The Series
The series of half hour shows which are produced at Fairfax Public Access (FPA) and aired on cable in Fairfax County Virginia on Channel 10 during the second and fourth weeks of each month since 1997. The times are Sunday afternoons at 1:00 PM, Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm and Saturday mornings at 7:30 am. The shows are also available on public access stations in over half the states.

The show was started in order to share information with others who are interested in doing genealogy. We try to bring experts in various specialities to share their knowledge. Since most of us came from various parts of the world, a large number at the start of the last century, we share different difficulties in finding our ancestors. We discuss how to gather information from many of the countries of origin.

We started to place the video of some of the shows on the internet. The shows that can be seen in their entirely are marked with "VIEW NOW " symbols. Contact us if you want us to email you when we add another show to the internet or if you would like to get a show in DVD format.
(Notice: The server where these shows are now housed has added advertisements to the shows at the beginning of the show and in the middle. These are not endorsed by anyone having anything to do with the shows. We apologize for your need to be bothered with them.)

Hosts
Our expert hosts are Arline Sachs, Sallyann Amdur Sack, Ph.D., and Charles S. 'Chuck' Mason, Jr., CG.

Prof. Sachs is retired from teaching Computer Information Systems at Northern Virginia Community College. She held many positions in JGSGW including President, Vice President, Recording Secretary and computer consultant. She was the Secretary of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and started and headed its International Cemetery Project for seven years. She is the author of "The Dairies of Bernhard Cahn, ...".

Dr. Sack, past president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, was the founder and first president of JGSGW and is currently editor and co-owner of Avotaynu, The International Review of Jewish Genealogy. She co-directed several international genealogical seminars, including two in Israel and has served on the advisory committee of the Dorot Genealogy Center at Beth Hatefutsoth in Tel Aviv. Dr. Sack has co-authored several books, including Where We Once Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust and Guide to Jewish Genealogical Research in Israel. She edited Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy.

Charles S. “Chuck” Mason, Jr. CG is a Certified Genealogist. He is a Past President of the Fairfax Genealogical Society and also of the Mount Vernon Genealogical Society. Chuck teaches genealogy classes for the Fairfax County Adult Education program and lectures at many conferences in the Mid-Atlantic area. He is a frequent contributor to the National Genealogical Society’s Magazine and authors “Genealogy News and Issues” for their on-line newsletter, Up Front with NGS.

Future Shows

Our hosts talked about how they keep track of the many paper documents they collect and of locations they have already checked.
Chuck Mason talked about World War II draft requirements and how to get them.
Marian Smith, from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, will talked about their new fee-for-service genealogy program.
Prof. Joanna B. Michlic would talk about the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.

