Program Description: Have you been confused by your ancestors’ vital records?  Many birth records show the person as illegitimate, missing a surname, having a hyphenated surname, not matching their parents or siblings, or having married via a "ritual Marriage."  Janette Silverman explains some of the punitive family laws in the old Austrian Empire that led to these curiosities, how Jewish communities worked … Continue reading Janette Silverman – Illegitimacy in the Jewish Communities of Galicia →

Program Description:Did you know that the Allen County Public library has the second largest genealogical library collection in the United States and that much of its holdings can be accessed online? That’s why the 2025 IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) conference will be in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Curt Witcher, the Manager of the … Continue reading Curt Witcher – What the Fort Wayne, Indiana Genealogy Center Can Offer the Jewish Genealogist →

*Speaker will present in person. You may attend in person or on Zoom. This program will be recorded and available in the member portal. Program Description:What does Carol Clingan’s groundbreaking spreadsheet of historical details on 574 Massachusetts synagogues look like when it is turned into an interactive map? See what resulted when the JGSGB board asked a member with … Continue reading Gilda Bruckman, Carol Clingan, Ian Spangler – Mapping Massachusetts’ Synagogues: What a New Historical Map Reveals About Jewish Life in MA Since 1840 →

Plenty of convenient parking! *Speaker will present in person. You may attend in person or on Zoom.   This program will be recorded and available on the members' page. Program Description: From the late 1800s through the 1920s, the United States saw a huge influx of Jewish immigrants as they fled the difficult constraints placed … Continue reading Susan Weinberg – The Baron de Hirsch Fund: Shaping the Jewish Immigrant Experience →

Due to our speaker's illness with laryngitis,today's program is CANCELLED. He sends his apologies and we wish hima speedy recovery. This program will be rescheduled. This program will be recorded and there's no handout. Program Description: Join author Jordan Salama as he discusses his new book Stranger in the Desert: A Family Story, an intergenerational … Continue reading Jordan Salama – Stranger in the Desert: Rediscovering and Reimagining a Family Story →

Rescheduled from June 8 This program will be recorded and there's no handout. Program Description: Join author Jordan Salama as he discusses his new book Stranger in the Desert: A Family Story, an intergenerational story about his search across Argentina for traces of his great-grandfather, a Syrian Jewish traveling salesman in the Andes. Salama used … Continue reading Jordan Salama – Stranger in the Desert: Rediscovering and Reimagining a Family Story →

These programs will be recorded and available on the member's page. Today's programs and discussions are focused on The Emigrant Experience from Europe. Please bring something you have from your original immigrant ancestors--an object, a document, a photo, or even just a memory to share. We'll have a display table for items. If appropriate, bring … Continue reading Greet Voorhoof – One Dream, Millions of Stories: In the Footsteps of Emigrants Searching for a New Life. The Red Star Line Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
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Spotlight Talk – The Jewish Migration Project of Northeastern University →

Our library will be available for your research before and after the programs. *Speaker will present in person. You may attend in person or on Zoom.Try to attend in person for a more interactive experience. Is it the journey or the destination? Many enjoy the process and camaraderie that comes along with the act of … Continue reading Ellen Kowitt – End Game Genealogy
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Spotlight Talk – Shul Records America →