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…

Sponsored by Temple Emanuel and JGSGB Schelly Talalay Dardashti digs deeply into Sephardic Jewish history in discussing the post-1391 and post-1492 migrations from Spain and Portugal into the Balkans, North Africa, and the New World. She also addresses Sephardic DNA project results and genetic medical conditions (including BRCA1). A journalist and genealogist, Schelly has written widely on Sephardic Jewish genealogy. She founded the enormously popular and helpful Facebook group “Tracing the Tribe” and has spoken at many conferences on Jewish…

(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…