Hal Bookbinder has graciously agreed to present two of his very popular programs on the same day. Hal is a former president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies and currently serves on the JewishGen Board of Governors. In 2010 he was honored with the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award.
The first presentation will start promptly at 10:30 am. It will be followed by a 15-20 minute intermission. Light refreshments will be provided. The second presentation will begin Immediately afterwards. Please join us for this special event.
U.S. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION:
Description: One of the first things that the newly created United States of America did was to establish laws covering naturalization. These laws were administered by the states with many variations. Over the years, the laws were changed. In 1906 the Federal Government took control of the entire process. The standardized documentation after 1906 has proven invaluable to genealogical researchers. Similarly, laws controlling immigration have also changed over time with the Federal Government taking control in 1890. The speaker’s maternal grandmother was born in St. Louis, Missouri and so was an American citizen by birth. In 1917 she married a man who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. Upon marriage she lost her American citizenship and was not to be an American again until being naturalized in 1936. This lecture will provide a short history of immigration and naturalization laws and provide general guidance in finding your ancestor’s documentation.
JEWISH FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY:
Description: Our ancestors created a wide variety of organizations to provide mutual support, from religious to social, educational, insurance and burial services. “Landsmanshaften” brought together individuals who came from the same town in Europe. Sometimes they were formed as lodges of a fraternal organization, like the Independent Order, Sons of Jacob. These organizations paralleled existing American ones incorporating the pomp and secrecy of Masonry, Pythians and Odd Fellows. They provided a safety net through life and health insurance and offered social opportunities to lead and to be recognized. Hundreds of thousands of our immigrant ancestors participated during the heyday of these organizations in the first half of the 20th century. While most were male-focused, women participated through auxiliaries and occasionally fully independent orders. Understanding these organizations provides important insights into the experiences of our immigrant ancestors.
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon invites you, your family and friends to its upcoming program on two topics – Ellis Island Name Change Myth & “Finding “Waldo” At Ellis Island presented by Joel Weintraub
Ellis Island Name Change Myth
The idea that inspectors at Ellis Island regularly Americanized immigrant names is a persistent myth. We will investigate the evidence that should exist (it doesn’t) to confirm the story as fact, and why name changing at the station was improbable given how immigrants were processed. The history of this immigration station, the types of people who passed through their doors, the legal documents (including their name) they came with, and station detention documents generated for about 1/6 of them, will be discussed with actual examples. Note: be prepared to avoid deportation by Inspector Weintraub.
Finding “Waldo” At Ellis Island
Using a case study, we will show how nine different strategies can be used to find the immigration record of an elusive immigrant to Ellis Island. For those who still cannot locate Ellis Island immigration records of their ancestors, this talk may provide some approaches you might not have tried. The difficulty of providing accurate indexes from transcriptions of ship manifests is a major problem associated with many of these strategies. We will see how well you do as a transcriber of manifest names.
Bio: Joel, a New Yorker by birth, is an emeritus Professor at California State University Fullerton and won awards for his science teaching. He volunteered for nine years at the National Archives and Records Administration. Joel created search tools for the U.S. and New York City censuses that are freely available on the Steve Morse “One-Step” website. He and Steve are currently developing locational tools for the 2022 release of the 1950 federal census. Joel has written and talked on NYC and Federal census research, immigration and naturalization, Ellis Island, biographical research, and Jewish genealogy topics.
Event page | Download Full Event Flyer
What: A screening of the restored silent film “Hungry Hearts” (1922) preceded by a reception with a choice of three parallel 20-min lectures. Q&A with the composer, David Spear, to follow.
When: Sunday, November 5, 2017 | 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Where: Lincoln Recital Hall (LH 75) | Pocket Lectures in LH 75, LH 21, and LH 37
Cost: Free and open to the public. RSVP requested, but not required.
Contact: Stacey Johnston | judaicst@pdx.edu | 503-725-8449
Join the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies for the Portland premiere of the recently restored and rescored silent film “Hungry Hearts” (1922), filmed on location on New York’s Lower East Side. Based on the short stories of Anzia Yezierska, one of the first immigrant authors to write about American Jewish women for a mainstream audience, the film focuses on the members of the Levin family who emigrate from Eastern Europe to New York City and captures the hopes and hardships of Jewish immigrants in the New World.