Recent Shows
Newer shows are on top of the following list

Steve Morse talked about his 1-step web pages.	VIEW NOW
Chuck Mason talked about the different World War I draft requirements and how they are useful for genealogy.	VIEW NOW
When the 1940 census is released in April 2012, it will not have a name index. Such an index will not be available for perhaps up to six months after opening day. So finding people in the census will involve searching by location instead. Dr. Stephen P. Morse told how to find your names by finding the proper Enumeration Districts (EDs) by using his One-Step website, so the census can be accessed.	VIEW NOW
Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD, a forensic genealogical consultant for major military and civilian organizations, talked about the identification of the remains found in the wreckage of Northwest Flight 4422 that crashed in Alaska in 1948; identified the remains of the Unknown Child of the Titanic; and several other cases. The web site is "http://www.identifinders.com/" and the blog site is "http://identifinders.wordpress.com/".	VIEW NOW
Cherly D. Crosby talked about the vast quantities of archived historical information which previously furnished only on microfilm that is now available on the internet as full text searchable databases by Accessible Archives.	VIEW NOW
Linda MacLachlan talked about early New England research. The comprehensive index mentioned on the show can be find at http://www.americanancestors.org/pre-1636-new-england-immigrants/.	VIEW NOW
Colleen Fitzpatrick, a forensic genealogist, explained who she can date a picture by looking at minute details overlooked by most of us.	VIEW NOW
Kim Phillips from Sydney talked about the free on-line vital records of Australia.	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack and Arline Sachs talked getting started in genealogy.	VIEW NOW
Linda MacLachlan talked about the Mount Vernon Genealogy Society which she is the president.	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about how to use your DNA results.	VIEW NOW
Daniel Horowitz talked about using mobile devices for helping genealogists to sharing family information.	VIEW NOW
Daniel Horowitz, Chief Genealogist of MyHeritage talked about that free web site.	VIEW NOW
A lively preview of the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy recently was taped for airing on the Internet and broadcast on the Fairfax, Va., cable TV show "Tracing Your Family Roots," with host Arline Sachs. Conference Co-chairs Marlene Katz Bishow, Victor Cohen and Susan Isman chatted with Arline about the program, hotel & food, and technology for the forthcoming conference.	VIEW NOW
Federal Land Records, which date from the founding of this country, including where and how they can be accessed, were discussed by Pat "DearMYRTLE" Richley-Erickson and Chuck Mason, CG.	VIEW NOW
DearMYRTE author of a genealogy blog for helping beginners, showed how easy it is to set up your own blog and to access others.	VIEW NOW
Peggy Pearlstein talked at the Hebreaic Section, which she head, at the Library of Congress.	VIEW NOW
Peggy Pearlstein talked about using the Library of Congress web site.	VIEW NOW
The volunteer crew for the show asked some of their questions.	VIEW NOW
Sandra MacLean Clunies, CG talked about how to plan, produce, and publish for a memorable reunion occasion. She is the author of A Family Affair: How To Plan and Direct the Best Family Reunion Ever.	VIEW NOW
Sandra MacLean Clunies, CG talked about strategies for identifying “the lost ladies” in your lineage.	VIEW NOW
What you should do before attending a conference	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack talked about "Halbrook's original name" and how she found it without too much trouble.	VIEW NOW
Boris Feldblyum talked about "False Conclusions" with Sallyann Sack and Arline Sachs.	VIEW NOW
Sharon B. Hodges talked about "Maryland Repostonies"	VIEW NOW
Sharon B. Hodges talked about "Using Census Records"	VIEW NOW
John Humphrey, C.G., author of Finding Your German Ancestors: A Practical Guide for Geneaogists, joined our hosts talking about the history of Germans coming to the United States in the last three hundreds years.	VIEW NOW
John Humphrey, C.G. talked about the detailed genealogical records for millions of German soldiers, public officials, police, firefighters and teachers dating back to the 1930s and '40s that is available at the U.S. National Archives.at College Park, MD	VIEW NOW
Ronald Nicely told of meeting his Native American cousins, descendents of his 4xgreatgrandfather's brother, who had been captured by the Native Americans when he was only 5 years old, 225 years ago. Based on this history Nicely wrote "The Indian Capture of Jacob (Kneisle) Nicely".	VIEW NOW
This show discusses the online version of Ele Toldot. This collection from notebooks has an individual page of data for each of almost 10,000 Jew who died in Frankfurt-am-Main until from 1200 to the early twentieth century. It was compiled by Shlomo Ettlinger. The collection was placed on the web by the Leo Baeck Institute.	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack described the cesuses compiled by Sir Moses Montefiore in the 1800s of Jewish inhabitants of the Holy Land, Alexandria, Sidon (Saida) and Beirut. The second web site has information about Jews in Alexandria, Egypt.	VIEW NOW
Richard Camaur discussed birth, marry and death records in Europe and how to find them.	VIEW NOW
