Latest Past Events

The Wedding Photo: Genealogy Comes Alive!

Center for Jewish History 15 W. 16th Street, New York City

Contrary to dusty first impressions, genealogy can be an adventure. In Dan Oren's book, The Wedding Photo, a visit to an abandoned Polish Jewish cemetery in 1993 launches a 20-year search to solve the mystery of "Who is Buried in Sarah's Tomb?" A visit with a cousin unearths a breathtaking photo of a Berlin family wedding from 1926 and leads…

$5

The Rest of the Story: Finding your Family in Online Newspapers

Center for Jewish History 15 W. 16th Street, New York City

Janeen Bjork will share her search methodology using several case studies to illustrate the techniques of finding and preserving family items from online newspapers. She will discuss OCR (optical character recognition, the technology that allows newspapers to be searched online), and how to work around its significant failure rate. Other topics will include best practices for searching in popular newspaper…

$5

Family History Today: Portuguese Citizenship – Reconnecting with your Sephardic Iberian Ancestors

While Spain has ended its Law of Return for descendants of Sephardic Jews, Portugal continues to be an option for those wishing to reclaim their ancestors' citizenship. Rita Mayer Jardim, a Lisbon-based lawyer specializing in this path to Portuguese citizenship, will address the most common questions she receives from prospective applicants. Learn what is required to prove your Sephardic heritage,…