The Museum of Family History
HONORING AND PRESERVING THE MEMORY OF OUR ANCESTORS
FOR THE PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

HOME          SITE MAP          ABOUT THE MUSEUM          FEEDBACK          OPPORTUNITIES          LINKS


 

    "What's New?"
    RECENT UPDATES

 


 JANUARY 2009

 

THE CEMETERY PROJECT:
--A searchable cemetery database of approximately 64,000 burials is now available for Riverside Cemetery (located in Saddle Brook, New Jersey). The link is www.riversidecemetery.org . Just click on the "Genealogy Search" in the column on the left side of the page. Here you can search by name, though the only data you'll receive during your search is the date of death. However, the burial locator record will enable you to contact the cemetery for more information.


HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOKS:
--Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn, NY: Data entered for June 1939 class; pages to be scanned and added to database soon.
 

SYNAGOGUES OF EUROPE: PAST AND PRESENT:
--Switzerland: Endingen
and Lengnau.
 

TOWNSITES:
--Belarus: Vitebsk.
--Poland: Bodzentyn.
 

WORLD JEWISH COMMUNITIES: new!
--Poland: Ozarow.
--Ukraine: Czernowitz.

** The Museum of Family History cordially invites all those who are interested in preserving the heritage of their ancestral homes to join its group of World Jewish Communities.

Through a combination of sight, sound and story--"Communities" will honor the history of our Jewish families--by telling how they lived their precious lives in the many towns and cities in which they once lived.

The Museum offers all creative souls the opportunity to construct an exhibition--or to have an exhibition created for them--that reflects the communal lives and traditions of our Jewish ancestors who once lived in pre-war Europe and elsewhere in the world.

As this is an exhibition that includes both sight and sound, it is required that the submitter possess a degree of both audio and video in a proper form that can be included within this exhibition.

The links to the above WJC exhibitions can be found under "Exhibitions" on the Museum's Site Map page. Please contact the museum for further information at postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com.


 FEB 2009

Please use the 2008 Updates archives link above to read about any late January additions to the Museum.
The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.
 

EXHIBITIONS:
--Living in America: The Jewish Experience - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
A very good accounting of what Jewish life was like in the early and mid-twentieth century Philadelphia as told by Jack Segal, son of David and Eva Segal. Find link in Site Map under "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."  Recommended reading!

--The Jews of Latvia:
The history of the Jews of Latvia is portrayed quite well by Max Kaufmann, a survivor and the author of this detailed and important manuscript, written in 1947, so soon after the war, and recently translated into English.
More excerpts of the book will follow.
Currently on view:
1. The History of the Jewish Kibbutz (Community) in Latvia;
2. War (1941-1945): The Germans March into Riga;
3. Professor Simon Dubnow and his Final Journey.

 

LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:
--High School Databases: The browsable, searchable database for Brooklyn, New York's Thomas Jefferson High School has now been updated to include data and photos from seventeen yearbooks, with more on the way. Expect twenty more to be added within the next month or two. The following yearbooks are now ready for viewing:
Jan 1927, Jun 1927, Jan 1928, Jan 1929, Jun 1930, Jan 1931, Jun 1931, Jun 1932, Jan 1933, Jun 1934, Jan 1935, Jan 1936, Jan 1938, Jan 1939, Jun 1939, Jan 1940, Jun 1940, Jan 1941, Jun 1941, Jun 1942, Jan 1943, Jun 1943, Jan 1944, Jun 1944, Jan 1945, Jun 1945, Jun 1946, Jan 1947, Jan 1948, Jun 1948, Jan 1949, and Jun 1949.

Some of the searchable data is not yet online for the latter yearbooks, but you can still browse each of them from front to back.
 

SCREENING ROOM:
--"The Tree of Life":
A woman from Los Angeles tries to come to terms with her father's death by traveling to Italy, the land of his birth, to trace the roots of his family tree.

With the help of her feisty 82 year old aunt, her father’s sister,  she travels relentlessly from city to city, digging through ancient manuscripts and interviewing a wide range of quirky scholars, to piece together the fascinating story of her Italian Jewish ancestors.

As the woman continues her journey, her aunt begins to come to terms with her own past, and plans a journey to find and thank the family who hid her and the woman's father during WWII.
 
Using both Monty Python-style animation and computer enhanced marionettes, the film tells the story of Jewish money lenders, mystics, scientists and politicians, while reflecting on how our parents and their roots affect our sense of belonging, identity, and self worth.
 

TOWNSITES:
--
Goniądz and Żuromin, Poland.
--Ilintsi, Ukraine.
 

 MAR 2009

Please use the 2009 Updates archives link above to read about any late February additions to the Museum.

The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.

Steven Lasky, Founder and Director of the virtual Museum of Family History, will be speaking at the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Philadelphia Aug. 2-7, 2009. The title of his presentation will be "A Day at the Museum: Navigating the Museum of Family History." More can be learned of the conference by visiting www.iajgs.org .

 

EXHIBITIONS:

--The Jews of Latvia:

The history of the Jews of Latvia is portrayed quite well by Max Kaufmann, a survivor and the author of this detailed and important manuscript, written in 1947, so soon after the war, and recently translated into English.
More excerpts of the book will follow.
Currently on view:
Preface new!
1. The History of the Jewish Kibbutz (Community) in Latvia;
2. War (1941-1945): The Germans March into Riga;

6. Professor Simon Dubnow and his Final Journey.

7. A list of surnames that appear in the book has been created. See the Table of Contents page for the link to this alphabetized list. new!

8. Wall of Remembrance --honoring those of our Latvian family members who died or were killed during the second World War. new!
 


LINKS:
--Death and Burial Index for Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

--Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires.

 

LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:
--High School Databases: The browsable, searchable database for Brooklyn, New York's Thomas Jefferson High School has now been updated to include data and photos from thirty-two yearbooks, with more on the way. Expect twenty more to be added within the next month or two, mostly covering the graduating classes of the 1950s. The following yearbooks are now ready for viewing:

January 1927-29, 1931 (data, no photos), 1933, 1935-36, 1938-41, 1943-45, 1947-50, 1952-55, 1957-60.
June 1927, 1930-2, 1934, 1939-46, 1948-60.

Data that can be searched is only available through 1949, as volunteers are needed for simple data entry for these books. Please volunteer....


POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Hungary: Budapest.
--Poland: Bialystok and Ilza.
--Russia: Pskov.
--Ukraine: Czernowitz, Dniepropetrovsk.