Richard Camaur discussed military records in Europe with an emphasis on the Austrian-Hungarian empire. He explained how and where to find such records.	VIEW NOW
Linda Woodward Geiger, CG, CGL talks about doing American Indian research, in particular the Cherokee Indians.	VIEW NOW
Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL of Memory Lane Genealogy talks about Social Security Sleuthing. Some useful Web sites mentioned are Social Security Administration, RootsWeb Social Security Death Index. Stephen Morse One Step, National Genealogical Society, Social Security History, and Genealogical rewearch Information.	VIEW NOW
Co-hosts Sachs and Mason discuss writing letters or emails and what one should and should not ask or and what to include in a request for information.	VIEW NOW
Guest David Marshall, producer of lifestory video biographies, explained how he makes videos about a family through many hours of interviews. He explained what he had to do to make sometimes hesitant seniors speak of their family lore.	VIEW NOW
Dr. Albert Kaganovitch talked about the history of the small Jewish town of Rechitsa in southeast Belarus in the 17 to 20 centuries.	VIEW NOW
Sharon B. Hodges introduced many overlooked sources of information such as voting records and other sources.	VIEW NOW
Edwrd David Luft joined Sallyann Sack and Arline Sachs to discuss different type of directories.	VIEW NOW
Ron Arons discussed a variety of websites for finding historical maps and the basics of Microsoft Maps (www.bing.com/maps) and Google Maps (maps.google.com). He also talked about online mapping tools, including Microsoft's MapCruncher facility, IBM’s Many Eyes, Muckety.com, and others.	VIEW NOW
The importance of the census records was discussed with our hosts and Sharon B. Hodges.	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack talked about how, after 30 years of following false leads, she was able to finally solve the mystery of her grandfather.	VIEW NOW
Kenneth X. Robbins, editor of the forthcoming multi-volume study on Jews of India, gives a background and history of the study.	VIEW NOW
Arline Sachs and Leslie Bouvier discussed how Excel(or other spreadsheet program) can be used to supplement any standard genealogy program and aid in research.	VIEW NOW
Ron Arons talked about his new book "Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records", a reference that lists archives, libraries, courts and online sites with the information one needs to track down the black sheep in your family.	VIEW NOW
Arline Sachs and Leslie Bouvier discuss different methods of research used in Germany even though both reasearched the same general area, Hesse.	VIEW NOW
Finding towns and names from the old country. Sallyann Sack and Arline Sachs discussed numerous documents that can be used to find out where a person may have came from and what names that person had used before.	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack, founder and Chair of the Executive Committee of International Institute for Jewish Genealogy(IIJG) in Jerusalem talked about the different activities of the institute. It is committed to developing Jewish genealogy into a recognized field of academic investigation, within the realm of Jewish Studies and in association with a broad range of other sciences on an inter-disciplinary basis. IIJG seeks to do this by conducting scholarly research into all aspects of Jewish genealogy, both independently and collaboratively with other institutions and social scientists, as well as by promoting the teaching of Jewish genealogy at university level.	VIEW NOW
Ethics = value based judgments. Dr Thomas Jones, editor of “NGS Quarterly”, joined our hosts to discussed what one can, should or should not include on a published family tree. What kind of information should be given about a living person, or how honest is honest. What if one person wants something added and another says ‘no’. Who ‘owns’ the data? Who has the right to publish it?	VIEW NOW
Dr Thomas Jones, editor of “NGS Quarterly”, discussed being careful about using the Internet for gneealogy. One must carefully check the sources of the data found on the web. Were did this data come from? If one can click on some information and see the source data, then it has more of a chance of being right. Often there are known errors found in data on the web. One person may have found the correct information but the older data is still being used as though it were true. One must also be aware of the conclusion reached, and of information presenhted out of context of the original. Incomplete information may also slant a conclusion.	VIEW NOW
Prof. Sachs and Dr. Sack talked about getting started in Genealogy. Included was a case study about finding information using the internet.	VIEW NOW
Whit Athey, Ph.D. talked about a subset (called subclade) of Y Haplogroup J2b which he wrote about in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy. Men in this group have a repeat value of 8 on DYS455 and have been identified to be Ashkenazi and Cohanim. (Note: The producer of this show was one of the persons tested within this subclade.)	VIEW NOW
Chuck Mason joined Arline Sachs to talk about a web site Find A Grave which allows people to add information about both graves and cemeteries around the world. Also mentioned was IAJGS International Jewish Cemetery Project.	VIEW NOW
