The Museum of Family History
HONORING AND PRESERVING THE MEMORY OF OUR ANCESTORS
FOR THE PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

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Opportunities

The Museum of Family History has been created with a dual purpose. The first is to create some sort of tangible, albeit virtual, form that would represent and honor the history of my own extended family.  This, generally speaking, would have only been of interest to my family and to others who might share some sort of non-familial connection. The second purpose is to educate and inform everyone about the history of the Jewish people, especially from the time in which they lived in Eastern Europe, to the years they spent in whatever country they would eventually call their new home. As it has turned out, this website is more about the families of others, which pleases me greatly as the Museum strives to be inclusive and become a lasting tribute to other families as well.

Creating such a virtual museum, i.e. a museum that exists only on the Internet, has its advantages and offers unique opportunities. Such a museum does not require the raising of funds (though contributions are gratefully accepted and greatly appreciated) to erect an actual building, but can be created by a person with the imagination, time, knowledge and the means to do so, not to mention the material to fill such a museum. Such as it is, a virtual (Internet-only) museum can only be filled with that which attracts the senses of sight and sound (at least until an olfactory chip is invented). The Museum of Family History to a great degree is composed of photographs and text and is somewhat interactive. At present there are a many sound clips that are included in a good number of exhibitions, with more to come. There is also many video clips on this site as well. Of course, how successful the Museum will be will dependent on the generosity and thoughtfulness of others who are themselves the repositories and archives of their own family history, and to whom I am already beholden.

In this vein, the only limitation is time and material. Therefore, I would like to share a portion of the space available to my website with others, as long as it fits in with the goals of the museum. I am hoping that many of you will be willing to share photographs, stories, articles, etc. with the museum, perhaps creating your own "traveling" exhibition so that it can proudly be displayed for all to see. If you are inclined to undertake such a project, please contact the museum with the specifics before you get started, with an estimate of the time it will take you to prepare such an exhibition. The Museum can be contacted at postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com. Such an exhibition would be best if it was a combination of photographs and text and reflected the overall principles of the museum.

There will be many exhibitions in the future that will require additional photographs, not just from the European countries, but also from countries like the United States, Israel, Australia and those in Latin America. If you have photographs that you are willing to share, i.e. that the museum can place in various exhibitions, please contact the museum. The same request is made to all those who have the ability to write well. Also volunteers are needed to transcribe, also to translate from Yiddish to English (the printed word). If anyone has the requisite knowledge to write for the museum and wishes to do so on a volunteer basis, please let me know. Lastly, this museum is always interested in hearing your ideas about how to make the website better, so please don't hesitate to present them.

From time to time, please check the "Call Box" below, where the museum will be asking for certain types of material that is needed, that might be included in future exhibitions. Your help and contributions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 Call Box:

1. Family photographs from Europe, up until 1950, especially Eastern Europe. For each photograph, if possible, please identify the people, as well as the year the photo was taken and the town the people in the photo came from..

2. Modern-day photographs taken of various towns and cities in Eastern Europe.

 

3. Family photographs, up until 1950, from anywhere else in the world, that have the name (and preferably the address) of a photographic studio either imprinted on the photo itself, or on the matte that surrounds the photo.

 

4. Personal recollections, anecdotes, etc. of family life in the shtetls/towns/cities of Europe up through the end of World War II, preferably with photographs.

 

5. Photographs, recollections, anecdotes, etc. of your experience or that of family members, in the Yiddish theatre or in vaudeville, from anywhere in the world.

6. Photographs of any Holocaust memorials from anywhere in the world. Please visit the current exhibitions that display memorial photos from New York, New Jersey and various countries in Eastern Europe.

7. Testimony of family experiences in Europe during World War II and the Holocaust.

 

8. Photographs of the Buchenwald concentration camp, whether they be old photographs or photographs taken during a visit to the memorial site.

9. Photographs of the synagogues of Europe, either new or old, along with personal recollections of the synagogues of one's own ancestral town there.

10. Personal recollections and photos from the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York.

11. Old photos and recollections of visits to Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, preferably pre-1950.
 

 


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