SCREENING ROOM:
--Horodok: A Shtetl's Story 1920-1945.


TOWNSITES:
--Hungary: Bodrogkeresztur.
--Ukraine: Voynilov.


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Belarus: Bogdanovka.
--Israel: Sarnaki
memorial at Holon Cemetery.
--Lithuania: Kupiskis and Rokiskis.


THE YIDDISH WORLD:
--Lives in the Yiddish Theatre: Morris Axelrad, Yiddish Actor.
--Placards of the Yiddish Theatre.
 

APR 2009

Please use the 2009 Updates archives link above to read about any late March additions to the Museum.

The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.

Steven Lasky, Founder and Director of the virtual Museum of Family History, will be speaking at the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Philadelphia Aug. 2-7, 2009. The title of his presentation will be "A Day at the Museum: Navigating the Museum of Family History." More can be learned of the conference by visiting www.iajgs.org .

The Museum website has been redesigned, especially around its main pages. Please begin your review of the redesign by visiting the site's front page at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com .

 

EXHIBITIONS:

--The Jews of Latvia (French version):

The history of the Jews of Latvia is portrayed quite well by Max Kaufmann, a survivor and the author of this detailed and important manuscript, written in 1947, so soon after the war. The Museum of Family History exclusively presents to those of you who prefer to read the Kaufmann excerpts below in French may now do so. One may currently read the excerpts below and others in English by following the links within the exhibition.
More excerpts of the book will follow.

Currently on view:
Preface (French version coming soon)
1. The History of the Jewish Kibbutz (Community) in Latvia;
2. War (1941-1945): The Germans March into Riga;

6. Professor Simon Dubnow and his Final Journey.

 

--The Young Men and Women of our Town/The Jews of Latvia:
  
The second installment within this series involves the young men and women of Riga, Latvia, shown in photographs taken before World War II. This exhibition is linked from the recent "The Jews of Latvia" exhibition.
Here you can see good photographs of both small and large groups of Riga Jewish youth. Perhaps you might be able to identify some of them.
 

 

GREAT ARTISTS SERIES:
--The Immortal Al Jolson: New photos from the Library of Congress of Moshe Reuben Yoelson, the father of Al Jolson; also a photograph of Yoelson's house, as well as the house of Al Jolson, all in Washington, D.C..
 

 

LINKS:
--South Carolina cemetery databases.
 

 

LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:
--High School Databases: The browsable, searchable database for Brooklyn, New York's Thomas Jefferson High School has now been updated to include data and photos from sixty-two yearbooks, with more on the way.
Jefferson had two graduating classes for many years and until 1961 published separate yearbooks for each class. From 1961 on, only one book was published for the combined January and June graduating classes.

 The following yearbooks are now ready for viewing:

January 1927-29, 1931 (data, no photos), 1933, 1935-36, 1938-41, 1943-45, 1947-50, 1952-55, 1957-60.
June 1927, 1930-2, 1934, 1939-46, 1948-60.
1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1974 and 1987.

More yearbooks from Thomas Jefferson High School will be put online later this Spring or Summer.

Volunteers are needed for simple data entry for these books, so please volunteer....
 

POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Germany: Berlin.
--Lithuania: Kirzai.
--Poland: Lodz.
--Slovakia: Ruzomberok
(formerly Rozsahegy, Hungary c. 1900).
--Ukraine: Lviv.


PRESERVING JEWISH HERITAGE:
--Poland: Dobra -- the Place of Remembrance and memorial.


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Europe, Latvia: Gostini (Dankere).
--Europe, Lithuania: Alytus (Olita).
--Europe, Poland: Dobra.
--United States, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs.
 

THE YIDDISH WORLD:
--Greats of the Yiddish Stage:
Imagine you are visiting the Museum's second floor which is dedicated solely to the Yiddish World. On both of the long sides of the main room, there are six gold pillars spread equidistant from each other. On the surface of these pillars you can see life-sized photos of twelve greats of the Yiddish stage. You read the plaque adjacent to each pillar that tells about the person. Where there are orange headphone buttons, you can press it to hear either a narrator or the actor themselves speak. There are, of course, more greats of the Yiddish stage, but they will be featured over time....
--Yiddish Theatre Placards: More placards from Yiddish productions starring Berta Kalich (as "Hamlet"), Boris Thomashefsky, Jacob P. Adler et al.
 

 MAY 2009

 

CEMETERY PROJECT:


--Maps: Beth Israel Cemetery of Quebec.

 


EXHIBITIONS:

--The Jews of Latvia:

The history of the Jews of Latvia is portrayed quite well by Max Kaufmann, a survivor and the author of this detailed and important manuscript, written in 1947, so soon after the war. The Museum of Family History exclusively presents to those of you who prefer to read the Kaufmann excerpts below in French may now do so.
The entire English translation is now available online at the Museum within the "Jews of Latvia" exhibition.

 

--Synagogues of Europe:
--New page: Austria: Now you can see photographs of nearly two dozen photos of mostly former synagogues in today's Austria, most of them from Vienna.
--More photos of Belarus synagogues: Ashmyany, Babruisk, Brzesc nad Bugiem, Gomel, Haradok, Kreva, and Mogilev.
--More photos of synagogues in Germany.

--New page: Spain: Synagogue photos from Madrid and Toledo.
 

 

GREAT ARTISTS SERIES:
--The Immortal Al Jolson: New photos from the Library of Congress of Moshe Reuben Yoelson, the father of Al Jolson; also a photograph of Yoelson's house, as well as the house of Al Jolson, all in Washington, D.C.

 


POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Belarus: Pinsk.
--Lithuania: Alytus (Olite).
--Poland: Lomza.

 


TOWNSITES:
Links to the following ShtetLinks pages have been added:
--Lithuania: Aukstoji Panemune.
--Moldova: Oliscani.
--Poland: Dabrowa Tarnowska.
--Romania: Valea lui Mihai.
--Ukraine: Mizhhirya.
 

 

WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Israel: Jerusalem (Martyr's Forest); Kfar Saba.

 

 

THE YIDDISH WORLD:
--"The Star Spangled Banner" in Yiddish, 1943.

 

 

 JUNE 2009

 

 

EXHIBITIONS:


LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:

--The Russian Jew in the United States (Philadelphia, 1905)-
Here you can read most of this book written more than a century ago, discussing in detail the life of the Jewish immigrant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the turn of the twentieth century. This book paints an interesting picture of the life of Russian immigrants in particular.

Future additions will include similar information about the Jews of New York and Chicago.


