Those attending the conference in Salt Lake City had to make difficult choices among a great many activities including classes taught by inspiring and knowledgeable speakers, a game show of Jewish Genealogical Jeopardy, SIG and BOF luncheons/meetings, watching films, socializing, and doing research at the Family History Library. Here are a few highlights:
There was a great photo exhibit called Lives Remembered: Photographs of a Small Town in Poland 1895-1939, the work of Zalman Kaplan, photographer in Szczuczyn from 1895-1939.
Paul Shapiro, of USHMM, gave an extremely moving opening ceremony speech about his years of work that have led to the opening of the ITS archives at Bad Arolsen.
Dan Rottenberg, author of the first guidebook on Jewish genealogy research, Finding Our Fathers, spoke at the banquet and wowed us all by announcing that he was relinquishing his copyright to the part of his book with the alphabetical list of family names with information on each entry.
No words can express our thanks to all the wonderful volunteers under the able direction of conference co-chairs Michael Brenner and Hal Bookbinder. We had volunteers from the Utah chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women, the local Utah Jewish Genealogical Society, and many others.
A sincere thanks to: The Generations Network for sponsoring for sponsoring the Ancestry.com Resource Room; to the Family History Library for providing extended hours for attendees, speakers, and special maps for the resource room; and to Genzyme for a substantial educational grant and for sending Gary Frohlich to share important information on Ashkenazi genetic diseases, particularly Guacher Disease. Thanks also for support from Harvey Krueger, Alan Rinsler, Rochelle Kaplan, E. Randol and Pamela Schoenberg, Marty Mazner, Bob Spinner, the Center for Jewish History, the Czech Torah project, Jossey-Bass publishers, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center, Congregation Kol Ami of Salt Lake City, JGSs, SIGs, individuals and many vendors.
