Not a Boring Board Meeting

Today was the quarterly board meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS).  As the society's publicity director, I am a board member and have the pleasure of meeting four times a year with the rest of the board to plan the activities and direction of our group.

One of the most exciting things we are planning for this year is a series of activities in conjunction with International Jewish Genealogy Month (IJGM).  IJGM is a program of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and is celebrated during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, which this year runs from October 29-November 26 on the secular calendar.  The purpose of International Jewish Genealogy Month is to make the public aware of the hobby of genealogy and the fact that there is a local Jewish genealogical society that can help them get started on their research.

The tentative schedule calls for events on the four Sundays of IJGM.  Our plans are to start on October 30 with an open house where people can come to get a general overview of family history research and help in getting started.  Volunteer genealogists will be available to answer genealogy questions and provide individual research assistance.  Presentations on the following three Sundays will cover an introduction to Jewish genealogy, publishing your family history, and the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library.

Some of the other things we discussed today are a possible transcription project of births, marriages, and deaths appearing in a local Jewish newspaper, and participation in Family History Day and Family History Expo in October.  It looks like a busy year ahead!