--A Short History of Greater Miami's Jewish Community-by Seth Bramson.

 

--Synagogues of Europe:
  --Italy: Turin.
 

 

TOWNSITES:

--Hungary: Hodmezovasarhely, Tiszalok, and Ujfeherto (Ratzfert).
--Slovakia: Michalovce (Nagymihaly).

 

 

MEMORIES OF MY FAMILY:
--Read heartfelt stories from some of those who spent the formative years of their youth in Brooklyn, New York.
First of the "Brooklyn Diaries" have been written by Brooklynite Harvey Sklar, Thomas Jefferson High School, Class of 1955. More to follow.



THE YIDDISH VINKL BOOKSTORE:
--Read excerpts of the book by Ellen Levitt entitled "The Lost Synagogues of Brooklyn." Find the link to the bookstore via the link on the Museum's Site Map page.

 

JULY 2009

Please use the 2009 Updates archives link above to read about any late June additions to the Museum.

The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.

Steven Lasky, Founder and Director of the virtual Museum of Family History, will be speaking at the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Philadelphia Aug. 2-7, 2009. The title of his presentation will be "A Day at the Museum: Navigating the Museum of Family History." More can be learned of the conference by visiting www.iajgs.org .

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:

--Shipping News: When and at What Dock Did my Family Arrive?

Those of us who conduct research about our family's immigration history often find information about their transatlantic voyages by searching databases such as those provided by New York's former Castle Garden and of course Ellis Island. However, the ability to find information about later immigrations, i.e. after they closed Ellis Island, is often elusive.

Most of us assume that during the years the Ellis Island Immigration Center was opened, most every immigrant passed through there to become an immigrant. However, when Ellis Island stopped becoming the center where immigrants entered the U.S. in 1924, where did they enter New York? Generally, they didn't enter through Ellis Island, but disembarked at a pier somewhere in New York, most likely in Manhattan or Brooklyn, or even in New Jersey, e.g. at a Hoboken Pier (across the Hudson River from Manhattan), or at one in Jersey City or Bayonne.

So as researchers who might want information on such immigrations, e.g. during the late 1930s or 1940s, we need to know what resources are available to us. One such resource is the "Shipping News" that was generally published in local newspapers. Some newspapers only list the ships that are arriving that day or the next, as well as those departing. However, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle often published the "shipping news" within their Classified section. See an example of such information here.

--New York City Men Summoned for Examination for the Draft

The registration of twenty-four million men occurred at three different times during the years 1917 and 1918.  On this new web page, you will find a rather large list of many men who had been summoned for an examination for the draft.

The list is organized according to the district each man lived in and also lists his address. This can be of genealogical value. Just click on either of the two photos to see the names of these men who lived in New York City (not including the Bronx), though the names might be too small and fuzzy to read. You can always go to the website found at www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html and conduct a search for yourself.

For example, if you are looking for a man named "Aaron Ness," you can simply do a search as such:
"examination for draft" "ness". You will get nineteen hits, the first of which lists "Ness. Aaron."  His address is listed as "105 Monroe Street."

--High School Databases:

--The searchable database for Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn, New York) has now been updated to include full 1969 yearbook, and includes both the names of the graduates and their graduation portraits. Also new is the list of June 1929 graduates, though graduate photographs are not yet available.
To date, there is data on nearly 46,000 Seniors of seventy-six graduating classes, ranging from 1927 to 1987.
For genealogists, this is a great way of easily searching for a surname of interest--perhaps you are looking for a family that probably settled in and around NYC, but you don't know where they lived? Half the entries on this list include the home addresses of the Seniors as well.


EXHIBITIONS:


LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:

--Jewish Philadelphia:
From the Museum's Education and Research Center, an article written by Shalom Bronstein, reprinted from the Spring 2006 Avotaynu (with permission) entitled "Researching Philadelphia in Israel."


 

--High School Databases: The browsable, searchable database for Brooklyn, New York's Thomas Jefferson High School has now been updated to include data from four more graduating classes:

January 1930 and 1932.
June 1928 and 1933.

These list of graduates come courtesy of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper, though some of these lists seem to be somewhat incomplete. It is hope that the Museum will be able to obtain yearbooks from these as well as other Jefferson classes, and when this happens more yearbooks will be scanned and put online.
The Thomas Jefferson High School project now includes yearbooks and data from seventy-five graduating classes, and includes a searchable database of nearly 45,000 names of graduates.

Volunteers are needed for simple data entry for these books, so please volunteer....

 

 

THE SCREENING ROOM:

 

The twentieth film clip to grace the Museum's Screening Room is from a yet-to-be released film about how the Italian people help save Jews during World War II. The film is by Elizabeth Bettina and is entitled "Italy and the Holocaust: The Hidden Story."

 


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:


--Germany: Hofgeismar.

 

ZIONISM IN EUROPE:

 

--The Political Parties of Zambrów, Poland.

 

AUGUST 2009

Please use the 2009 Updates archives link above to read about any late July additions to the Museum.

The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.

*** 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.

The Museum of Family History will be making a special appearance in Bialystok, Poland beginning September 4, 2009. At this time an exhibition will open, 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 .


EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:

--
Those who appreciate the value of family history and Jewish traditions must always look for new ways to interest our children and grandchildren in these subjects. Please visit “Kiddish Yiddish” a PowerPoint presentation that presents a series of more than two dozen illustrations and rhymes about Jewish traditions and culture. With this book you can read to or with a child, while at the same time finding opportunities to tell a story or two about your own past, e.g. a family gathering at a Passover seder, etc.
The MFH also supplies you with a link to a free PowerPoint Viewer download, just in case you need it. The link to "Kiddish Yiddish" is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/erc-kiddish-yiddish.htm.

--Any good museum will make educational material available for both children and young adults. With that idea in mind, the Museum of Family History has now made available a second way for adults to interact with their children or grandchildren in an educative way.

The Museum has made available a number of "thinking exercises" based on some of its current online exhibitions. Meant for kids, young adults and their families, this educational resource gives families opportunities to learn and share ideas with each other as they look together at one or more photographs presented to them. Some exercises are more simplistic and may good to use with children; others may require more critical thinking and might be better suited to young adults (some may say even older ones).

These "thinking exercises" may be used on their own, or they may be used in conjunction with other materials or exhibitions on the same or similar topic found elsewhere within the Museum. They may also be used as a basis for further discussions or study; how it's implemented will be up to you if you choose to use them.

