The Museum of Family History Becomes a Member of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO):
The Museum of Family
History is pleased to
announce that it has
been accepted as a
member of the AHO, i.e.
the Association of
Holocaust Organizations.
The AHO has, as its
members, over two
hundred and eighty
organizations, including
the United States
Holocaust Memorial
Museum and the Museum of
Jewish Heritage. The Museum of Family History's New Blog:
The Museum of Family
History now has a blog.
News about the Museum’s
goings-on, mostly new
and upcoming
exhibitions. One can
easily subscribe to it,
so please consider doing
so. The URL for the
Museum's blog is http://museumoffamilyhistory.blogspot.com. New
exhibitions will be
announced via the
Museum's blog before
they are announced
within this Recent
Updates page. The Museum of Family History in Bialystok:
The Museum of Family
History made a special
appearance in Bialystok,
Poland on September
4, 2009. At this time an
exhibition opened, the
first in a series
entitled "Prominent
Artists--Our Neighbors.
Max Weber." Max Weber
was a well-known Jewish
artist (born in
Bialystok) who studied
under Henris Matisse and
Rousseau, who painted in
a variety of styles, who
at times painted
wonderful works with a
variety Jewish themes,
usually religious.
Currently, the English
version of the Max Weber
exhibition (entitled
"Max Weber: Reflections
of Jewish Memory in
Modern American Art")
can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mweber-01.htm .
The Polish language
version of the
exhibition can be found
at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mweber-01p.htm . Presentation given at the 2009 IAJGS Conference in Philadelphia, PA:
Steven Lasky, Founder
and Director of the
virtual Museum of Family
History, spoke at the
IAJGS (International
Association of Jewish
Genealogical Societies)
conference in
Philadelphia on August
3, 2009. The title of
his presentation was be
"A Day at the Museum:
Navigating the Museum of
Family History." More
can be learned about the
August conference by
visiting www.philly2009.org .
The Museum's Cemetery
Project Good News!
On August 21, 2008,
Steven Lasky, founder of
the Museum of Family
History, was honored
with the "Outstanding
Contribution to Jewish
Genealogy" award by the
International
Association of Jewish
Genealogical Societies.
The award reads:
March 2007: The site was constructed to educate and inform readers about the history of the Jewish people as seen through the eyes of our families, and from the families' sojourn in Eastern Europe through the years in countries which would eventually be their new homes. When we visit his museum, we learn of the collective struggles and the triumphs of the Jewish people, and gain insight and understanding of the world in which they lived. The site strives to be an everlasting tribute to all our families, to their traditions and their way of life. The stories told add greater meaning to historic events that have dominated Jewish history for nearly two hundred years. There are many facets to the site. The “Postcards from Home” exhibit includes photographs and documents contributed by Steve’s own family and others with a keen interest in this worthwhile project. Our family history, according to Steve, is sacred and he encourages us to preserve our own cherished family memories for future generations. Storytelling, he says, from grandparents and parents to their children in the time-honored oral tradition, adds to identity and continuity. He hopes to inspire readers to do more to transmit their own family memories to future generations. The Museum of Family History, www.museumoffamilyhistory.com, offers a site map that provides visitors with a useful navigation tool to either browse, or use as an index to find specific material. The site features many exhibitions and topics of interest. Steve has created three Links pages, the largest of which contains more than four hundred hyperlinks to sites of interest for Jewish genealogists, as well as two additional pages for Holocaust-related sites and Yiddish theater and culture. The Education and Research Center provides examples and explains documents available to the Jewish genealogist. Visitors should frequently check the Recent Updates page for a listing of new material and exhibitions. He depends on the Jewish genealogical community to contribute photographs, stories and material to supplement the exhibitions. Check the Opportunities Page under Call Box for specific needs. The matzeva (gravestone) offers important genealogical information for researchers. Steve has photographed more than 85,000 gravestones over a three-year period in the New York metro area, and has created an impressive Cemetery Project with this information. He is always willing to do lookups for researchers and provide photographs of gravestones if he has them. Also available are unique surname lists for cemetery society plots. Researchers can check surnames lists for specific towns and may contact him for more information. His dedication to Jewish genealogy and his desire to make material interesting and accessible inspires genealogists to continue their investigations, while involving individuals more directly in their own family research. Thank you, Steve, for your devotion and determination in creating a useful asset for all genealogists.
Lyn Blyden
I
gave my very first
presentation on behalf
of the Museum of Family
History to my local
Jewish genealogical
society, the Jewish
Genealogy Society of
Long Island (JGSLI),
on 25 Feb 2007. The
meeting was attended by
more than sixty people.
This was my first public
speaking in twenty-five
years and though I was a
bit apprehensive, I
enjoyed it very much! I
would like to thank the
board of JGSLI for
asking me to speak and
also my thanks go to all
those who were nice
enough to attend. I look
forward to my next talk
at the IAJGS
Conference in
Salt Lake City, Utah
15-20 Jul 2007.
The Museum News
continues:
Please visit the first
exhibition of the
"Family History Theater"
entitled "Family Life
During the Great
Depression," and listen
to a few recall these
difficult times. Also,
please visit the current
exhibitions "A
Photographer's Life,"
"Windows in Time,"
(wonderful photographs
taken by Henry Nathanson
during his tour of 1913
Europe and the Middle
East), and the newest
ones, "Holocaust
Memorials in Canada" and
"The Life of Nina
Finkelstein:
Recollections of a
Friend," which talks of
the early life and
survival of Nina
Finkelstein during World
War II in the Kovno
Ghetto. A new exhibition
is now online that deal
with the early history
of photography and the
photographic studios in
Eastern Europe. January 2008: The Museum of Family History has been mentioned and linked to on a webpage for the recent PBS (Public Broadcasting System) documentary "The Jewish Americans." You can find the link here .
A
talk about the Museum of
Family History was given
by Sandra Greenberg to
her local Jewish
genealogical society, The
Jewish Genealogical
Society of Colorado |