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian of Ancestry.com, talked about using her genealogy methods to find the next-of-kin of unclaimed persons and remains of military bodies. Also discussed was using DNA to show that her husband's family was different than hers.	VIEW NOW
Can non-Jews attend the annual International Conference of Jewish Genealogy and learn anything that will help them? Hear Chuck Mason, a certified genealogist, answer this question and compare it to conferences of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society.	VIEW NOW
Sharon Hodges, a professional genealogist, talked about the history of passports and how to use them for genealogy.	VIEW NOW
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak would talk about Roots Television.	VIEW NOW
Sharon Hodges, a professional genealogist, talked about the difference requirement of doing research in large cities and small town.	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about what you should do while on a research trip and what to be prepared for.	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about what needs to be done before deciding to go somewhere to do research, including contacts by writing letters and phoning.	VIEW NOW
Daniel Horowitz talked about motivating students through genealogy to identify with their family and learn other subjects such as geography, history and math by investigating their family’s history. His web site is http://www.searchingformyroots.com. He published a study guide name “Searching for My Roots” to help children, parents and teachers to do genealogical research work; describing a step-by-step process with small activities and examples of all the necessary task and subjects that need to be covered and guide them thru all the necessary steps and keeping things as simple as possible.	VIEW NOW
Fred Blum, President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadephia, talked about how he found lost relatives.	VIEW NOW
Chuck Mason talked about the records that can be found in a courthouse.	VIEW NOW
Daniel Horowitz talked about his FREE internet service MyHeritage.com for sharing your family tree and photos with the people you know. It use face recognition technology to help identify unknown people in old pictures.	VIEW NOW
Fred Blum, President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadephia, talked about their August 2 to 7, 2009 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.	VIEW NOW
Mark N. Ozer would talk about his new book The Litvak Legacy.	VIEW NOW
Greg Lennon, a PhD geneticist who worked on NIH genome project explained that the true value of DNA testing for medical projections is still years off. More can be learned from ones own family history than from paying to get it done. However he favors free testing for non-profit research. He explained some very interesting unknown facts such as even within a single person, the there could be small changes within the DNA. Also identical twins do not have identity genes. He mentioned SNPedia.com a free web site which shares information about the effects of variations in DNA in peer-reviewed scientific publications.	VIEW NOW
Chuck Mason, President of the Fairfax Genealogy Society and former president of Mount Vernon Genealogical Society joined our hosts in answering the question "Why join a genealogy Society?"	VIEW NOW
Jeff Miller, President of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW), talked about why one should join a genealogy society.	VIEW NOW
Matthew E. Kaplan of the Human Origins Genotyping Laboratory at the University of Arizona, talked about different ways DNA is used. Included were National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project , genealogical testing by Family Tree DNA, the DNA Shoah Project, and conservation genetics.	VIEW NOW
David Zinner, exective director of Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington talked about Jewish funerals, burial and mourning customs.	VIEW NOW
Sydney Mandelbaum, project co-founder; Matthew E. Kaplan, research coordinator; and Janette Friedman, board member talked about the DNA Shoah Project. They are building a database of genetic material from Holocaust survivors and their immediate descendants in hopes of reuniting families disrupted by the Shoah (“Holocaust” in Hebrew).	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about many newly available sources, which are not enough for a full show, but might be important to the viewer. These include records from the City of London, Canadian and Australian passenger lists, online lists of burials at several cemeteries, and Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching System (BMPM) that appeared in recent issues of a free bi-weekly e-letter Nu What's Nu available from Avotaynu. Also mentioned were articles about using DNA from a recent issues of Smithsonian and AARR magazines.	VIEW NOW
Lindsey l. Tonsager, a lawyer in the media and comunications group at the Washingotn, D.C. office of Covington & Burling, will talk on copyright questions that may arise in the course of genealogical research and the publication of family histories and other works on genealogy.	VIEW NOW
Chuck Mason, President of the Fairfax Genealogy Society talked about probate records and estate inventories and what could be found in such records.	VIEW NOW
Charles "Chuck" Mason, Jr., CG talked about finding different types of death records such as cemetery record. burial plots and funeral home records.	VIEW NOW