In these thinking exercises, one has the opportunity to do some creative thinking. Hopefully, the participant(s) in this exercise will find some relevance to their own life as they do these exercises. They may be important in understanding more about the history of their own family and of history in general.

In a similar vein as the Museum's newly featured book and PowerPoint presentation "Kiddish Yiddish" (see previous posting), the "Thinking Exercises" will give adults and opportunity to work closely with their children or grandchildren and it will enable the adult to talk about their life experiences too (or the life experiences of a parent, grandparent or ancestor) as it relates to the specific exercise. Anything to promote intergenerational communication, right?

The main page for this can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/erc-tex-main.htm.

The Museum welcomes anyone to create appropriate "thinking exercises," though they should contact the Museum first at erc@museumoffamilyhistory.com .
 

EXHIBITIONS:
--"Guide to the United States for the Jewish Immigrant"--The Museum has put online on a small book put out by the Immigration Publication Society and translated from a Yiddish edition. It was first published in 1912 and then again in 1916. Many of us have family members who immigrated to the United States around this time, so the Museum decided that it would be useful and educational to present a publication that might have been given away to immigrants when they first arrived in the United States. According to a NY Times Book Review from 1920 this book “is intended to benefit, dealing with the advantages derived from citizenship and the duties devolving upon those on whom it conferred. In this guide a résumé is given of the early history of the United States and the manner in which Independence was obtained. Immigrants are told of the freedom they enjoy in America, where all that is asked of them is obedience to humane laws. There are also many hints on naturalization and the means of obtaining it and a condensed compendium of laws affecting conduct in public, marriage, divorce, desertion, lotteries, &c.” The URL for this exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/gus.htm.

--"Anti-Semitism in Europe: The Pogroms Against the Jews:"-- A pogrom is a riot that is perpetrated against a particular group; the term is used most often when talking about the history of the Jewish people. Pogroms are usually characterized by acts of violence, whether they be killings or other types of assault; also destruction of homes, businesses or synagogues.

Sometimes pogroms happen spontaneously; other times they are planned. What role governments played in pogroms has not always been clear. What is clear, however, is how often these governments did little to prevent or stop such wanton acts.

The Museum of Family History has created a small exhibition that it hopes will evolve and grow over time as more material becomes available. At present, within the aforementioned exhibition, you may read about the pogroms that occurred in Kishinev, Bialystok, Siedlce and Kielce.

The exhibition, "Anti-Semitism in Europe: The Pogroms Against the Jews" can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-pogroms.htm.

--"HIAS: The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society" -- In this exhibition you can read about HIAS cir 1913, its objectives and its accomplishments. You can also read some of the content that appeared in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on December 28, 1913, as it appealed to the public for financial support.

You will also find an example of a HIAS immigration card which was filled out by HIAS officers and the immigrant when they first arrived in the United States. In this page from the Museum of Family History's ERC (Education and Research Center), you can learn what information can be gleaned from such cards.

To access this exhibition, please visit www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-hias.htm and follow the "next" links at the bottom of each web page.


LECTURE SERIES:
--Now online within the Museum's Lecture Series is a talk (really an acceptance speech) given by Lodz native Lilke Majzner (z"l) who was given a Lifetime Yiddish Achievement Award in 2008 by the International Association of Yiddish Clubs.


Lilke was a Holocaust survivor from the ghetto of Lodz, Poland. While living in Los Angeles, California, she gave of herself quite willingly to works that were involved with the preservation of the Yiddish language. She served as the Director of the Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club and was a member of the Board of the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language and Yiddishkayt LA.

On this webpage, you have three choices: First, you can see the entire video of her acceptance speech, though it is all in Yiddish. Also, if you have a slow Internet connection, it might take too long to download. An alternative is to listen to the audio-only presentation of her speech. The third option is to read the English translation of her inspiring speech. Remember that the video will begin to play as soon as you arrive at the page. www.museumoffamilyhistory.com//iayc2008-majzner.htm .
 

LINKS:
--Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna in 1938 (database).


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Greece: Rhodes and Thessaloniki.
--Macedonia: Bitola
.
--Ukraine: Kamen Kashirskiy and Povorsk.
 

SEPTEMBER 2009

Please use the 2009 Updates archives link above to read about any late August additions to the Museum.

The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.

*** 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 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 .
 

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:
--There's a website where you can find lots of information on hundreds of photographic studios that once existed in pre-World War I Europe. To learn more, click here.
 

EXHIBITIONS:
--Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays: A new, forty page exhibition celebrating Jewish tradition. A must see!! www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/jholidays-main.htm .

--Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies: The Museum of Family History invites you to the "opening" of its latest exhibition entitled "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies." It is based on a 1997 book (of the same name) written by Howard V. Epstein, Ph.D. It is an interesting read as we get an intimate look into the lives of Jews who spent part or all of their lives within the small towns (less than 25,000 people) of the United States and Canada.

Epstein writes, "Each individual story reflects the life and times of the author as he or she experienced living as a small-town Jew. For some, this existence could be characterized as 'the best of times,' and for others it was 'the worst of times'.... Perhaps this will have some meaning for succeeding generations. I hope that as these stories are read, they will impart the flavor of a very special segment of the Jewish community of North America."

The book "Jews in Small Towns..." contains one hundred and forty personal experiences; this online exhibition presents to you twenty-nine of them, one from each of the states and provinces represented in this book.
www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-jist.htm .

--Castle Garden and Ellis Island: Ports of Immigration: For those of you who wish to become more knowledgeable about the history of Castle Garden, as well as Ellis Island, this is your chance. If you read through each of the exhibition's pages, you will learn more about Castle Garden including its interesting history (P. T. Barnum brought Jenny Lind to America to perform at Castle Garden in 1850, before Castle Garden became an immigration station).

You can read about the early history of Ellis Island here: the opening of Ellis Island in 1891, the fire that gutted most of the buildings on the Island in 1897, as well as its reopening in 1900. You can also learn a bit about the hospital at Ellis Island as well as the rooftop playground that was created at the immigration station for children to play in beginning in 1904. Also there is an interesting but sad group of stories of immigrants who were rejected and sent back to the port from where they began their trans-Atlantic voyage.

This is an good augmentation of the previous Museum exhibition about Ellis Island, and is filled with interesting articles that were published in such defunct New York City newspapers as the Tribune, the Sun and the World around the turn of the twentieth century.

You can visit the exhibition at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-ellisisland.htm.

