Pricing
£5 for members; £10 for non-members
Programme for JGSGB Annual Conference
1.30 to 1.45 Welcome. Leigh Dworkin, JGSGB Chairman.
1.45 to 2.45 Talk 1 Prof Tony Kushner – the Jewish pedlar an untold criminal history
2.45 to 2.55 Break
3.00 to 4.00 Talk 2 Emily Garber – When It Takes a Village
4.00 to 4.10 Break
4.15 to 5.15 Talk 3 Adam Brown – The genetic origins of the Jewish people
5.15 to 5.30 Closing remarks. Michael Tobias OBE, JGSGB President
5.30 Close
1) The Jewish Pedlar – an untold criminal history by Prof Tony Kushner
It’s evening at a remote Sussex pub in 1734 and a vicious triple murder has just taken place. Jacob
Harris – a Jewish pedlar, smuggler and possible highwayman – stands accused of slitting the throats
of the publican, his ill wife and a female servant.
Tony has studied the case for his latest book, The Jewish Pedlar: An Untold Criminal History. The point of
interest for him was not whether Harris was guilty (he probably was). Or even whether – despite the
seriousness of the crime – he was a victim of English antisemitism in everything from the newspaper
coverage to the way he was later remembered. He was more interested in a series of questions about
Harris’s background and motivations.
About Tony Kushner
Professor Tony Kushner is Professor of History at the University of Southampton. He specialises in the history of Jewish migration, refugee studies and the representation and memory of the Holocaust. With this in mind, he has published widely including Journeys from the Abyss: The Holocaust and forced migration from the 1880s to the present (Liverpool University Press, 2017).
He is a long standing member of the History Department and Parkes Institute working in the wide field of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, including comparative migration and refugee studies; history, memory and heritage; and the history of racisms. His ongoing project is a study of pedlars, crime and Jewish identity from the eighteenth to the twenty first centuries.
2) "When It Takes a Village: Applying Cluster and Collateral Research Techniques" by Emily Garber
Sometimes tracking one’s ancestors tests all one’s research acumen. Identifying subject ancestors, their origins, and parentage; tracking them through time and space; and constructing biographies to place them in their social context is best approached by broadening one’s research to include family members, associates and neighbours. This presentation will outline a program for solving genealogical problems via cluster and collateral research techniques. Topics will include: appropriate application, commonly used resources and documents, and case studies successfully tracking individuals despite seemingly meagre clues, overcoming name and residential changes and using DNA evidence.
About Emily Garber
An archaeologist by training (B.A., and M.A.), Emily Garber is a Jewish family history researcher, writer and speaker. She holds a certificate from Boston University's Genealogical Research program and owns Extra Yad Genealogical Services.
Emily blogs at https://extrayad.blogspot.com/, has written two books and several articles that have appeared in Avotaynu and NGS Magazine. She has spoken at National Genealogical Society and IAJGS conferences and coordinated week-long Jewish genealogy seminars for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.
She is chair of the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group, Vice President of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, and a director on the board of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society.
3) The Genetic Origins and Migrations of the Jewish People by Adam Brown
Under the auspices of the Technion (Israel’s MIT), the Avotaynu DNA Project is a landmark scientific study that has tested over a thousand men in far-flung Jewish communities from China to Surinam. Project Administrator Adam Brown will describe what the Project has learnt thus far about Jewish origins, as well as the latest discoveries about our migrations during the last 3,000 years of Jewish history.
About Adam Brown
Adam R. Brown is a driving force in Jewish genetic genealogy and the Managing Editor of Avotaynu Online. He also administers the collaborative Avotaynu DNA Project with several thousand participants.
Adam has worked extensively in all major online genealogical platforms and as a volunteer Geni curator has helped countless users develop their own collaborative online projects focused on Ashkenazi and Sephardi families and their communities.
The Avotaynu DNA Project is re-writing what is known about Jewish history, especially Sephardic history. Not only are we now better understanding the genetic make-up of individual Jewish families and communities, but their pre-histories.
Adam has written and lectured extensively on genealogical topics relating to online collaboration, DNA, and technology. He was the co-chair of the 2017 IAJGS international summer conference on Jewish genealogy. He speaks frequently on topics pertaining to DNA, Jewish history, and the application of technology to genealogical pursuits.