Problem-solve with others who can help show you the way. Learn how to get started or get over that “brick wall” in your family research. Members will be able to consult with those more experienced for help with their family research. You can bring your own laptops for online research. Roundtables will be dedicated to … Continue reading Annual Help Day: Research and Translation Assistance →

Jessica Antoline will briefly recount the story of the migration of Lithuanian Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries and review the circumstances that prompted them to leave the land where they had lived for so many years and travel thousands of miles to new lands. Why did so many settle in Boston and its surrounding … Continue reading Jessica Antoline – Immigration from Lithuania →

Fay Bussgang More American Jews have roots in Poland than in any other country. Poland kept very good track of its citizens through metrical records (birth, marriage, and death), Population Registers, and other documents. While many of these records were destroyed during the war, a surprising number has survived and can be found in Polish … Continue reading Fay Bussgang – Finding Your Ancestors in Polish Records →

Boston’s South End was home to an early Jewish community between the 1840s and the 1920s. Our tour leader, Robin Dexter, will take us to some formerly Jewish and now historic sites and will discuss the history of the South End. Several of the early synagogue buildings still stand, though their uses have changed. Cost … Continue reading Walking Tour of Boston’s Old Jewish South End →

Landsmanshaftn, mutual aid associations made up of immigrants from the same Eastern European town, were an important form of organization among turn-of-the-twentieth-century Jewish immigrants in the United States. At one time, thousands of landsmanshaftn provided their hundreds of thousands of members with health and death benefits, loans, and help in securing jobs and housing. They … Continue reading Daniel Soyer – Landsmanshaftn: Jewish Hometown Societies in the New World →

Boston’s eastern European Jewish immigrants of over a century ago lived in Boston’s North End—home of Colonial founders and Revolutionary War heroes, Boston’s Irish immigrants, and the southern Italians with whom they shared these historic, scenic streets. Come walk in their footsteps and visit sites that tie Paul Revere, Harvard ministers, small synagogues, grand churches, … Continue reading Walking Tour of Boston’s Old Jewish North End →

Historian Zack Wilske of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will present a variety of historical federal immigration and naturalization records available from the USCIS Genealogy Program and the National Archives. Topics will include naturalization records, alien registration records, immigrant visa files, and other records documenting lives of Jewish immigrants during the first half … Continue reading Zack Wilske – Beyond Passenger Lists: Documenting 20th Century Immigrant Lives →

New to genealogy and short on time?  You can make amazing discoveries using online resources!  These true research examples, all taken from Jewish immigrant families, demonstrate the breadth of materials available, especially Jewish-focused web sites, and suggest next steps for when you have time to go deeper.  A number of Jewish-specific research techniques will be … Continue reading Tammy Hepps – Ten Things I Learned about My Family from My Couch →

Examine our extensive research collection of books and maps. Consult experienced researchers for help with your research questions. For JGSGB members only. During months when the JGSGB is not holding its regular meetings at Temple Emanuel, where our extensive collection of books and maps is stored, we will offer special, member-only sessions called Research Sundays. … Continue reading New: Research Sundays →

What's in a Name? Trouble! 11:00am - 12:30pm Ron Arons will discuss some of the research he did on his great-grandfather, Isaac Spier, who served time in Sing Sing Prison for bigamy and who committed other crimes. Through the years, Ron has come across records of other people with the same name who were born … Continue reading Ron Arons – What’s in a Name? Trouble! and Nifty Technologies for Genealogical Research Analysis →

Join Sharon Pucker Rivo, Executive Director of The National Center for Jewish Film, for a peek into the archive vaults. Attendees will view clips of rare films from the Center’s collections that document the diversity and vibrancy of Jewish life in Eastern and Central Europe between the Wars.   Sharon Pucker Rivo, Executive Director and … Continue reading Sharon Pucker Rivo – Jews in Focus: Film Clips from Eastern and Central Europe between the Wars →