Here’s the Zoom registration link for the UJGS meeting next week.

https://ancestry.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMld-ypqDMjH9yn68bzVd979Lazr1A7pVbC

The British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/),

in partnership with the British Library, has made a further one million historical newspaper pages available completely free to the public, reaching a new total of two million free pages.

Together, the British Newspaper Archive and the British Library are committed to releasing a total of five million free pages over five years, which can be accessed online on the British Newspaper Archive website and on Findmypast.

The British Newspaper Archive was created in 2011 when Findmypast set out to digitize the British Library’s entire newspaper collection and open it up to the public as the British Newspaper Archive. Today, it contains over 56 million pages. Exploring more of the British Newspaper Archive will result in requiring a paid subscription.

The free pages cover the years 1699-1900 across 244 titles in the UK.

Jewish Heritage Europe has an article on two significant new Holocaust Memorials: Names in Nowy Sącz and Returned (Cobble)stones in Prague.

NOWY SĄCZ, POLAND

A new memorial lists the names of 12,000 Jews from Nowy Sącz and its surroundings  deported by the Germans to their deaths  during the Holocaust. The dedication ceremony took place on the 80th anniversary of the last deportation of Jews to the death camp at Bełżec and was the culmination of a week of memorial events.  During the memorial service the names of the 12,000 victims were read aloud—Jews who were enclosed in the WW2 Nowy Sacz ghetto and who came from Nowy Sącz, as well as from Stary Sącz, Łabowa, Piwniczna Zdrój, Krynica Zdrój, Grybów, Limanowa, Łącko, Tarnów, Krakow Łódź, Leipzig (Germany), Sieradz and other places.

There is a video- audio is in Polish –that may be seen/heard on the website:

The memorial is a sunken area on whose walls the names are inscribed in long columns. The memorial is a project of People not numbers, a project headed by the Polish Olympic athlete Dariusz Popiela that seeks to restore Jewish cemeteries and to create memorials that list by one  the names of victims of the Holocaust.

PRAGUE: RETURNED (COBBLE)STONES MEMORIAL, September  7

The memorial constructed from hundreds of cobblestones that were cut from uprooted Jewish gravestones and used for paving in downtown Prague has been dedicated at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague’s Žižkov district. (Not the famous Old Jewish Cemetery in the former ghetto area.)

 Return of the Stones monument, designed  the sculptor Jaroslav Róna and his wife Lucie, is centered on a low, circular mound made of 200 of the cobblestones showing remnants of Hebrew and Czech inscriptions, highlighted in gold. Low walls of unequal height, also made from the cobbles, branch out from this “like rays of the sun.”  the cobbles had been used to construct the pedestrian promenade along Na Příkopě street, at one end of Wenceslas Square, in the 1980s.  The fact that matzevot were used for the cobblestones became known after the fall of the communist regime in 1989.

A memorandum  signed between the city and the Jewish community mandated that the cobbles be removed and taken to the Zizkov cemetery.

Photos may be seen at: https://prazsky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/nahrobky-ktere-skoncily-v-dlazbe-se-promenily-v-pamatnik-20220907.html

September 19 – Tina LaFreniere, Connecting Faces Through Time – How to Use Related Faces for Identifying Unknown People in Photos

Tina is a graduate of The University of Houston where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance. She is a former Assistant Vice President and Production Manager for a mortgage brokerage firm in Dallas, Texas. Tina chose to leave her career to raise her children, but soon found herself as a Montessori School teacher and later substitute teaching in her local public schools. Tina is passionate about educating and creating opportunities for children. She has volunteered for FIRST™ Robotics for over 13 years and served on the West Florida Regional Planning Board for many years.

Family has always been of utmost importance to Tina, and she has a great love of puzzles and history, so taking up genealogy as a hobby over 15 years ago seemed a natural fit. It is this passion for preserving not only her own family history, but everyone’s family history that led her to develop the idea for Related Faces. After inheriting thousands of photos, with hundreds being unmarked, she knew that other people must be in the same position as she was. She was determined to discover the identities of as many people in her photos as she could, and being the wife of a technology executive, she was certain she could apply technology in a positive way to help people discover the unknown people in their photos.