The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis restored Goldwyn’s original print, and with generous support from the Casden Institute, a new score was composed and produced by David Spear in collaboration with his students from the USC Thornton School of Music. The new score for “Hungry Hearts” premiered at the 2007 New York Jewish Film Festival in Lincoln Center.
The event will begin at 5:30pm with a “Feast for the Senses and the Mind.” You are invited to sample hors d’oeuvres alongside three “pocket lectures” (20 minutes each) on various aspects of the film’s cultural and historical context. The film will begin at 7:00pm and will be followed by a conversation and Q&A with the lead composer, David Spear, about the process of scoring a historic silent film and breathing new life into “old art”. (Full Schedule Below)
- 5:30 pm Welcome Reception with Food
- 6:00 pm Choose your own mini-lecture!
- LH 75 – Marat Grinberg, Reed College
- “At the Intersection of Screen and Text: American Jewish Culture Before the War”
- LH 37 – Joseph Butwin, University of Washington
- “Exile and Return: Anzia Yezierska Finds her Vocation”
- LH 21 – Amy Borden, PSU School of Film
- “Immigration and Nativism in New York’s Nickelodeon’s”
- LH 75 – Marat Grinberg, Reed College
- 7:00 pm Hungry Hearts Film Screening
- 8:45 pm Q&A with David Spear
- Soundtrack Producer & 2017 Artist-in-Residence
This is the first half of the 2017 Levy Event, which focuses on the nexus between East European Jewish immigrants to the U.S. and twentieth-century American film and music. For information about the second half of the 2017 Levy Event, visit the event page.
This event is sponsored by the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies thanks to the generous support of Larry Levy and Pamela Lindholm-Levy. Cosponsored by the PSU School of Music + Theater and the Northwest Film Center.
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon invites you, your family and friends to its upcoming program “Read All About It!: Using Online Newspapers For Genealogical Research” by Janice M. Sellers
Description: Newspapers are valuable in genealogical research because you can find information about births, marriages, deaths, moves, business, naturalizations, court cases, and more. Millions of pages of the world’s newspapers are now accessible online, but there is no one place to find them all. This class provides an overview of what is available online and techniques to help improve your chances of finding information about your relatives.
Bio: Janice M. Sellers is a professional genealogist specializing in Jewish, black, forensic, and newspaper research. She edits three genealogy publications and serves on the boards of San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, African American Genealogical Society of Northern California, and Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy. She is also a member of Association of Professional Genealogists, Genealogical Speakers Guild, and California Genealogical Society. Before becoming a professional genealogist, she worked in publishing for many years as an editor, indexer, translator, and compositor. Her web site is ancestraldiscoveries.com.
The Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem presents “Witness: Themes of Social Justice in Contemporary Printmaking and Photography from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” through Dec. 20 in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery and the Maribeth Collins Lobby.
Drawn from one of the legendary contemporary print collections in the United States, “Witness” explores issues of race, identity and social justice in contemporary printmaking and photography. The exhibition has been organized by Portland art historian and scholar Elizabeth Bilyeu and explores four thematic sections: Stories and Histories, Pressures of Pop Culture, Challenging Expectations of Place and Unconventional Portraits. The exhibition features 82 prints by 40 nationally and internationally recognized artists, including Enrique Chagoya, Lalla Essaydi, Mildred Howard, Hung Liu, Nicola Lopez, Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooka), Roger Shimomura, Kara Walker and Marie Watt (Seneca).
LeRonn Brooks, an assistant professor of African and African American Studies at Lehman College of the City University of New York, will deliver an illustrated lecture on the theme of social justice in modern and contemporary art on September 29 at 5 p.m., Admission to this series of lectures is complementary and they will be held in the Paulus Lecture Hall at the Willamette University College of Law located at 245 Winter St. SE, Salem, Oregon.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University
Public contact: 503-370-6855 | museum-art@willamette.edu
Exhibition website: willamette.edu/go/witness
IMAGE: Roger Shimomura (American, b. 1939), “Nisei Trilogy: The Camps,” 2015, ed. 4/50, lithograph, 18 1/2 x 27 inches, Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer, 2015. 794b. Photo: Strode Photographic LLC
HEAD: Salem museum presents social justice print/photo exhibit
The Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem presents “Witness: Themes of Social Justice in Contemporary Printmaking and Photography from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” through Dec. 20 in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery and the Maribeth Collins Lobby.
