Catch me (and others) if you can!

I will be participating (virtually) in two regional genealogy conferences in the next two weeks. I am also preparing for  the week-long Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy to be held (so far planned for in-person) in January 2022.

New York State Family History Conference

Friday, Sept. 10; Saturday, Sept. 25; plus pre-recorded sessions

This conference offers 27 live and recorded sessions relevant to those with interests in New York State genealogy and beyond. It includes a star-studded line-up of genealogy speakers including: Judy G. Russell, Jill Morelli, Daniel Horowitz, Karen Mauer Jones, D. Joshua Taylor, Crista Cowan, and, yours truly.

The Plenary session was offered live on September 1st by author Russell Shorto. He presented, "The Truth About Family History." I found his talk inspiring. If you missed it, you will be able to listen to the recorded version, already online.

Five presentations each day will be available live (and later recorded) on Friday, September 10th and Saturday, September 25th. The September 25th sessions will also be repeated the following day.

In addition, 16 pre-recorded sessions will be offered on-demand. These sessions are available September 1 through October 18 for unlimited viewing. My talk, "Six Elements of Success for Beginning Ashkenazic Genetic Genealogists," is among the offerings. 

Recordings of both live and on-demand sessions will be available for viewing through October 18, 2021 

 

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/nysfhc-registration#schedule

UGA Summit of Excellence

This Utah Genealogical Association conference will be held virtually via Zoom, Wednesday through Saturday, September 15-18, 2021. Although Yom Kippur falls in the middle of the conference, recordings of all presentations will be available through December 31, 2021. Registration remains open until Sunday, September 12th. Both single day and full conference registration is available.

In addition to a keynote presentation by D. Joshua Taylor, you will be able to hear Crista Cowan, Judy G. Russell, Rev. David McDonald, Rich Venezia, Richard G. Sayer, Peggy Lauritzen, Angela Packer McGhie, Paul Woodbury, Mary Kircher Roddy, LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, yours truly, and others.

My presentation,"It's What They Answered To: Learning Our Ashkenazic Ancestors' Names," will be offered Friday, September 17th at 10 A.M. (MDT). 

https://registration.ugagenealogy.org/ 

Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2022

January 9-14, 2022

SLIG will offer eleven intermediate to advanced courses on focused genealogy research topics. I am pleased to share that I will be coordinating a course called "Back to the Old Country: Genealogy of Ashkenazic Jews of Galicia and the Russian Empire." The teaching cadre for this course is outstanding: Dr. Janette Silverman, Lara Diamond, Marian L. Smith (and me).

The course is geared to those who have already done some genealogy research but who want to expand their understanding of Ashkenazic Jewish research and historical context. 

Registration is now open. See: https://slig.ugagenealogy.org/cpage.php?pt=627 

I'm going virtual at NGS 2020 On Demand!

This summer I had plans to attend and speak at three genealogy conferences. Instead, I will be attending and presenting at all of them virtually.

The first one up is the National Genealogical Society (NGS), the premiere general genealogical society in the United States. Its planned conference was to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Instead the May 2020 conference is going online. For those of you who have not attended an NGS conference or were not planning to attend this one because of cost in time, flights and/or hotel, this is a great opportunity to access some terrific presentations for a fraction of the usual cost of attending the conference.

Among the speakers will be several well-known to the Jewish genealogical community, including: Janette Silverman, Daniel Horowitz, Crista Cowan, Judy G. Russell, Suzanne Kelting Myers and (yours truly) Emily H. Garber. Please join us for the NGS Virtual Conference.

I will be giving two talks through NGS 2020 On-Demand! 

• "When It Takes a Village: Applying Cluster and Collateral Research Techniques"
• "Conflict Management: Evaluating Evidence of Identity" 

To see synopses of these talks go to the Presentations and Handouts tab, above or to https://extrayad.blogspot.com/p/iajgs.html.

NGS will be offering three packages for the virtual conference with over 85 lectures from which to choose. In addition, conference sponsors are offering more than 10 lectures as a bonus addition to every registration package purchased. You may review the current list of lecture sessions and bonus sponsored lectures at the NGS Conference website.

NGS’s Virtual Family History Conference features two components included with registration: NGS 2020 Live! and NGS 2020 On-Demand! Registrants will have their choice of selecting from over 85 lecture sessions in the package they purchase. All sessions are available for repeat viewings until 15 May 2021. If you have any concerns about the tech part of joining the virtual event or on-demand lectures, a member of the NGS or Playback Now staff will be available to assist you.

To participate in NGS 2020 Live! register by 15 May 2020.

NGS 2020 Live! on Wednesday, 20 May, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (EDT), kicks off the virtual conference. It features the following lectures by five genealogy rock stars: 

• “Validating Unsourced Online Information,” Thomas Wright Jones, PhD, CG®, FASG, FUGA, FNGS
• “Echoes of the Women Who have Gone Before—Celebrating Women’s Suffrage,” Steffani Raff  
• “Breaker Boys and Spinner Girls: Child Labor Laws and Their Records,” Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL^SM
• “Turning Witnesses into Evidence,” Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA
• “What If? Learning About DNA Through Case Studies,” Blaine Bettinger, PhD, JD

NGS 2020 On-Demand! offers you access to more than 85 lecture topics to build your chosen lecture package. Access begins 1 July and includes repeat viewing for your selected sessions until 15 May 2021, as well as for the five-featured lectures from NGS Live! and additional sponsored bonus lectures.
You may register for a number of options.

