The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) awarded two 2015 grants to increase the availability of resources for Jewish genealogical research. The grants were announced at the IAJGS annual conference in Jerusalem, Israel held July 6-10, 2015. The Rabbi Malcolm Stern Grant honors Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern, widely considered the dean of American Jewish genealogy with a $3,000 grant being awarded in his name. Additionally, in 2012, the IAJGS received a $15,000 gift from the estate of Jon Stedman to honor his late father, John Stedman, an avid Jewish genealogist. The IAJGS decided that a special $3,000 grant in memory of John Stedman under the Rabbi Malcolm Stern Grant be given for a single project for each of the next five years.

Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern

Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern

An example of how the Stern Grant can stimulate the availability of records to aid Jewish genealogical research is the past Stern Grant award of $2,000 to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal for the project to scan, in conjunction with McGill University, the “Canadian Naturalization Indexes” published in the Canada Gazette. With matching funds of an additional $2,000, 4,000 pages were scanned resulting in 456,000 records being indexed and available online at the Library and Archives Canada.

The grant recipients for 2015 are:

The Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland– to document Jewish cemeteries in Poland

To create a freely accessible database containing documentation of all available monuments in Jewish cemeteries in Poland, preserving the information before the ravages of time destroy much of it.

Nominee Organization: Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland. Lead person of Nominee Organization: Witold Wrzosinski

A partnership of Jewish Galicia & Bukovina Association, Gesher Galicia, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Herzl Institute of the University of Haifa, to index Stanislawow records

To index 20th century census and passport records (the 1939 Stanislawow census and the Stanisalawow District Passport Applications). The records were located with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and have already been provided to the project. Digitization has already been paid. The grant will provide funds needed for indexing the materials and preparing it for online access.

Nominee Organization: A partnership of Jewish Galicia & Bukovina Association, Gesher Galicia, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Herzl Institute of the University of Haifa. Lead person of Nominee Organization: Pamela Weisberger (Project Coordinator).

A list of past Stern Grant recipients (starting in 1991) can be found here: /awards/rabbi-malcolm-stern-grant/. For more information on the IAJGS and where you can find the closest Jewish Genealogical Society visit www.iajgs.org. Visit https://www.facebook.com/IAJGSConference to see many photos and postings from this year’s conference. The next annual IAJGS conference will be held in Seattle, Washington August 7-12, 2016 www.iajgs2016.org.