A New Home: Jewish Genealogical Society's Library Relocates to Sandler Center
BY RUTHE HUNN FORKUSH
Journal Staff Writer
The Rose Merry L. Plough Resource and Reading Center at the Phyllis & Harvey Sandler Center for Jewish Life Enhancement is the new home of the Jewish Genealogical Socity of Palm Beach County's Library.
While the library will not be open to the public until Nov. 2 when it is officially dedicated, members of the Genealogical Society will have access to the genealogy books by appointment only.
"We moved the collection from its former home at Florida Atlantic University, after seven or eight years, because of the lack of parking at FAU," Ben Karliner said. "Those who are members of the Palm Beach Genealogical Society can make appointments to view our holdings now. After the library opens in November, there should be enough volunteers to cover morning and afternoons so the general public can use our books to do reserach. We have over 175 hardcover books and cartons of newsletters and publications form various Jewish genealogical societies from around the world."
Sylvia Furshman Nusinov remembered the early days of the JGS when some members kept the reference books in their homes.
"We looked at different venues and then Helene and Ben Seaman suggested the library at the Sandler Center," Nusinov said. "Ben 'took the bull by the horns' and they have been very nice to us at the center. The facility they have is great. We have a committee of volunteers to work every day but an appointment has to be made."
The Palm Beach County Library System ahs a strong interest in genealogy research and the library system is working to offer this research to the community. Banks of computers with Internet access are now available in almost all of the branches and all branches offer free access to the Internet and all of the Ancestry.com databases.
The Family History Center in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints building in Boca Raton has received a donation form the center of the new Dell Dimension computers with 17" Monitors Technical Systems.
This donation will allow community members to access its records in the center, as well as search the Internet fo their ancestors and build links to their families. The FAmily History Center is nonprofit but charges a $1 usage fee, and no time limit unless someone is waiting.
Ancestry.com is fully loaded, usable, and was donated to all 3,700 Family History Centers by Ancestry headquarters in Salk Lake.
For those who are planning to travel this summer, another idea is attending the 23rd annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy that will be in Washington D.C. from July 20-25.
A special after-hours tour and reception at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and two tickets for admission to the museum at any time during the week will be given.
There will also be unique programs presented throughout the conference by experts from the Library of Congres, National Archives, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, U.S. Immigration and Naturalizatoin Service, and other major genealogy research institutions.
There will also be a chance to inspect and select from the books, software, and supplies of diverse genealogy publishers and vendors, Internet, databse, and software access, as well as computer software demonstrations and instruction, films, special exhibits, book and author discussions, and much more.
The conference will offer sessions for all levels and intersts. A "Beginner's Workshop" will occupy the first day of the conference, orientation sessions to major records repositories follow on Monday and Tuesday, as well as others dealing with further advanced topics. The conference is especailly focusing on offering several talks on each of the following major countries-- Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Galicia, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Turkey (and other Sephardic countries, a growing area of research) and Ukraine.
A gala banquet will feature a talk by Hadassah Lieberman
For information on the Washington Conference, call Joel Sisitzky at (561) 477-9246. To make an appointment to view genealogy books call Sylvia Furshman Nusinov at (561) 483-1060.
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This page created and maintained by Heidi Estrin, heidi@cbiboca.org. Last updated May 27, 2003.