Jacob Thiessen and Andrea Meyerhoff joined Arline Sachs to talked about the 2008 Conference on Jewish Genealogy that was in Chicago.	VIEW NOW
Margo Williams talked about doing Native American Research. Interesting web sites for doing this type of research are Native American Indian Genealogy, Native American Genealogy and Online Native American Indian Genealogy Records & Databases.	VIEW NOW
Margo Williams talked about doing Afro-American Research. Sites mentioned on the show were: Ancestry.com, LDS, Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County, International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry, National Archives, Virginia State Library, Virginia Genealogy at the State Library.	VIEW NOW
"Using DNA to find family" with Arline Sachs and Richard DiBuono.	VIEW NOW
Prof. Sachs and Dr. Sack discuss the emotional aspects of their recent visit to three small towns in Germany, where Jews used to live. The towns were Bad Arolson (where ITS is located), Vöhl, and Vokmassen. In each town a few local people are maintaining the Jewish cemetery, or restoring a synagogue or building a Jewish museum.	VIEW NOW
Dr. Sack and Prof. Sachs discuss their recent trip along with 38 others researchers to be the first group to do research at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolson, Germany. This is the location of all Nazi records captured by the Allied Nations. All records are cross referenced and can be searched by name. The data include DP records. One can also read about the trip in the ITS Press Release and in a AP story.	VIEW NOW
Rita Souther talked about doing American Indian research.	VIEW NOW
Rita Souther talked about the Family History Centers.	VIEW NOW
Faith Klein and Arline Sachs talked about what they do with their information.	VIEW NOW
Ruth Ellen Gruber, author of National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe will talked about what research she did in order to wrote the book. Visit her web site at ruthellengruber.com.	VIEW NOW
Sack and Sachs discussed the many research facilities that are invaluable for research but that need to be visited in person. Many places have only a small portion of their data on-line, or have only an index of their holdings. It is necessary to understand what can be found and how to access that data.	VIEW NOW
Ruth Ellen Gruber, author of National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe talked about her background for writing the book.	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack, who just returned from ITS (International Tracing Service) in Arolson, Germany explained the advantages of a person doing research there. She and Gary Mokotoff will lead the first tour there, from May 5 to 9, to do Holocaust research. The overall index which includes everyone who even asked about anyone is available only there. To register for the trip contact Gary Mokotoff.	VIEW NOW
Jeffery S. Malka will go online to show his "Sephardic Genealogy" web site "http://Sephardicgen.com".	VIEW NOW
Documentation: After interviewing family, one must follow-up by finding documentation for the people or events mentioned. The most common types of documents were discussed and sources for many were given.	VIEW NOW
Interviewing: Sallyann Sack and Arline Sachs discussed the very important activity of interviewing when beginning doing genealogy. Different techniques and methods were explained and the types of questions to be asked were mentioned.	VIEW NOW
Micheal Matsas, author of "The Illusion of Safety, the Story of Greek Jews during the Second World War" talked about his book and where he found the information. One place was the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.	VIEW NOW
Paul Shapiro, director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, talked about the 50 million pages of information of the International Tracing Service. Some of the data have been received with additional data arriving over the next few years. Shapiro also suggested how to access the information. Slides of Incarceration, Forced Laborer, Post-War, Auxiliary Indexes and Non-Personal Documents.	VIEW NOW
The 10th anniversary show reviewed some of the highlights of past shows and previewed upcoming topics. One new web site mentioned was Famillion.com, which is a world wide family record project that will try to connect people all over the world.	VIEW NOW
"The Source, A Guidebook to American Genealogy" is the definitive reference for genealogical research in the US. New in this edition are materials on doing research on the internet, something genealogists now need to learn. Also mentioned was a new web site call Footnote.com where 2 millions National Archives' images are being added each month.	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack talked about her 30 years of researching her maternal Amdur line from her home. Before the internet was available, she used only the telephone and wrote letters. Just recently she and a relative in Australia prepared a web page for Almdur family tree. While doing this she realized again how important it was to review all gathered information periodly. She finally realized how someone she had corresponded with 20 years ago was related.	VIEW NOW
