Wednesday, February 10
Galicia Special Interest Group (SIG) in main meeting room [Mark Jacobson], 11:30 am-12:15 pm. Pamela Weisberger will be the guest speaker.
Ukraine Special Interest Group (SIG) in Room 2 [Mona Morris], 11:30 am-12:15 pm
Program: When Leopold Met Lena: Marriage, Divorce and Deception in 1892 New York
Pamela Weisberger

Court Records, newspapers, and more bring the past to life as Ms. Weisberger unfolds the scandalous story of Leopold and Lena--.beginning in Czestochowa, Poland and Cracow, Austria and continuing on to Manhattan's Lower East Side and Little Rock, Arkansas. The tumultuous, romantic and litigious world of our immigrant ancestors unfolds as Weisberger demonstrates how present-day genealogical research is used to solve 19th-century mysteries.

Documenting her family’s history for over twenty years, Ms Weisberger has traveled throughout Eastern Europe visiting ancestral towns and villages and conducting research in Polish, Ukrainian and Hungarian archives.  A special area of interest has been late 19th to early 20th century city directories, newspapers and court records. She has also produced the documentaries, “I Remember Jewish Drohobycz,” and “Genealogy Anyone? Twenty-Five Years in the Life of the JGSLA.”

She is currently the program chair for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, President and Research Coordinator for Gesher Galicia, and a co-chair for the 2010 IAJGS Los Angeles Conference

She holds a B.A. in English from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.S. in Broadcasting from Boston University.

Sunday, March 7

Program: Luncheon; Italian Genealogical Group's Databases

John Martino

(Printable Microsoft Word flyer with more information)

Luncheon Order Form

You don’t have to be Italian...to use the Italian Genealogical Group’s (IGG) Databases.

John Martino will explain the many Naturalization Records, and County, Federal, and NYC Vital Records. These records are searchable at the IGG website. There are over 12,000,000 records that are very easy to use and have helped many genealogists from all over the United States and the world. John will explain how to use the databases and how they were created.

John Martino is one of the foundling members of the Italian Genealogical Group, which was organized in 1990. John is VP Special Project Coordinator. He has visited Italy twice and has researched his family’s history back to 1572. Since his retirement from the advertising and printing industries in 2000, he has devoted most of his time to organizing volunteers to create databases. He first helped the Jewish Genealogy Society of New York with the Kings County Naturalizations. From there he did the Suffolk and Nassau County Naturalization. He then computerized the Bronx County Naturalizations, went on to the Federal records, computerized the Southern District Naturalization, and is currently working on the Eastern District Naturalization. The Commissioner of the Department of Records & Information Services, Brian Andersson, approached John to computerize the vital records at the Municipal Archives. John and his team has computerized the death records for New York City 1891 to 1929 and the Groom Index for 1895 to 1936. His work has earned the Italian Genealogical Group the 2008 Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern Humanitarian Award of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

Wednesday, March 10
Poland Special Interest Group (SIG) in Room 1 [Paul Baranik], 11:30 am-12:15 pm
Romania Special Interest Group (SIG) in Room 2 [Marilyn Newman], 11:30 am-12:15 pm
Program: Mapping Madness
Ron Arons

Ron Arons began researching his roots more than a dozen years ago and has spoken at eight IAJGS conferences. Ron has also given presentations on Jewish genealogy and Jewish criminality at local JGSs, synagogues, JCCs, history conferences, and book fairs across the country and internationally. In June, 2008, after a decade of research, his book The Jews of Sing Sing was published. In January, 2008, he discussed Jewish criminals of NY's Lower East Side on the PBS TV series The Jewish Americans. Ron earned a B.S. in Engineering from Princeton and an MBA from the University of Chicago

In the presentation, Ron will first discuss how to find a variety of historical maps on the Internet.  He will then review the basics of both Google and Microsoft's internet-based mapping facilities, maps.google.com and www.bing.com/maps. He will then introduce more advanced functionality of both systems. Finally, Ron will also discuss traditional mapping facilities provided my whitepages.com, Microsoft's MapCruncher, and IBM's Many Eyes.

Wednesday, April 14
Hungary Special Interest Group (SIG) in Room 1 [Natalie Hamburg], 11:30 am-12:15 pm
Ukraine Special Interest Group (SIG) in Room 2 [Mona Morris], 11:30 am-12:15 pm
Program: To be announced

Wednesday, May 12

Program: Share our Successes

JSPBCI members will share their successful research stories and explain the methods used to trace their families.

This program, held annually in May, provides a wealth of genealogical research information. It is always one of the most successful and best attended each year. A question and answer period follows the lectures, and members are invited to briefly discuss their own success stories.

Wednesday, June 9

Program: Miami Trip -- if sufficient interest among our members