Yizkor books, or Jewish memorial books, offer family historians a goldmine of information on ancestors, places of origin, religious movements, industrial trends, and Holocaust history. On Sunday, January 30, Rachel Jablon, PhD Candidate in Jewish Literature presents “Ever Hear of a Yizkor Book? Required Reading for Researching Jewish Community History and Tracing Family Roots.”

This presentation will cover the history and historiography of Yizkor books: what they are, when they came to be, where they come from, why they were published, who put them together, and how to use them. We will view digital examples and translations. A list of repositories which hold Yizkor books will be provided. If you have a Yizkor book, please bring it to show.

Rachel Leah Jablon is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Maryland. Her dissertation, “Digital Legacies: Community, the Holocaust, and the Internet,” examines the influence of Jewish genealogy on Holocaust memorialization, especially in an online environment. She served as DU’s Posen Visiting Lecturer of Secular Jewish Culture in 2006 and as the Holocaust Awareness Institute’s Scholar-in-Residence in 2007.

At Congregation Har HaShem,  3950 Baseline Road (South Building), Boulder. 10AM-Noon No cost. Open to everyone.

For information about beginner workshops, mentoring, and a list of upcoming programs of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado, visit www.JGSCO.org or info@JGSCO.org.