Who is Pnina Gutman? Using DNA and Documents to Search for a Holocaust Survivor's Identity Pnina Gutman is a 77-year-old great-grandmother living in Israel. In 1942, as an infant, she was smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She has lived her life without knowing her birth identity. Colleen Fitzpatrick tells the story of Pnina's search for who she was at birth through documentation and DNA analysis. Several cousins and other relatives have been discovered, but Pnina’s birth name remains unknown.…

The Heidi Urich Annual Lecture on Jewish Genealogy cosponsored by JGSGB and Hebrew College The discovery of diamond deposits in South Africa in 1869 led to intensified extraction, manufacturing and consumption of diamonds in a growing global network.  Jews played a crucial role throughout the process of extracting the rough stones from South African soil, manufacturing in European factories, and distributing gems and jewelry across the Atlantic.  They were not just intermediaries but pioneers and central agents of early globalization. Saskia Coenen Snyder is…

A visit to an abandoned Polish Jewish cemetery in 1993 launched Dan Oren on a 20-year search to solve the mystery of “Who is Buried in Sarah’s Tomb?” A visit with a cousin unearths a breathtaking photo of a Berlin family wedding from 1926 and leads to discovering their unimaginable post-wedding history. In this talk, Dr. Dan Oren will share these stories and others along with the research strategies he used to unearth and untangle genealogical puzzles. Dr. Dan Oren…

The religious life of immigrant American Jews at the turn of the 20th century was in part transplanted from Eastern Europe, while some fascinating new religious phenomena emerged in the American context. Dr. Dan Judson describes trends such as “mushroom synagogues” popping up for the High Holidays, the “chazan craze” in which some cantors attracted top entertainment salaries, and the spin-off congregations from Stephen Wise’s “free synagogue”. This lecture will describe all of these trends and place the religious life…

(Feldberg Meeting Room, lower level) Research Sundays are an opportunity to: Get help with using your genealogy software Consult experienced researchers for help with your research questions in 30-minute scheduled appointments Work with a strategist to plan your next steps Get translation help with documents written in various foreign languages in 20-minute scheduled appointments Learn how to read your DNA results or decide if DNA testing is for you Examine our extensive research collection of books and maps on your…

Exciting change and movement is happening at JewishGen.org. During this talk you will find out first-hand about significant new technology and features that will help you in your research, major impacts that JewishGen has had upon the broader Jewish community, and recent developments within the leadership team. Avraham Groll is the Director of JewishGen.org. He is passionate about connecting people with their Jewish roots and helping them experience what it means to be part of the Jewish people. He is…

What was life like in the old country? Through the eyes of Lisa Cooper’s grandmother Pearl, we experience family life in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the context of pogroms, World War I, the Russian Revolution, and civil war. Pearl's son recorded his mother's memories, which give a lively sense of life and culture in the Pale of our ancestors. Lisa Cooper is a British writer, journalist and artist. While spending a year…

YIVO’s collections include more than 2.5 million documents and 12,000 books that were long thought to be lost and represent over 500 years of Jewish history in Eastern Europe.  The landmark Edward Blank YIVO Vilna project will preserve and digitize these materials, making them available to researchers.  Dr. Jonathan Brent’s talk describes the project and the political and social roles these records play in contemporary Lithuanian society and 21stcentury Jewish identity. Jonathan Brent Dr. Jonathan Brent is the Executive Director…

(Feldberg Meeting Room, lower level) Research Sundays are an opportunity to: Get help with using your genealogy software Consult experienced researchers for help with your research questions in 30-minute scheduled appointments Work with a strategist to plan your next steps Get translation help with documents written in various foreign languages in 20-minute scheduled appointments Learn how to read your DNA results or decide if DNA testing is for you Examine our extensive research collection of books and maps on your…

Want to access Massachusetts vital or probate records but feel overwhelmed by the idea?  Meredith Hoffman will present a step-by-step photo tour showing how to access these records at the Massachusetts Archives, the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, and the Suffolk Probate and Family Court.  You’ll learn that there’s nothing intimidating about making the best use of these essential local resources (You might then try accessing such records in other states.) Longtime JGSGB board member Meredith Hoffman is…