Vancouver BC: Writing family stories, memoirs

If you’ve been thinking of collecting family stories for your children and grandchildren, then this workshop is for you – if you live within reach of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Jewish Museum & Archives of BC will present a “Writing Family Stories and Memoirs” workshop, by Lil Blume on Sunday, November 8.

Stories passed from one generation to the next carry the values, culture, and unique mythology of that family. Knowing our family’s stories solidifies our sense of belonging. If you have been thinking of collecting family stories for your children and grandchildren, then this workshop is for you.

Writer and editor, Lil Blume, will give you ideas for reviving memories and writing and organizing your family story project. Come prepared to do some writing and storytelling.

The session takes place from 1-5pm at the Jewish Community Center where the Museum & Archives are located.

The fee is $30 for JGSBC members; $35 for others. Seating is limited; call 604-257-5199 to register.

Vancouver, BC: Jewish Museum, Archive events, September

The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia sponsors tours and talks on various regional aspects. The Vancouver institution’s next two events cover Vancouver’s Art Deco Bridges and a cemetery tour including the Beth Israel Cemtery.

The last scheduled Jewish walking tour of this season is from 1.30-3.30pm, Thursday, September 17

Tuesday, September 8, 7.30-9pm

Vancouver’s Art Deco Bridges will include Lions Gate and the Burrard Bridge, by author and historian Donald Luxton. The program includes the history and construction of the bridges, archival images and footage, along with updates on their current preservation.

This is in conjunction with the Jewish Museum and Archives’ current exhibit, Vancouver: Bridging its History 1895-1980.

The exhibit features hundreds of black-and-white photos of area bridges shot by Otto F. Landauer, the city’s renowned mid-century Modernist Jewish photographer. Images were selected from the The Leonard Frank Photos Studio fonds. Frank, whose early bridge photos are also on display, was a famed Vancouver Jewish photographer.

The Frank collection is one of the largest held by the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, covering 1880-1983 with nearly 40,000 images. German Jews Leonard and Bernard Frank later sold their studio to Landauer, who operated it until his death.

Luxton is president of Heritage Vancouver and the Canadian Art Deco Society, and co-author of the award-winning book “Lions Gate,” and author of the Burrard Bridge Heritage Study.

Sunday, September 13, 10am-12.30pm

There will be a Masonic and Beth Israel Cemetery Tour.Tour two side-by-side little-known Burnaby cemeteries.

At the Masonic Cemetery, learn about a fallen police officer, an Olympic gold medalist, a Victoria Cross winner, Mr. Whistle and the Woodward Mausoleum. At the Beth Israel Cemetery, Jewish burial traditions and biographies will be explored.

This is presented in collaboration with the Burnaby Village Museum (registration required; tickets $10.50; click on the website for more information). Tracing the Tribe had trouble connecting with this URL and it’s possible the site is being worked on.

Jews of the Gold Rush

The blogosphere has a new entry called Jews of the Gold Rush.

Currently, there are only four entries (the blog went live in July), and the entries are only photographs (no text) of gravestones, homes and plaques.

There seems to be nothing about the Sacramento-based author, other than the name Toldot (generations, in Hebrew), but the topic is certainly interesting.

[NOTE: Bob Wascou of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento emailed Tracing the Tribe on August 13, informing us know that Toldot is Victoria Fisch. She is working on a project documenting Northern California resources for a future Avotaynu book.]

Many Jews caught gold fever and tried their luck in Northern California, Nevada, Colorado, Alaska, British Columbia and Australia, as discoveries were announced. Abandoned cemeteries with obviously Jewish gravestones can be found in many of these areas, indicating that Members of the Tribe were among the pioneers.

Tracing the Tribe has previously blogged about these pioneers, so for more information, view these posts:

Resources: Gold Rush Jews

Seattle: Schwabacher & Co. (Klondike Gold Rush)

British Columbia: Pioneer Jewish History (BC’s Gold Rush)

19th Century Jewish Businesswomen

Washington: Bellingham’s Jewish History

Brown University’s rare maps (California Gold Rush maps, among others)

Australia: Virtual Jewish Tour

There are others that mention Gold Rush Jews; Use Tracing the Tribe’s Google search box for “gold rush” and see what else is there.

Welcome to Jews of the Gold Rush!

label posts B

label posts B

Next stops: Seattle, WA; Vancouver, BC

Hello, readers.

I’ve been traveling up the West Coast, from Los Angeles to Los Altos to Monterey and north again to San Francisco to attend the American Jewish Press Association conference.

At the meeting of the JGS of San Francisco Bay, the fascinating topic was pre-1906 earthquake records. The JGS is involved in indexing many pertinent Jewish records.

In a week, I’ll be in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, B.C. to speak and visit with friends and family.

From 10 a.m.-noon Sunday, July 1, I’m speaking to a Sephardic/Mizrahi group in Seattle’s Seward Park neighborhood for those whose families come from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran. It is part of a worldwide effort to preserve Sephardic and Mizrahi experiences and history.

For information on reservations and address, contact chair Albert Israel, jewishalbert@yahoo.com. For more information, click here.

I will be in Vancouver for a meeting jointly sponsored by the Jewish Genealogy Institute of British Columbia and the new Jewish Museum and Archives, at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Vancouver, 950 W. 41st Avenue, at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 8.

Back in Seattle on Monday, July 9, I’ll speak at 7 p.m. at Mercer Island’s Stroum Jewish Community Center, co-sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State and the Jewish Education Council of the Seattle Jewish Federation, as part of their Summer University series.

For more information, click here, or email AdultEd@JewishInSeattle.org.

I’m looking forward to these opportunities to encourage everyone to begin preserving unique family histories.

In the next few days, I’ll be posting a batch of new entries, so stay tuned!

With best wishes,

Schelly