Elias Savada tells us about the various resources he uses to trace his family in New York City. His guide was the book "Genealogical Resources in New York" published by the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York. His uses the microfilms of vital records at the New Your City Municipal Archives. Before going there, he assembles a chronological list of records he wants to examine/photocopy by using databases from the German and Italian Genealogical Groups. Steven Morse’s website makes searching these databases much easier. Savada places all the retrieved certificate numbers into a computer spreadsheet and sorts it by date to make finding the information at the Municipal Archives easier. He also mentions that pictures of many tombstones from upstate New York are found at JewishData.Com and the New York Times which can be found at some local county libraries that subscribe to ProQuest.	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about different phonetic algorithm "Soundex" for indexing names by sound, not by spelling, in different databases with names.	VIEW NOW
Logan Kleinwaks has a venture to link persons interested in specific Pages of Testimony (PoT). It is called ShoahConnect. A user who go to the Pages of Testimony site and flags all PoT of interest. If two of more people flag the same PoT, they all receive notice of the match. The mechanism is external to the Yad Vashem site; the potential matches are stored by ShoahConnect. It uses the Google Toolbar, which must be installed, to flag the PoT of interest. The fact that you are looking for people associated with a particular PoT is not noted at the Yad Vashem site (it would require the cooperation of Yad Vashem itself). It only creates a match if another person using the ShoahConnect system expresses interest in the same PoT.	VIEW NOW
Herbert Huebscher talked about WIRTH surname DNA group with Family Tree DNA of which he is the administrator. He began testing others with his surname. None of them matched him. However, he matched another person with an different surname. Over time more men were tested;, now there are 43 families for this subset from Eastern Europe and Spain. The common ancester could be any where between 1200 and 1700. Since some of the group are Levites, this indicated that they all should be also, but in several families this knowledge was lost. Future plans include making a group tree to show where each family fits. He also told about some interesting facts of the some of the participants in his group.	VIEW NOW
Bennett Greenspan, President and CEO of Family Tree DNA, talked about how to determine whether two males are relative by the testing of the DNA's Y chromosome. His company has such a large data base that everyone should find some match. Having additional markers tested will reduce the number of generations back of the common ancestor. The DNA can show where you come from and could identify a Semetic or other ancester group. Mr. Greenspan explained how the sample are taken and the steps his company take to eliminate the possiblity of laboratory error.	VIEW NOW
Genealogists are very good at doing research and collecting many facts about our families. For a number of reasons, however, most of us delay publishing the results of this research. Mike Karsen, a professional genealogist, explained how to write your family history in books that vary from a simple 30 pages to one that contains detailed biographies and places your family in historical context. Your goal should be to organize your findings and share them with your family NOW!.	VIEW NOW
From the Chicago Jewish community's origins in the 1840s, the city has been home to a great number of Jews. Mike Karsen, author of Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Chicagoland, highlights the major sources for tracing your Jewish roots in Chicago.	VIEW NOW
Iris Posner, president of "One Thousand Children" spoke of her role in finding the identifying about 1400 unaccompanied children who were rescued from the Holocaust during the years 1934 through the end of the war in 1945. These children whose ages varied from a few months to sixteen years old usually came to the United States in small groups of about 10 and were then sent to various homes throughout the country. Few ever saw both parents again. Note: The location of the One Thousand Children archives is at YIVO in New York City.	VIEW NOW
Benjamin B. Terner explained how he encouraged and helped people to write their family memoirs as short stories. By giving people one topic, such as 'your mother' to write about, successive meetings end with a creative description of the family one knew.	VIEW NOW
Sirak Sabahat, an Ethiopian Jew, who is the lead actor of the award winning film "Live and Become" talked about his pre-Taludic roots.	VIEW NOW
Suzanne Levy, librarian of the Virginia Room at the Fairfax County library in Fairfax City, Virginia explained how the library has become a major resource for Jewish genealogy. She showed some of the reference materials that are available there and explained how individuals can make use of these resources, some of which are online. She also mentioned how local libraries are a useful source for doing genealogical research.	VIEW NOW
Library of Congress Online Catalogs with Dr. Peggy Perlstein. Included were Print and Photographs, Sound Online Inventory & Catalog, Basic Search and Guided Search, and Other Libraries'Catalogs. [LOC modified their web site since this show was taped.]	VIEW NOW
