The Ganze Mishpokhah (the whole family): Jewish Genealogy 101

Get on board for a guided tour through your family’s complex history! In this all-day seminar led by Emily Garber, you’ll learn where to start and how to explore your relatives’ lives.

Discover clues about your family in the records they left behind. Train in the best research practices. Track your findings as you go. This course will set you up for future success in your Jewish family history journey. Seminar includes an introductory session showing you how to find your Western Pennsylvania ancestors in the archives.

10:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. Registration and Introductions

11 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Session 1 (Emily Garber) Preparation is key to successful Jewish family history research. We will:

• start with a real research case and show step-by-step how genealogists work through research problems,
• examine working backwards through time and linking information found in records,
• learn how to search for information and records and how to record one’s findings.

12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Kosher lunch provided by Dina’s Dishes or bring your own.

1 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. – Session 2 (Emily Garber) We need to know as much as possible about our immigrant ancestors before we try to locate them in their places of origin overseas. We will learn to track our relatives in commonly used United States records and learn the value of broadening our research to include FANs: family, friends, acquaintances, and neighbors. We will explore commonly used United States records to inform us about our families and their lives in their new country, including census enumerations, birth, death and marriage records, and landsmanshaftn records.

2:10-2:20 – break

2:20-3:30 – Session 3 (Emily Garber) We are ready to jump the pond. What can we learn about our ancestors’ immigration histories? Where did they come from? How did they travel from Europe to the United States? To find our way, we will explore: • immigration and naturalization records, • accessible old world records, • finding research help. We will end with some advice for continuing education.

3:30-3:45 pm – break

3:45 – 4:45 pm – Session 4 (Eric Lidji) Now that you’ve gotten the basic skills for researching Jewish genealogy, learn how to use the many archival resources available for finding your Jewish ancestors in Western Pennsylvania. We’ll conduct case studies using the Rauh Jewish Archives, the University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections, the Rodef Shalom Archives, the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project, and other repositories in Pittsburgh and around the world.

This program is possible through the generous support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.