Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento

05/06/2026

DATE TBA for “How to Write a Family Narrative,” with Victoria Fisch.

This is the second part of professional genealogist’s Victoria Fisch’s presentation: “I’ve done the research, now what?”

If you think you’ve come to a possible stopping point in your research (and let’s be honest, is there ever really a stopping point?)
and you don’t know what to do next, our next Zoom presentation by Victoria Fisch will give you direction.

If you've realized it’s time to do something with all those records, she will also discuss how to prepare for and create final products that will preserve your efforts and ensure that your hard-earned discoveries can be passed on to your children, grandchildren, and other members of your family.

Society members will receive a comprehensive handout.

FREE REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Use this link to register: https://tinyurl.com/JGSS-24May2026-Register

Watch for PART 2 on JUNE 14th: HOW TO WRITE A FAMILY HISTORY
Victoria Fisch is past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento, past northern California Editor of Western States Jewish History journal. She is a full-time professional genealogist, in partnership with her husband, Jeremy Frankel. See less
Sacramento, California

04/25/2026

“I’ve Done My Research, Now What?” with Victoria Fisch

Sunday, May 24, 2026, 10 a.m. to Noon on Zoom

If you think you’ve come to a possible stopping point in your research (and let’s be honest, is there ever really a stopping point?) and you don’t know what to do next, or realized it’s time to do something with all those records, Victoria Fisch’s presentation will give direction.

Victoria will discuss how to prepare for and create final products to preserve your efforts and ensure that your hard-earned discoveries can be passed to your children, grandchildren and other family members. Better yet, your documentation will be easily available, understandable and in a format that will provoke interest. Instead of your work being stored away and never accessed, it will enjoy a prominent place among your family’s treasures.

FREE REGISTRATION LINK HERE:
https://tinyurl.com/JGSS-24May2026-Register

This program will be presented in two parts, on May 24 and June 14.

Victoria Fisch is past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento, past Northern California editor of Western States Jewish History Journal and was a board member of the Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries in the California Gold Country. She is a full-time professional genealogist in partnership with her husband, Jeremy Frankel (past president of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society).



https://www.jewishgen.org/jgs-sacramento/

Sunday, June 14, 2026, 10 a.m. to Noon on Zoom

“How to Write a Family Narrative,” Victoria Fisch
This is the second part of professional genealogist’s Victoria Fisch’s presentation.

FREE REGISTRATION LINK HERE: https://tinyurl.com/JGSS-14Jun2026-Register

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: JGSS Meeting - "I've done the research. Now what?". After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

04/21/2026

Don't miss this important lecture from THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY on April 28 at 10am on Zoom.

In the 1780s, thousands of Jews in Habsburg Galicia adopted new family names, many of which are still in use today. This lecture presents a historical reassessment of the topic based on recently discovered archival materials and a detailed analysis of thousands of surnames.

Register here and pay what you wish. https://programs.cjh.org/event/family-history-today-2026-04-28

Presenter: Johannes Czakai, PhD, historian, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Center for Jewish History: Calendar of Events

03/16/2026

Join us on Zoom: Sunday, April 19 at 10 a.m. for “Travel Your Tree: Walking in Your Ancestors’ Footsteps” with Lisa Vogele.

Lisa Vogele will help us discover how to personally trace our ancestors' paths, whether it's visiting battlefields where your forebears fought, exploring ancestral villages, or connecting with distant relatives. Learn expert tips for planning your journey and forging meaningful connections along the way.

Vogele, a professional genealogist with 20 years of experience, is the owner of Travel Your Tree () a family history research and heritage travel company. Her expertise includes late 19th-20th century United States research and immigration. She is the author of “Food & Folklore: A Year of Italian Festivals,” a guidebook to assist travelers with incorporating heritage festivals into their itineraries, get off the beaten path, and experience local culture through food and historic events. Her travel tips have been featured in the Huffington Post, 1000TravelTips.com, and Dream of Italy. Vogele is currently in Italy for two months, having won the Association of Professional Genealogists inaugural fellowship and is studying in the Italian archives.