She began development of Related Faces in 2018, filed for the associated patents in 2020 and launched Related Faces in February of 2022. It is her ardent wish that Related Faces helps people discover as many unknown faces in their photos as possible.

Tina is a graduate of The University of Houston where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance. She is a former Assistant Vice President and Production Manager for a mortgage brokerage firm in Dallas, Texas. Tina chose to leave her career to raise her children, but soon found herself as a Montessori School teacher and later substitute teaching in her local public schools. Tina is passionate about educating and creating opportunities for children. She has volunteered for FIRST™ Robotics for over 13 years and served on the West Florida Regional Planning Board for many years.

Family has always been of utmost importance to Tina, and she has a great love of puzzles and history, so taking up genealogy as a hobby over 15 years ago seemed a natural fit. It is this passion for preserving not only her own family history, but everyone’s family history that led her to develop the idea for Related Faces. After inheriting thousands of photos, with hundreds being unmarked, she knew that other people must be in the same position as she was. She was determined to discover the identities of as many people in her photos as she could, and being the wife of a technology executive, she was certain she could apply technology in a positive way to help people discover the unknown people in their photos.

She began development of Related Faces in 2018, filed for the associated patents in 2020 and launched Related Faces in February of 2022. It is her ardent wish that Related Faces helps people discover as many unknown faces in their photos as possible.

Handout in separate email.

The U.S. and the Holocaust will premiere on PBS September 18, 2022. Check with your local cable provider for the station. The U.S. and The Holocaust, a new three-part , six-hour documentary directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, explores America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises in history. Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. The series will air September 18, 19 and 20, at 8:00-10:00 p.m. eastern/pacific 7:00-9:00 PM Central (check local listings) on PBS, https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/

The Records Access Alert reports on records access. Therefore, the current national discourse about records being removed from the White House by former President Trump and NARA being the repository of all presidential records is a relevant posting issue.

The acting US Archivist, Debra Wall, says:

“The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, this week especially, with many people ascribing political motivation to our actions. NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiring against the former President, or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down.’ Neither is accurate or welcome,.” This was said in an Aug. 24 message to staff members that was made public on Aug. 30.  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22272015-debra-wall-letter-to-staff

“For the past 30-plus years as a NARA career civil servant, I have been proud to work for a uniquely and fiercely non-political government agency, known for its integrity and its position as an ‘honest broker.’ This notion is in our establishing laws and in our very culture. I hold it dear, and I know you do, too,” she added.

“Our fundamental interest is always in ensuring that government records are properly managed, preserved, and protected to ensure access to them for the life of the Republic. That is our mission, and what motivates us as we seek to uphold the public trust. I thank all of you for your dedication to that mission and your professionalism and integrity in carrying it out in a non-political and diligent manner.”

Fifteen boxes were transferred from the resort to NARA in January, when Wall’s predecessor David Ferriero was still in charge. NARA said that the boxes contained classified records. Some were torn up and taped back together; others that had been torn up weren’t reconstructed by the White House, according to Ferriero.

In separate letters to Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Wall said that the Department of Justice has been “exclusively responsible” for the investigation into the classified materials since NARA referred the matter to the department in early 2022.

“NARA has not been involved in the DOJ investigation or any searches that it has conducted. Accordingly, NARA is unable to provide a briefing or any documents in response to your letter, and we refer you to the DOJ,” Wall told Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, and Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “Please note, however, that NARA is preserving all records related to this matter.”

To read more see: https://www.ntd.com/national-archives-head-says-agency-fiercely-non-political-after-anti-trump-accusations_832802.html

To read previous postings about NARA and the Presidential Records Act and Removal of Records from the White House see the IAJGS Records Access Alert archives at: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/private/records-access-alerts  You must be registered to access the archives. To register for the IAJGS Records Access Alert go to: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts.  You will receive an email response that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized. It is required to include your organization affiliation (genealogy organization, etc.)