Edward David Luft explained how he located where a missing ancestor not originally find in the 1860 census was by using tax records at the National Archives and land maps at the Library of Congress. Books mentioned were A Checklist of the Nineteenth Century County Maps in the Library of Congress and United States Department of Commerce's "Twenty Censuses: Population and Housing Questions, 1790-1980"	VIEW NOW
Sallyann Sack talked about the International Institue for Jewish Genealogy. It is located at the Jewish National and Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem. She head the founding committee for this professionsl reseach organization.	VIEW NOW
Our hosts goes online to demonstrate the following free websites that they found to be useful in their own genealogy: Family Search, Steven Morse, Hamburg Records, Yad Vashem, JewishGen and Avotaynu.	VIEW NOW
Leon B. Taranto spoke about offline resources for Turkey and Greece that he used researching his family. Web sites mentioned were Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Review and Society, American Sephardi Federation, The Rhodes Jewish Museum, Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture and Sefard SIG.	VIEW NOW
"Why Jewish Genealogical Societies?" The Jews, like the Poles or Italians, have special needs in tracing their roots based on their customs and where they were living.	VIEW NOW
*Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy. A book edited by host Sally Amdur Sack. It is the definitive guide to Jewish genealogical research. Written by more than 60 authors, all experts in their own field. The list of authors is a veritable "Who's Who in Jewish Genealogy." Its more than 100 chapters cover all important aspects of the rich body of information available to do Jewish genealogical research. Also shown was co-hosts Arline Sachs' book The Dairies of Bernhard Cahn*. Both books can be ordered from Avotaynu.	VIEW NOW
Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, editor of National Genealogical Society Quarterly talked about the skill set and knowledge base for effective genealogical research. Web sites mentioned were Samford University's Institute on Genealogical and Historical Research National Institute on Genealogical Research Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy National Genealogical Society NGS online learning center BYU free Web courses National Institute for Genealogical Studies	VIEW NOW
Sonia Rosa-Velez and Eliud Bonilla both with long family histories of living in Puerto Rico talked about what happened when their families had their DNA tested. Both were surprised that they have the J2 haplotype that is very common among Jews, leading them to suspect that their ancestors were ‘hidden Jews'. [ Sonia Rosa-Velez web site].	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about methodology for beginning genealogical research. The discussion was based on the first chapter, Methodology: How to be a Genealogist by Eileen Polakoff, from the book Avotaynu - Guide to Jewish Genealogy.	VIEW NOW
Carol Whitton talked about reading old handwriting and German Script and gave the following helpful English sources: Kip Sperry's Reading Early American Handwriting Kent P Bailey and Ransom B. True's A Guide to Seventeenth- Century Virginia Court Handwriting and helpful German sources: Roger P. Minert's Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents, analyzing German, Latin, and French in vital records witten in Germany Edna Bentz's If I Can, You Can Decipher German Records. English Web Sites: Roots Web's Old Alpha Letters Ancestry.com's Tips for Reading Early American Handwriting USGS Geographic Names Information System German Web Sites: genealogy.net's Old German handwritten Scripts National Geospatial Intelligence Agency's GEOnet Names Server genealogy.net's German Town Locator by Arthur Teschler	VIEW NOW
Our hosts talked about Yizkor (Memorial) Books written to remember villages destroyed during the Holocaust. Most of these books were written by survivors and include a history of the town, testimonials, lists of survivors, and lists of those who perished.	VIEW NOW
Stephen H. Snell talked about the initial steps that have been taken in planning the Snell family reunion for October 2009. First he had to find others people who are descened from the Thomas Snell who came over from England in the 1639. Some interested respondents became planning committee for the reunion. The committee created into four subgroups - arrangement, history, DNA and publicity. The book used for planning the meeting was Great Meeting, Great Results by Dee Kelsey and Pam Plumb.	VIEW NOW
Richard DiBuono talked about doing research on the web and in Italy. The following sites were mentioned on the show. All encompassing and best is Cyndi's List-Italy/Italia Mormon Church (LDS) Genealogy Website Ellis Island Immigration Records (from 1892) Family Immigration History Center Castle Garden, N.Y. Immigration Records (from 1830 - 1892) POINT organization (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together) Italy World Club Italian Genealogical Society of America Regalis: Guide to Italian Genealogy Research Italian Genealogical Group Roots Web (including USGen Web and WorldGen Web projects) Italiamerica (partly commercial) Ancestry.com (fully commercial): www.ancestry.com	VIEW NOW
Downsizing and preserving your valuable documents.	VIEW NOW
Olga Zabludoff talked about how she help restored an old cemetery in Butrimonys, Lithuania.	VIEW NOW