--The Emperors and Czars of Europe: Czar Alexander III who ruled over the Empire of Russia from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894 was the second son of Czar Alexander II. As Czar, Alexander III engaged in Anti-Semitic policies, passing his "May laws" in May of 1882. His laws were supposed to be temporary but they lasted several decades. Among the restrictions imposed by these laws was the limitation of where Jews could live within the Pale of Settlement. Because of this, Jews were evicted, compelled to move to designated areas within the Pale or they would be jailed. Alexander III also restricted the occupations that Jews could attain, as well as where they could travel or study.

At the Museum of Family History, within its "Emperors and Czars of Europe" exhibition, you can read an article, or rather a letter written by an unnamed author in May 1891 from St. Petersburg, Russia to the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper. It is worth reading because, rather than giving you a dry historical account of these events during this time that deeply affected the life of the Russian Jew, you can hear someone actually give voice to their plight.

The aforementioned article appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune on May 31, 1891. Nearly seven months later, and article appeared in the same newspaper explaining the plight of the Jews of Russia, that during that year nearly 7,500 Russian refugees were landing at the Port of New York every month, being forced to by conditions imposed upon them to emigrate. The author of this article is trying to raise funds in order to pay for the fares of the "Hebrew immigrants" who arrived in New York.

These articles can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ece-alexander-III.htm. If you follow the "next" link at the end of the text, you can also read about Jewish life in Zambrow, Poland (then part of the Roman Empire) during the reign of the Czar who reigned after Alexander III died, Czar Nicholas II.

--Living in America: The Jewish Experience:

Philanthropy: Jewish Hospitals and Societies Which Cared for the Needy in NYC (1902)--

ABOUT $1,000,000 A YEAR IS EXPENDED BY PHILANTHROPY TO PREVENT THE NEEDY OF THEIR RACE FROM BECOMING PUBLIC CHARGES....AID THOUSANDS OF POOR.

This is the title of the latest article that can be found within the Museum of Family History's "Living in America: The Jewish Experience" wing. The two-page article appeared in the New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement on October 5, 1902 .

In order to understand the Jewish experience in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, it is important to understand the nature of Jewish philanthropy. Philanthropists helped finance many projects and institutions that helped those in need during those trying times, whether they be infants or children, Jewish or not.

In this informative article you will learn about these institutions, some of which only came into existence in the mid to late 1800s.

Some of the institutions discussed in this article are:

Hospitals: Mount Sinai, Lebanon and Beth Israel.

Homes: Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids, Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York, and the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith.

Orphan Asylums: Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society and the Hebrew Infant Asylum.

Other: Educational Alliance, Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, Gemilath Chasodim Association, and the Baron de Hirsch Trade School.

This article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/philanthropy-jewish-01.htm.

--The Yiddish World:

   The Yiddish Theatre of the Bowery:

 Let's take a Museum of Family History trip back in time to the Bowery of 1900.

Of course none of us were alive back then, so if we want to gain a sense of what life was like for the Jewish citizen of lower Manhattan, immigrant or not, we need to look at photographs taken during this time as well as read whatever we can about Jewish life then. This will properly feed our imagination.

One question we might wish to ask ourselves and imagine is how Jewish families spent what leisure time they might have had. It seems that for many, the Yiddish theatre was a welcome respite. Around the turn of the twentieth century, one could say that Boris Thomashefsky was the most well-known actor in the Yiddish theatre. Actresses such as Bertha Kalich also excelled on the Yiddish stage, mostly in New York City.

You might like to visit the Museum's single-page exhibition on this subject which will give you a glimpse into Jewish life at the turn of the twentieth century on the Lower East Side and Bowery, and how our families and our fellow Jews spent some of their leisure time.

This exhibition, entitled "The Yiddish Theatre: Classic and Romantic Drama in East Side Jargon," can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yw-yt-bowery-1900.htm .

If you have more than a fleeting interest in the Yiddish theatre of the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, you should consider visiting the Museum's exhibition about the posters or placards that were once used to advertise Yiddish theatrical productions on the Lower East Side and the Bowery. This exhibition, "Placards of the Yiddish Theatre," can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt-placard-toc.htm .


SCREENING ROOM:
--Klezmer virtuoso Yale Strom organized a gathering of more than one hundred Klezmer musicians one day in October 2007 at Eldridge Street Synagogue in Lower Manhattan. Now you can see a film of the event. Click on the link for film no. 21 within the Museum's Screening Room. www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/screeningroom.htm .

--Film no. 22 is "The Peretzniks (Perecowicze)": The film tells the story of a Jewish school in Lodz, Poland. The school was closed down following the Communist anti-Semitic campaign, which took place in Poland in 1968. As a result of this, the Peretz School graduates are dispersed today between the US, Israel, Sweden, Poland, and other countries. The bittersweet memories of their youth in post-war Poland is what binds the Peretzniks together till this day.


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Lithuania: The cemetery in Panevezys.

--New Jersey: The memorial at Beth Abraham Cemetery in New Brunswick for the towns of Kozienitz and Glowaczow in Poland.

 

OCTOBER 2009

Some of the late September additions remain on the October Updates page.

The Museum and its founder were honored by the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) in Aug 2008 with the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product." You can see the plaque inscription on the Museum News page.

*** 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 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 .
Here is a photograph of the presentation in Bialystok:


 

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:
--There's an important website where you can find lots of information on hundreds of photographic studios that once existed in pre-World War I Europe. To learn more, click here.
 

NEW EXHIBITIONS:

--Paint What You Remember: The Memories of Mayer Kirshenblatt:
Mayer Kirshenblatt left his hometown of Opatów, Poland in 1934 at the age of seventeen for a new life in Canada. With him he not only brought some of his physical possessions, but also a storehouse of memories that he would carry with him bittersweetly for many decades to come. Thanks to his daughter Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and his wife, both of whom urged him to put to canvas what he remembered, Mayer took up painting in 1990, and to date has created more than three hundred paintings, each one a memory of life in a town that once contained thousands of Jews and that he called "home."
Please visit this exhibition of sight and sound at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/kirshenblatt/kirshenblatt.htm .

--The Works of Martin Kieselstein:
Please visit the Museum of Family History's newest online exhibition, entitled "The Works of Martin Kieselstein."
Within this exhibition you will see more than two dozen of his sculptures, just a small sampling of his large body of work. Dr. Kieselstein has been a prodigious artist, creating hundreds of emotive works that represent the tragic events that befell the Jews of his hometown both before and during the Holocaust, e.g. life in the ghetto, the transports and Jewish existence within the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. To do this, Dr. Kieselstein has used a wide variety of materials, such as clay, bronze, wood, stone and glass.You can visit this exhibition using the following link: www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/kieselstein/mk.htm.

--Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays: A new, forty page exhibition celebrating Jewish tradition. A must see!! www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/jholidays-main.htm . Also an extension of this exhibition including paintings, video and sound clips and comments by the artist about Jewish life in the 1920s and 1930s in Opatow, Poland.  Paint What You Remember: Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays in Opatów, Poland

--Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies: The Museum of Family History invites you to the "opening" of its latest exhibition entitled "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies." It is based on a 1997 book (of the same name) written by Howard V. Epstein, Ph.D. It is an interesting read as we get an intimate look into the lives of Jews who spent part or all of their lives within the small towns (less than 25,000 people) of the United States and Canada.

Epstein writes, "Each individual story reflects the life and times of the author as he or she experienced living as a small-town Jew. For some, this existence could be characterized as 'the best of times,' and for others it was 'the worst of times'.... Perhaps this will have some meaning for succeeding generations. I hope that as these stories are read, they will impart the flavor of a very special segment of the Jewish community of North America."

The book "Jews in Small Towns..." contains one hundred and forty personal experiences; this online exhibition presents to you twenty-nine of them, one from each of the states and provinces represented in this book.
www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-jist.htm .

--Castle Garden and Ellis Island: Ports of Immigration: For those of you who wish to become more knowledgeable about the history of Castle Garden, as well as Ellis Island, this is your chance. If you read through each of the exhibition's pages, you will learn more about Castle Garden including its interesting history (P. T. Barnum brought Jenny Lind to America to perform at Castle Garden in 1850, before Castle Garden became an immigration station).

You can read about the early history of Ellis Island here: the opening of Ellis Island in 1891, the fire that gutted most of the buildings on the Island in 1897, as well as its reopening in 1900. You can also learn a bit about the hospital at Ellis Island as well as the rooftop playground that was created at the immigration station for children to play in beginning in 1904. Also there is an interesting but sad group of stories of immigrants who were rejected and sent back to the port from where they began their trans-Atlantic voyage.

This is an good augmentation of the previous Museum exhibition about Ellis Island, and is filled with interesting articles that were published in such defunct New York City newspapers as the Tribune, the Sun and the World around the turn of the twentieth century.

You can visit the exhibition at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-ellisisland.htm.

--The Emperors and Czars of Europe: Czar Alexander III who ruled over the Empire of Russia from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894 was the second son of Czar Alexander II. As Czar, Alexander III engaged in Anti-Semitic policies, passing his "May laws" in May of 1882. His laws were supposed to be temporary but they lasted several decades. Among the restrictions imposed by these laws was the limitation of where Jews could live within the Pale of Settlement. Because of this, Jews were evicted, compelled to move to designated areas within the Pale or they would be jailed. Alexander III also restricted the occupations that Jews could attain, as well as where they could travel or study.

At the Museum of Family History, within its "Emperors and Czars of Europe" exhibition, you can read an article, or rather a letter written by an unnamed author in May 1891 from St. Petersburg, Russia to the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper. It is worth reading because, rather than giving you a dry historical account of these events during this time that deeply affected the life of the Russian Jew, you can hear someone actually give voice to their plight.

The aforementioned article appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune on May 31, 1891. Nearly seven months later, and article appeared in the same newspaper explaining the plight of the Jews of Russia, that during that year nearly 7,500 Russian refugees were landing at the Port of New York every month, being forced to by conditions imposed upon them to emigrate. The author of this article is trying to raise funds in order to pay for the fares of the "Hebrew immigrants" who arrived in New York.

These articles can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ece-alexander-III.htm. In addition, there is an editorial about the plight of the Russian Jews on the following page.

If you follow the "next" link at the end of the text, you can also read about Jewish life in Zambrow, Poland (then part of the Roman Empire) during the reign of the Czar who reigned after Alexander III died, Czar Nicholas II.

--Living in America: The Jewish Experience:

Philanthropy: Jewish Hospitals and Societies Which Cared for the Needy in NYC (1902)--

ABOUT $1,000,000 A YEAR IS EXPENDED BY PHILANTHROPY TO PREVENT THE NEEDY OF THEIR RACE FROM BECOMING PUBLIC CHARGES....AID THOUSANDS OF POOR.

This is the title of the latest article that can be found within the Museum of Family History's "Living in America: The Jewish Experience" wing. The two-page article appeared in the New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement on October 5, 1902 .

In order to understand the Jewish experience in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, it is important to understand the nature of Jewish philanthropy. Philanthropists helped finance many projects and institutions that helped those in need during those trying times, whether they be infants or children, Jewish or not.

In this informative article you will learn about these institutions, some of which only came into existence in the mid to late 1800s.

Some of the institutions discussed in this article are:

Hospitals: Mount Sinai, Lebanon and Beth Israel.

Homes: Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids, Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York, and the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith.

Orphan Asylums: Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society and the Hebrew Infant Asylum.

Other: Educational Alliance, Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, Gemilath Chasodim Association, and the Baron de Hirsch Trade School.

This article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/philanthropy-jewish-01.htm.

--The Yiddish World:

   The Yiddish Theatre of the Bowery:

 Let's take a Museum of Family History trip back in time to the Bowery of 1900.

Of course none of us were alive back then, so if we want to gain a sense of what life was like for the Jewish citizen of lower Manhattan, immigrant or not, we need to look at photographs taken during this time as well as read whatever we can about Jewish life then. This will properly feed our imagination.

One question we might wish to ask ourselves and imagine is how Jewish families spent what leisure time they might have had. It seems that for many, the Yiddish theatre was a welcome respite. Around the turn of the twentieth century, one could say that Boris Thomashefsky was the most well-known actor in the Yiddish theatre. Actresses such as Bertha Kalich also excelled on the Yiddish stage, mostly in New York City.

You might like to visit the Museum's single-page exhibition on this subject which will give you a glimpse into Jewish life at the turn of the twentieth century on the Lower East Side and Bowery, and how our families and our fellow Jews spent some of their leisure time.

This exhibition, entitled "The Yiddish Theatre: Classic and Romantic Drama in East Side Jargon," can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yw-yt-bowery-1900.htm .

If you have more than a fleeting interest in the Yiddish theatre of the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, you should consider visiting the Museum's exhibition about the posters or placards that were once used to advertise Yiddish theatrical productions on the Lower East Side and the Bowery. This exhibition, "Placards of the Yiddish Theatre," can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt-placard-toc.htm .
 

POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Azerbaijan-- A web page has been created for Jewish family photos from Azerbaijan. This is the twentieth country in Europe represented.
--Poland: Kosow Lacki.
--Ukraine-- Dnipropetrovsk (formerly Ekaterinoslav), Snyatyn (then Sniatyn, Poland), Vizhnitsa.


SCREENING ROOM:
--Film no. 22 is "The Peretzniks (Perecowicze)": The film tells the story of a Jewish school in Lodz, Poland. The school was closed down following the Communist anti-Semitic campaign, which took place in Poland in 1968. As a result of this, the Peretz School graduates are dispersed today between the US, Israel, Sweden, Poland, and other countries. The bittersweet memories of their youth in post-war Poland is what binds the Peretzniks together till this day.
--"Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg": A film by Aviva Kempner whose credits include "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" and "Partisans of Vilna."
Gertrude Berg became a cultural icon against the backdrop of the twentieth century’s most difficult years for American Jews.  Berg’s radio show, The Goldbergs, which she created, wrote, and starred in, premiered a week after the stock market crash of 1929.  The show rose in popularity at the same time Hitler rose to power in Germany.  She combined social commentary, family values and comedy to win the hearts of America.  In 1949, she brought The Goldbergs to television, and it became the new medium’s very first character-driven domestic sitcom. She weathered yet another minefield of American history, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s blacklist, which had a devastating effect on the entertainment industry.
 

SYNAGOGUES OF EUROPE:
--Belarus: Telekhany.
--Germany: Aufhausen.
--Ukraine: Chervonograd.


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Germany: Paderborn.
--Lithuania
: The cemetery in Panevezys.
--Ukraine: Pavoloch.

--New Jersey: The memorial at Beth Abraham Cemetery in New Brunswick for the towns of Kozienitz and Glowaczow in Poland.

 

 NOVEMBER 2009

Some of the late October additions remain on the October Updates page. Please visit the 2009 Updates page to see what you've missed.

Please sign up to receive the Museum's blog updates, as those who do are the first to learn what's new at the Museum. You can sign up to receive either the RSS feed or you can subscribe by email. If you do the latter, be sure to respond to the verification email sent my FeedBurner immediately after you sign up, or you will not receive any updates.
 

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:

--Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn, New York:
The data for the graduating Seniors of the January 1946 class (596 graduates) have been added, as have the pages of the entire yearbook. This makes more than 46,400 searchable graduates' names as well as nearly seventy graduating classes since 1927. Next will be the June 1928 Jefferson yearbook. June 1937 to come.

--Educational Activities: The third addition to the Museum's Education Department, this new series of exhibitions comes to you courtesy of Bernice Steinhardt and Helene McQuade, the two daughters of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, a survivor of the Holocaust. This educational activity is associated with the Museum's newest exhibition entitled "Through the Eye of the Needle: Fabric of Survival," the link to which can be found under "Current Exhibitions."

Sisters Bernice and Helene grew up with the stories of their mother Esther's courage and suffering as a child during the Second World War.Years later, after their mother began to turn her stories into a narrated series of fabric art pictures, they realized that art and story combined had enormous power. They believe that together, art and story could help people understand not only what war and intolerance are, but also how it feels to those who endure them.

The primary goal of  their Art and Remembrance's educational programs is to open the minds of school-age children to the powerful experiences of victims of social injustice, as narrated through art. Through guided study on the works of A&R artists, students will be encouraged to reflect upon and gain a greater understanding of important issues such as cultural diversity, prejudice, the Holocaust, and other historical and contemporary manifestations of racism. Through the study of narrative art, A&R also hopes to empower children to share their own stories, and to learn about various techniques that will enable them to do so through art.

The links to these exercises, as well as to others, can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-erc-education.htm .


NEW EXHIBITIONS:

--The Russian Jew in the United States: This past summer the Museum introduced the first of three sections of a book published in 1905 entitled "The Russian Jew in the United States" (also entitled "The Immigrant Jew in America" in a later 1907 edition.) Now the second section, about the Russian Jews of New York, has been readied for you.

It should be noted that the editor of this book makes a distinction between the three major Jewish populations that have lived in the United States over the past two and a half centuries (i.e. from 1655): The Spanish-Portuguese, the German and the Russian population. Thus, some of you who have limited or no interest in the lives of Russian Jews, but who are interested in the Jews of such regions as Lithuania, Volhynia, Bessarabia, Galicia, Poland or Romania, might be misled by the term "Russian Jew" and disregard this book because you think it doesn't apply to your interest or research. In the case of this book, "Russian Jews" include all Jews that lived within the Russian Empire in 1905.

The Museum then has now put online the second of three sections of this book--the first part was about the Russian Jews of Philadelphia; the third part is of the Jews of Chicago--hopefully this part will be placed online within the next few months. The second part now online is that of the Jews of New York and covers such topics as general aspects of the population, philanthropy, economic and industrial condition, religious activities, educational influences, amusements and social life, politics, health and sanitation and law and litigation.

This section on the Jews of New York is a nice tie-in with the number of articles the Museum has recently presented to you about the immigrant Jews who came to New York during the years of high immigration, i.e. from the late 1880s to 1910. The link to the main exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ija-main.htm. Just click on the word "enter" to view the table of contents.

--A Multitude of Immigrants: American Newspapers and How They Addressed the Immigration Issue:

Obviously back in the 1890s and first decade of the twentieth century, there was no television, and radio wasn't yet available to the general public. During that time people received their news, at least commercially, via the local newspaper. These newspapers then affected public opinion.

The English language newspaper was readily available to all during this time. The general public would get their news by reading newspapers. This newest Museum exhibition "A Multitude of Immigrants: American Newspapers and How They Addressed the Immigration Issue" gives you just a small glimpse into the portrayal of the immigration question, especially how it relates to Jewish immigration.

This exhibition is a series of eleven articles from three New York City newspapers--The New-York Daily Tribune, The Sun and The World--all published between 1891 and 1910. As we know, between these years, immigration to the U.S. was extremely high, and politicians and the public alike were split on what the policy of the U.S. should be toward immigrants, especially the uneducated and unskilled ones, not wanting the immigrants to become "pauperized." What kinds of restrictions should be imposed, not just on Jewish immigration, but on other nationalities?

I would urge you to read each article; more such articles may be added to this exhibition in the future.

The exhibition can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-multitude-immigrants.htm. Just click on the "enter" link at the bottom of the page, and in order to proceed from one article to the next, simply click on the "next" link at the bottom of each page.
 

NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE:

--You can now visit the Museum's new newspaper article archive and choose among more than eighty articles covering a variety of topics. Most of them were first published between the 1880s and 1910. Each article listed is linked to the Museum webpage that contains the article, and each is listed according to the name of the exhibition under which it falls. Many of these articles will not be found via the Museum's Site Map page, so the only way you can locate them is by visiting the Newspaper Archives at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/archive-newspaper.htm .
 

POSTCARDS FROM HOME:

--Germany: Hechingen.


SCREENING ROOM:

--The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998) by Aviva Kempner.


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:

--Cuba: Havana and Santa Clara (see the "More World Holocaust Memorials" page).


WORLD JEWISH COMMUNITIES:

--Poland, Zambrow: A youth organization from Israel (YZI) went to Zambrow in both 2006 and 2008 to work on the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in Zambrow, Poland. Because of their efforts, dozens of extant matzevot (gravestones) stand once again within the cemetery. You can now learn about their work and see photographs of nearly five dozen matzevot and read the data culled from these stones. www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/z/cem-zambrow-YZI.htm .
 

 DECEMBER 2009

To see any late additions to the November Updates page, please visit the 2009 Updates page to see what you've missed.

Please sign up to receive the Museum's blog updates, as those who do are the first to learn what's new at the Museum. You can sign up to receive either the RSS feed or you can subscribe by email. If you do the latter, be sure to respond to the verification email sent my FeedBurner immediately after you sign up, or you will not receive any updates.
 

CEMETERY PROJECT:

Maps: Canada-- Maps are now available at the Museum for the following Toronto cemeteries: Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park, Dawes Road Cemetery, Lambton Mills Cemetery, Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Pardes Shalom/Toronto Hebrew Memorial Park and Roselawn Avenue Cemetery.
 

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:

--From Kishineff to Bialystok: A Table of Pogroms from 1903-1906:

The Museum of Family History would like to announce the presence on its site of an important report and a table of pogroms committed between 1903 and 1906.

First, you will be able to read over the introduction and commentary to all of this as published by the American Jewish Committee in their American Jewish Year Book, Volume 8 (1906-1907).

Secondly, you will be able to peruse a table of more than two hundred and fifty towns and cities in Europe where pogroms occurred. Within this table is a listing of the damage caused in these locations (when available), as well as some general remarks made about each pogrom. You will also find for each pogrom event listed, the date of occurrence, the name of the town or city, the gubernia, the overall population of the location and the Jewish population, though numbers are not given for every town or city. There is also a supplemental table of pogroms in other locations in November 1905 not included in this larger table.

To make your town search easier, there is also a table that lists alphabetically all the locations with a reference made with each to the entry number in the large table. There is also a table that lists the gubernias in which pogroms occurred, and their overall and Jewish populations.

Most interestingly, though thoroughly depressing, is the Report of the Duma Commission of the Bialystok Massacre that occurred in June 1906. A goodly report is presented to you here as it reviews in detail many incidents that occurred during the pogrom, especially to the Jewish population. Those of you who might have had families that lived in Bialystok may wish to read the report thoroughly to see if any family names are mentioned. For those of you who have an interest in a particular town, this report and its included tables are for you.

Lastly, the debates that occurred in the Duma as the report was being presented is interesting to read too. You can also read of the resolutions proposed and passed within the U. S. Congress from 1905-1906.

It should be mentioned that all this is being presented to you at the Museum courtesy of the American Jewish Committee Archives.

All of the aforementioned information can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ajc-yb-v08-pogroms.htm.


EXHIBITIONS:

--The Jews of Asia -- Synagogues and Memorials:
In the beginnings of this new exhibition at the Museum of Family History entitled "The Jews of Asia," you will over time find a myriad of subject matter that might be of interest to you.

As many of you know, the Asian continent is quite large, with a population of approximately four billion people. Many of you also may know that the population of Jews who live in Asia today is relatively small, yet, in the first half of the twentieth century many Jews immigrated there to escape their lives in Europe for any of a number of reasons.

The Museum will be presenting to you various aspects of Jewish life in Asia, from various perspectives, predominantly historical.

The Museum's first offering to you is an exhibition subsection entitled "Synagogues and Memorials." This offering is yet incomplete, but nevertheless what is available to you now will be worth visiting if only for a few minutes. Currently you can see photographs taken in the 1990s and 2000s in the following locations: Hong Kong and Shanghai, China; Bombay (Mumbai) and Cochin (Kochi) in India; Rangoon (Yangon) in Burma (Myanmar), Singapore, Tajikistan, Lebanon and Istanbul, Turkey (i.e. the Asian side of the Bosphorus).

More synagogue and memorial photos will be added over time, along with other relevant information. Of course, if you've visited any such sites not currently included within this exhibition and have photos or video of such sites, please consider contacting me at steve@museumoffamilyhistory.com.

Also in the works are presentations of historical accounts--some first-hand accounts--of Jewish life in Asia.

The link to the aforementioned exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/jasia/jasia.htm.
 

--The Immigrant Jew in America:

--Now that the sections for both the Philadelphia and New York sections of the 1905/1907 book "The Immigrant Jew in America" has been made available to you at the Museum, you can now follow along as the various parts of the last section, that of Chicago, is put online in the coming months. The exhibition's table of contents can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ija-contents.htm.


--Anti-Semitism in Europe: Letters from Leipzig:

Within the six years preceding the start of World War II, a non-Jewish German woman named Ilse Gerngrofs wrote four letters to a Jewish friend in New Zealand. The Museum presents these to you now so that they may serve as an example of the anti-Semitic sentiments that existed in Germany before and after Hitler came into power.

You will most likely feel offended as I do by her remarks, but nevertheless it will give you some insight into the mind of many who lived in Germany during these pre-war years.
The link is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/as-letters-leipzig.htm.
 

--Anti-Semitism in Europe: The Pogroms Against the Jews:

A new webpage to this exhibition has been added, this time about the September 1903 pogrom in Gomel (located in today's Belarus). The link is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-pogroms-gomel.htm.


--Synagogues of Europe: Past and Present:

--Greece: Athens, Corfu, Rhodes and Thesssalonika.
--Spain: Madrin
and Toledo.
--Ukraine: Husiatyn
and Zastavna


NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES:
--There are now over eighty articles available for your perusal. Please visit the archives at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/archive-newspaper.htm to see what might be of interest to you.


 


Copyright © 2005-11 Museum of Family History. All rights reserved. Image Use Policy