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/1950-census-timeline-update

MyHeritage announced they are offering FREE Access to all U.S. census records from August 30-September 6, 2022.  To search go to: https://www.myheritage.com/research/category-1100/us-census They have the 1950 US Census indexed for Wyoming and Delaware with more to follow

Now Live! The 1950 U.S. Census Index for Wyoming and Delaware

The United States has conducted a census of its population every 10 years since 1790. MyHeritage offers the full set of currently available U.S. census records from 1790 to 1950, including high-resolution scans. These records offer important snapshots of the lives of people living in the United States throughout its history. Censuses are particularly valuable in that they can help you watch the lives of your ancestors unfold as they move from location to location, get married or divorced, have children, or change careers. They often include important details on each person’s occupation, including their trade and i

On Monday, 19 September 2022 at 7 pm MST, we are pleased to hear Tina LaFreniere, the

Founder & Chief Executive Officer of

talk on Connecting Faces Through Time – How to Use Related Faces for Identifying Unknow People in Photos.

Watch for the Zoom link in a later email.

I am pleased to announce the 2022 conference from the Polish Genealogical Society of America, which will take place virtually on September 16, 17 and 18th. 

Register here: https://pgsa.org/product/2022-pgsa-virtual-conference/

We assembled a wonderful lineup of Polish and American genealogists with six lectures over three days. Sessions begin each day at 11:00am Central time. 

LECTURE TOPICS
Getting More from Genealodzy.pl – the Little Known Databases
Navigating Szukaj w Archiwach – Unknotting the Knots
Russian Partition Discoveries – Beyond Family Search
The End of Serfdom – Impact on the Records
Maps for Family Research – More Than Geography
Nazi Occupation of Rural Poland – History and Remembrance

REGISTRATION
Members: $30
Non-Members: $45
Register: https://pgsa.org/product/2022-pgsa-virtual-conference/

MyHeritage added Jewish Historical Records from Vienna in partnership with the National Library of Israel. MyHeritage is making this collection available free to search. However, if you want to view or save the records to your family tree or computer you will need a MyHeritage Data or Complete Plan subscription-both are paid subscriptions.

The collection contains 228,250 digitized Jewish immigrant applications from Vienna between World War l and World War ll, It offers an important glimpse into the lives of Austrian Jews at this pivotal moment in history and is exclusive to MyHeritage.  In May 1938, Jews living in Austria registered with the emigration department of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (the Jewish community organization in Vienna) if they intended to leave the country and escape Nazi persecution.

The MyHeritage blog post says, “Each head of household had to fill out a detailed questionnaire, containing the following information: name of the applicant, address, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, nationality, residency status in Vienna and whether and how long the applicant resided elsewhere, information about the profession and the last-held professional position, any newly learned professions, language skills, economic situation and monthly income, and additional comprehensive information related to emigration… In addition to the information about the applicant, the questionnaires contain information about any dependents, including degree of relationship, name, places of birth, dates of birth, and occupation. In some cases, the questionnaires also provide information about the applicant’s parents.”

The forms often have supplemental documents which include letters, affidavits, official papers and correspondence as well as stamps and hand-written notes that were added as part of the file processing.

The emigration papers are part of the extensive communal archive of the Viennese Jewish Community that constitutes some of the holdings of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP) in Jerusalem.

To read more about this and see some examples of the types of records see MyHeritage’s blog: https://tinyurl.com/bdh8jxrf

Original URL:

MyHeritage and the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Publish Exclusive Collection of Jewish Records from Vienna

The U.S. and the Holocaust will premiere on PBS September 18, 2022. Check with your local cable provider for the station. The U.S. and The Holocaust, a new three-part , six-hour documentary directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, explores America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises in history. Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. The series will air September 18, 19 and 20, at 8:00-10:00 p.m. eastern/pacific 7:00-9:00 PM Central (check local listings) on PBS, https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/

To read the release see: https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/the-us-and-the-holocaust-to-premiere-september-18-2022-on-pbs/

Legacy Family Tree, a member of the MyHeritage Family of companies, will be holding a Webtember event  all five Fridays throughout September. They are hosting 31 live an pre-recorded free webinars. The presentations will be free to view until the end of the month at your convenience.

To see the line up of presentations see: https://news.legacyfamilytree.com/legacy_news/2022/08/webtember-2022-all-genealogy-all-september-long.html

You do need to register at:

Upcoming Webinars