Naomi Baumslag, MD, MPH talked about her book Murderous Medicine Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus. More than 1.5 million concentration camp prisoners plus others in ghettos died of typhus, a preventable disease because Nazi Germany deliberately sought to create environments that would engender typhus.
Sallyann Sack spoke about a future project of the International Institue for Jewish Genealogy which is to reconstruct Holocaust destroyed communities. In one town already use as a test, family trees in the form of 25 GEDCOM files were combined using GenMerge. The results discovered over 30 additional names of unknown persons missing.
Peter Lande talked about the possible access to the International Tracing Service data now that the Germany government has change their position on making them available to other governments.
Resources an author of an article in Avotaynu used to trace some of distance cousins.
Warren L. Miller, Commission Chairman of the US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad talked about the Commission which was created by Congress in 1985 in response to concerns about the deterioration and destruction of cultural sites in Eastern and Central Europe of significance to U.S. citizens.

Click here for shows taped in earlier years

Web Sites Mentioned on Most Shows

Avotaynu
JewishGen
Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW)
Steven Morse

Do you want to see the shows on your local cable access TV?

It is easily done but your have to do some work. Each local cable access station has its own rules, but generally if you are a resident of that area, you can ask them to run specific shows. Contact your local station and find out exactly what their requirements are to carry this show. Tell them the shows are available free for download in MPEG2 format from PegMedia.org, a free media transfer site for PEG (Public, Education, Government) community television stations. Some of the stations that have the show on a weekly schedule are Howard (MD)Community College, Missoula (MT)Community Access Television, Newmarket (NH) Channel 13, Germantown (TN) Community Television, Raymond (NH) Community TV, and Carroll (MD) Community College. Check the station web site for times of the show.

For information about the series, e-mail the producer Sidney Sachs.