• The “Full” Package includes registration for the NGS 2020 Live! virtual conference on 20 May; streaming access to your choice of twenty NGS 2020 On-Demand! sessions from 1 July 2020 through 15 May 2021; an electronic copy of the virtual conference syllabus, and sponsored bonus lectures.

• The “Works” Package includes everything in the Full Package with an additional twenty-five NGS 2020 On-Demand! sessions you select, a USB with audio recordings of ALL the recorded sessions (more than 100 hours of audio content). Plus the sponsored bonus lectures.

• NGS 2020 “Light” Package includes registration for the NGS 2020 Live! virtual conference on 20 May; an electronic copy of the virtual conference syllabus; and ten NGS 2020 On-Demand! sessions of your choice.  You also will receive access to the full list of sponsored bonus lectures.

Any package you register for includes repeat viewing of the five-featured lectures from the NGS Live! event at your convenience after 1 July.

For more information about NGS 2020 Live! and NGS 2020 On-Demand! or to register, visit the conference website.

Jewish News (Phoenix, AZ) publishes beginning Jewish genealogy article

Jewish News has posted my recent article. I'm hoping to snag those who are considering genealogical research, but don't know how to get started. The article also lists resources for Jewish genealogy education both in the Phoenix metro area through the Bureau of Jewish Education (two courses by yours truly) and online via JewishGen.

Join me for "The Jewish Connection: Myth or Reality," 12 Nov 2014

I am excited about my next genealogy research public speaking opportunity. I will be speaking at the Mesa FamilySearch Training Center (464 E. 1st Avenue, Mesa, AZ) at 7 P.M. (Arizona time) on Wednesday, 12 November 2014, giving a talk called, "The Jewish Connection: Myth or Reality." This family history  presentation will be geared for those who may not be Jewish, but who believe they might have some Jewish ancestry. 

For me, the exciting part, aside from creating a new presentation and reaching out to a new audience, is that this presentation will be offered simultaneously as a webinar (for those of you who cannot attend in person) and also recorded for later viewing as a webcast.

If you wish to attend in person (I'd like to meet you!), note that the venue (464 E. 1st Avenue, Mesa, AZ) is in a building one block west of the Mesa Arizona FamilySearch Library.

If you wish to watch live, check out this link: http://www.mesarfhc.org/Webinar.html

If you cannot clear your schedule for this event, consider watching later when the recorded presentation is loaded onto the webcast page.

And while you on that page, note that the Mesa FamilySearch Library has been recording knowledgeable genealogists' presentations for a couple of years and has a nice selection available for your learning pleasure.

From Eastern Europe to the United States: Our Wandering Jewish Ancestors

Starting Tuesday afternoon, October 14, 2014, join me for “From Eastern Europe to the United States: Our Wandering Jewish Ancestors,” an Adult Jewish Learning opportunity sponsored by Arizona State University’s Center for Jewish Studies. The course will be held at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ. The six-week course will meet from 1-3 p.m. every Tuesday afternoon from October 14 through November 18.
 

I consider this course Jewish genealogy back-story. The classes provide context to understand our ancestors lives in the Old World: how they survived, why they may have emigrated, and their experiences during immigration to the United States. We’ll also delve into some records that may serve to document one’s ancestors’ lives: why those records were created and whether they may be deemed reliable sources of information about one’s family.

Course enrollment is now open. The course fee is $180, which includes the cost of course materials (i.e., Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy by Dan Rottenberg). Register online. For further information, see http://jewishstudies.clas.asu.edu/adult-ed .

In which I follow the inviting path before me....

I had not really designed a path to the Jewish genealogy lecture circuit, but now seem to be following that yellow brick road. In the beginning of August I gave my first International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Conference presentation in Boston. 

I'd prepared for this over the years, teaching classes on a variety of subjects during my former career in the federal government; making formal presentations to, sometimes, initially-hostile audiences; working with the media and public on wildfire incidents and; more recently, making formal presentations for my local Jewish genealogical society. In addition, over the last few years, I've attended several national-level and more local genealogy conferences, noting similarities and differences - the good, the not so good, and the could-be-better.

Starting next Monday, 14 October 2013, I begin teaching a six-session non-credit adult education course for Arizona State University's Center for Jewish Studies and the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. The course, "From Eastern Europe to the United States - Our Wandering Jewish Ancestors," was initially designed by my genealogy buddy Dr. Janette Silverman, who was to teach the course. She recently moved to greener pastures in New York City and I have been asked to take over. The intent is to emphasize the importance of methodology and context in locating, accessing, evaluating and understanding the genealogical record. In my view it is this context that differentiates Jewish genealogy from genealogy in general. The class is still open for enrollment and will be held Monday afternoon's at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society campus at 122 East Cutler Street, Phoenix.

Mid-November, I'll be flying to California. I have been asked to reprise my IAJGS presentation, "Beyond the Manifest: Methods for Confirming One’s Ancestral Origins " for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles.[1]  I will be updating my presentation and handout and speaking there Monday evening, 18 November 2013.

And then, Wednesday, 8 January 2014, I will speak in Delray Beach, Florida to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County.

I am excited about these opportunities and hope to see some of you along the road.

Notes:
1. I've changed the title of the lecture slightly from the Boston version which was: "Beyond the Manifest: Confirming One's Ancestral Origins Using Alternative Sources." Why is it we always take criticisms much more to heart than kudos? I received several reviews of my Boston talk and they were very complimentary. One, however, mentioned that that the subtitle of the lecture led them to believe that I'd be emphasizing record groups rather than methodology. So, I've changed the title to better reflect the methodological bent.