LeRonn Brooks, an assistant professor of African and African American Studies at Lehman College of the City University of New York, will deliver an illustrated lecture on the theme of social justice in modern and contemporary art on Sept. 29 at 5 pm. Admission is complementary.
The lecture is in conjunction with the exhibit “Witness: Themes of Social Justice in Contemporary Printmaking and Photography from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.” The exhibit is up Sept. 15 through Dec. 20 in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery and the Maribeth Collins Lobby of the The Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem.
Drawn from one of the legendary contemporary print collections in the United States, “Witness” explores issues of race, identity and social justice in contemporary printmaking and photography. The exhibition has been organized by Portland art historian and scholar Elizabeth Bilyeu and explores four thematic sections: Stories and Histories, Pressures of Pop Culture, Challenging Expectations of Place and Unconventional Portraits. The exhibition features 82 prints by 40 nationally and internationally recognized artists, including Enrique Chagoya, Lalla Essaydi, Mildred Howard, Hung Liu, Nicola Lopez, Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooka), Roger Shimomura, Kara Walker and Marie Watt (Seneca).
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon invites you, your family and friends to its upcoming program “Jewish Life in Poland” by Avraham Groll.
Description: Part 1 (10th-15th centuries) will explore patterns of Jewish migration to Poland between the 10th-15th centuries. We will discuss when and why the major shifts happened, where the Jews settled and their involvement in the Poland’s development. This presentation is designed for beginners, and is not a workshop. Maps, pictures, and documents will be displayed. Handouts with further information and a bibliography will also be distributed.
Part 2 (16th-18th centuries) will explore patterns of Jewish migration to Poland between the 16th-18th centuries. We will discuss the “Golden Age of Polish Jewry,” the reaction to Shabtai Tzvi, and how the Jewish experience in Poland helped set the stage, in part, for the eventual rise of the Hasidic movement. This presentation is designed for beginners, and is not a workshop. Maps, pictures, and documents will be displayed. Handouts
Bio: Avraham Groll, the Director of JewishGen.org, is passionate about connecting people with their Jewish roots, and helping them experience what it means to be part of the Jewish people. Avraham holds an MBA from Montclair State University, an MA in Judaic Studies from Touro College, and a BS in Business Administration from Ramapo college, and spent two years studying at Yeshiva Ohr Yeruslahayim in Israel. He is a frequent lecturer on a variety of Jewish genealogical and historical topics.
June’s JGSO meeting will be a research session providing one-on-one support. Bring your research materials and your personal laptops or tablets. Some computers with internet access will be available for those without. While you work with our Mavens/Experts, take advantage of some of the resources that are available within the library.
Set aside a few hours each month to work on your family tree. Redefine your research goals. Get help with the endless supply of genealogical websites. Exchange knowledge and ideas with others who have similar interests. Help others and be prepared to learn something new as you listen to other people’s questions and the processes used in finding their answers.
You’ve done your DNA, gotten your results, but don’t recognize any names and don’t know what to do next? Or have you been working on building out your family tree but need help to research your family? Where do you begin? How to get additional information if you’ve hit that brick wall? This will be geared to help both newbies and those who have been working to build their family tree for many years.
Laurel Smith, past president of the Genealogy Forum of Oregon will present a mini “boot camp” to get everyone started. Contact: 503-997-1685, jgsoregon@gmail.com.
Cost: The program is free to JGSO members. We request a $5 contribution from non-members. That fee can be applied to a membership should you decide to join JGSO at this meeting.
Please come early if you would like help from other genealogists.
December’s JGSO meeting will be a research session providing one-on-one support. Set aside a few hours each month to work on your family tree. Redefine your research goals. Get help with the endless supply of genealogical websites. Bring your research materials and your personal laptops or tablets. Some computers with internet access will be available for those without. While you work with our Mavens/Experts, take advantage of some of the resources that are available within the library.
All those interested in exploring their Jewish ancestry or family history in general are welcome. Even if you don’t have specific questions come and exchange knowledge and ideas with others who have similar interests. Help others and be prepared to learn something new as you listen to other people’s questions and the processes used in finding their answers.