IAJGS is pleased to offer this list of speakers who are willing to present programs for IAJGS member societies.
The talks are listed in two sections below. The first section has a condensed list of the talks with the name of the speaker and the title of the talk. The title is a link; click on it to go to the detailed information about the talk in the second section.
The second section contains additional information about the talks, including a more detailed description of the talk; whether the speaker is willing to present the talk virtually, in-person, or both; the category of the talk; and the appropriate audience. The speaker’s name is a link that will open an email message so that you can inquire about details or make arrangements for a talk.
Condensed List of Talks Offered
This section provides a condensed list of the talks offered. Click on the title to jump to the detailed information about the talk in the second section below, which includes an email link for contacting the speaker.
Detailed Information About Each Talk
This section contains detailed information about each talk offered by a speaker. Click on the speaker's name to contact them by email.
Ron Arons: Finding Living People on the Internet
| Talk Description: | Many websites provide info about almost anyone |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Story Telling |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Ron Arons: Sex, Lies, and Genealogical Tape
| Talk Description: | Individual focused genealogy |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Ron Arons: What’s in a Name? Trouble!
| Talk Description: | A complicated and amusing identity separation problem |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Dick Goldman: The Wandering Jew
| Talk Description: | Tracing the movements of the Jewish People from genetic Adam & Eve until today. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | History & Culture |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Dick Goldman: Digging up your family roots
| Talk Description: | A personal story of discovery that grew to over 10,000 relatives. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Dick Goldman: What’s in a name? A rose by any other smells as sweet.
| Talk Description: | The origin and meanings of Jewish family names. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Name Research |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Dick Goldman: The Great Gefilte Fish War!
| Talk Description: | The conflict between Litvaks and Galicianers |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | History & Culture |
| Audience: | Intermediate |
Dick Goldman: The Secrets Hidden in your DNA
| Talk Description: | Tracing three incredible stories of DNA discovery |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | DNA Testing |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Dick Goldman: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Shtetl
| Talk Description: | The ups and down of the Shtetl from the 16th to 19th centuries |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Polish Research |
| Audience: | Intermediate |
Dick Goldman: Jews in Poland—A 1,000 year history
| Talk Description: | Tracing the history of Polish Jews |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Polish Research |
| Audience: | Intermediate |
Dick Goldman: What we thought we knew but didn’t!
| Talk Description: | How our trip to Eastern Europe turned our world upside down. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Lithuanian Research |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Ellen Kowitt: Finding Jewish Families in the Golden Medina/USA Part I: Pre 1880
| Talk Description: | Sources for earliest Jewish American families. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | US Research |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Ellen Kowitt: Finding Jewish Families in the Golden Medina/USA Part II: Post 1880
| Talk Description: | Jewish population surge in 1880s created records. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | US Research |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Ellen Kowitt: What’s Jewish about Jewish Genealogy
| Talk Description: | Languages, calendar, lifecycle & resources. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Beginner |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Ellen Kowitt: Shtetl Research: Make Your Research Come Alive
| Talk Description: | Community history background & context. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Debbie Kroopkin: Jewish Genealogy with JewishGen
| Talk Description: | Debbie Kroopkin will explain the structure and purpose of the many components of the website. She will address how to connect with other researchers, how to identify and learn about your town overseas, and how to search for ancestors. Her presentation will provide details that will help researchers glean as much information as possible from JewishGen.org. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Virtual Only |
| Category: | Technology |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Debbie Kroopkin: Key Strategies for Successful Research
| Talk Description: | In this presentation, Debbie will provide an overview of the mindset, methods and materials needed to have a successful genealogy search experience. She will help attendees overcome the blockages preventing them from finding their family. Debbie will share challenging case examples. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Virtual Only |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Debbie Kroopkin: Unique Aspects of JEWISH Genealogy
| Talk Description: | Learn how to navigate genealogy research for Jewish families. Glean a basic understanding of variations of Jewish given names and the acquisition of surnames, reading Hebrew tombstones. Discover many websites where you can begin to search for family, including Israelis, and survivors and victims of the Holocaust. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Virtual Only |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Debbie Kroopkin: Introduction to Jewish Genealogy
| Talk Description: | An introduction to best practices and foundational information for building your family tree. Debbie will discuss how to glean and share information with relatives and find family trees. She will review Jewish migration patterns and DNA issues. (Can be part 1 of 4) |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Virtual Only |
| Category: | Methodology |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Debbie Kroopkin: Jewish Family Research in the United States
| Talk Description: | Debbie will talk about the paper trail relatives left behind in the United States and how to gain access to it. She will discuss resources that can be accessed from home and from libraries and archival repositories. The discussion will include information about Jewish name variances, Jewish cemeteries, and JewishGen.org. (Can be part 2 of 4) |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Virtual Only |
| Category: | US Research |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Debbie Kroopkin: Jewish Family Research around the World
| Talk Description: | Learn how to identify your town oversees, and how to search for ancestors around the world. Debbie will share ways to research Holocaust victims and survivors as well as Israeli’s. Multiple websites will be highlighted, including specific country databases and town information at Jewishgen.org. (Can be part 3 of 4) |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Virtual Only |
| Category: | International focus |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Dan Oren: Intro to Jewish Genealogy Part1
| Talk Description: | Intro to Jewish Genealogy |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Beginner Jewish Genealogy |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Dan Oren: Intro to Jewish Genealogy Part2
| Talk Description: | Continuation from Intro to Jewish Genealogy Part 1 |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Beginning Jewish genealogy |
| Audience: | Beginner |
Susan Weinberg: The Fluidity of Names
| Talk Description: | Our Jewish ancestors had a lot of names—Hebrew names, Yiddish names, nicknames and often several secular names that can make tracing them challenging. Given names have a much longer history than surnames in Jewish history and often contain clues to family history. This talk explores their nuances, how to identify them and their subsequent changes, and use them to build out your tree. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Name Research |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Susan Weinberg: Mining the Manifest
| Talk Description: | The US immigration manifest contains important information, particularly after 1906 when it was expanded. But even in the early 1890s, valuable information is available. This talk explores this period identifying ways to locate the manifest, reconcile information, and search for name variants. Using information based on who they went to in the US we will build out a tree and trace them to their destination. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Immigration research |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Susan Weinberg: Crossing the Ocean
| Talk Description: | Using case studies, we explore how to connect a wide vary of records and make use of many search engines. With these tools we cross the ocean starting with US records to locate ancestral towns and the family within them. We’ll verify that we have the right town, navigate transcription errors, identify related names, and explore how to decipher key information in Russian records. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Us/International Research |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
Susan Weinberg: Immigration History: Laws, Documents, Stories
| Talk Description: | This multi-media talk evaluates immigration through laws and documents enlivened with the stories of Jewish immigrants entering the US throughout the 1900s. We’ll look at the far-reaching impact of immigration laws. Experiences will be drawn from oral histories with Jewish elders who grew up in early immigrant communities, Survivors from the 1940s-50s and immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1970s-90s. |
| Virtual/In-Person: | Either |
| Category: | Immigration research |
| Audience: | For all/anyone |
