclude with a discussion on his and Steve Morse’s 1950 census locational tools, online right now at the stevemorse.org website.  Those 1950 utilities took almost 8 years to produce with the help of under ...

Getting Your ACGT Together: Organizational Strategies for DNA Analysis

Speaker: Paul Woodbury This webinar is a joint program of the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York and the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society DNA test results are constantly changing, so trying to organize them can feel like aiming for a moving target. In this webinar, learn to organize your results around clear research objectives in order to isolate, prioritize, analyze, and correlate the genetic data most pertinent to your research. This webinar is open to the public during the live session. It will be recorded for NYG&B member access and audio will be accessible to JGSNY members on their website. A handout ...

Lucille Gudis Memorial Lecture: No Language Barrier: Immigrant Clues in Photographs

Speaker: Maureen Taylor With the sponsorship of the Lucille Gudis Memorial Fund for Jewish Genealogy, the JGSNY is planning an online afternoon program dedicated to examining and researching our family photographs. Maureen Taylor, photo specialist, will present the Gudis Memorial Lecture, No Language Barrier: Immigrant Clues in Photographs, to be followed by a Photo Detective Roadshow, for members only. In her lecture, using numerous examples, Maureen will explain how to read the visual evidence found in family photographs taken in the United States and abroad. Dive into ways to solve your immigrant photo mysteries by looking at case studies, using online and offline ...

Lucille Gudis Memorial Photo Roadshow

Speaker: Maureen Taylor With the sponsorship of the Lucille Gudis Memorial Fund for Jewish Genealogy, the JGSNY is planning an online afternoon program dedicated to examining and researching our family photographs. Maureen Taylor, photo specialist, will present a Photo Detective Roadshow for JGSNY members, preceded by the Gudis Memorial Lecture, No Language Barrier: Immigrant Clues in Photographs, also underwritten by the Gudis Memorial Fund. JGSNY members planning to attend the Roadshow will have the opportunity to submit photos in advance with their specific questions. Maureen will respond to a selection from among those for analysis and discussion. We will request a modest donation ...