All are welcome to attend. Registration Required at jgss.org.

02/17/2026

Join us on Zoom on Sunday, March 15 at 10 a.m. for “Translating the Sephardic Diaspora Through Poetry,” with Rachel Kaufman.

Rachel Kaufman (https://rachel-kaufman.com/) is a poet, teacher and PhD candidate in Latin American and Jewish history at UCLA. In her poetry collection, “Many to Remember,” her book unravels the histories of New Mexican Crypto-Jews and the Mexican Inquisition alongside the poet’s own Ashkenazi family histories.

In this talk, she will discuss the history of the expulsion, the Latin American Jewish archive and the ways poetry can translate faint histories in the archive.

Rachel’s work has appeared on www.poets.org, in the Harvard Review, the Yale Historical Review, the Los Angeles Review of books and other publications. She is a Fulbright-Hays Scholar.

All are welcome to attend. FREE ZOOM REGISTRATION REQUIRED at : https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/vaVrxCHBRw6UramlOsFYww

01/28/2026

Join us on Sunday, February 15 at 10 a.m. for
“An Update on the Powerhouse JRI-Poland Website” with Robinn Magid .

JRI-Poland (www.JRI-Poland.org) is the powerhouse Jewish genealogy website for former regions of the Austrian Empire and Poland. Magid will describe new sections of the site that make research easier and more organized, including updates to the Town Explorer, Project Explorer, interactive mapping and inclusion of new sources, such as within Galician town records.

Magid is president of JRI-Poland.org and has served as a town leader, area coordinator and liaison to the Lublin branch of the Polish State Archives. She was honored by the City of Lublin, Poland – her grandmother’s hometown – for inspiring the future and cultural identity of that city of 450,000 people on its 700th birthday in 2017. A speaker at many IAJGS conferences, she chaired the 2018 conference in Warsaw. Magid received the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to Jewish genealogy.

All are welcome to attend. REGISTER HERE for the FREE Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ySI9nFbKQSC656GFHVzVZw

07/09/2025

Program this Sunday

July 13, 2025
10 a.m. to noon

“How did they get from There to Here?

Speaker: Emily Garber

Join us this Sunday for a fascinating presentation on how our European ancestors traveled from their homes to ports of embarkation. Researchers will gain an understanding of overland routes used between 1880 and 1914 and what travelers may have experienced on their journeys.

Gazetteers, Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, the Jewish Colonization Association’s Algemeyne Yediot, maps, and immigrant journals will be discussed.

Emily Garber, an anthropological archaeologist by training, has been researching her family history since 2007. She holds a certificate from Boston University's Genealogical Research Program and is Secretary of the IAJGS. She chairs the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group and is on the board of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society.

Emily's blog is at https://extrayad.blogspot.com/

All are welcome to attend this Zoom meeting. Please use this link to register.
https://tinyurl.com/muu725rp

03/12/2025

Don't forget to register for Sunday's program. Find us at jgss.org and look for the 2025 calendar listing.

Send a message to learn more

03/09/2025

https://jweekly.com/2025/02/27/archaeology-students-excavating-warsaws-main-jewish-cemetery-are-uncovering-a-forgotten-world/

In a secluded burial ground blanketed with tragedy and neglect, a group of young people are revealing fragments of Poland’s Jewish past.

02/11/2025

How to Build Your Online Family Tree
is the topic for Sunday's program presented by
the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento.

This will be a live web demonstration with step-by-step instructions on creating a family tree using the Ancestry.com online platform. Among the topics covered will be how to ensure that your trees are private, how to correct entries, manipulate generational relationships, collect and attach data, and use a timeline for notes.

Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 10:00 am PST

For registration - please follow this link:
https://tinyurl.com/5n7u6tzu

LINK TO OUR WEBSITE HERE: jgss.org

Send a message to learn more