Jewish historical photo expert to speak Feb. 21 for Jewish Genealogical Society free webinar

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois member Ava "Sherlock" Cohn will present a free webinar called "Clued-In: Interpreting Real Photo Postcards from the Diaspora" at 1 p.m. CST, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, for the JGSI virtual monthly meeting. After that talk, from about 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., Ava will analyze a limited number of old family history photos submitted by JGSI members. Register/RSVP at: https://jgsi.org/event-3980888.

Ava Cohn, "Sherlock Cohn, The Photo Genealogist," is an internationally-known expert on Jewish family photographs. She holds a degree from Brandeis University with coursework in decorative arts, art history and costume history at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Recognizing the need for accurate dating of Jewish photographs with specialized knowledge of immigrant and Eastern European culture and traditions, she devotes her work, almost exclusively, to Jewish family photographs from throughout the world. In addition to being a popular speaker and writer on photography and genealogy, Ava is also a collector of 19th and 20th century Jewish photographs.

Ava says of her Feb. 21, 2021, postcard presentation: "As our ancestors moved throughout the world, they communicated with friends and loved ones with photographs on the fronts of postcards and messages, often intimate ones, on the backs. These real photo postcards were the social media of the day starting around 1900 and lasting into the 1960s. The photographs on these cards captured the everyday lives of our ancestors, their celebrations, their triumphs and at times, their tragedies.

"This 'new' medium gave our relatives a quick and inexpensive way to send messages near and far, before cellphones and modern social media," Ava says. "Learning to recognize and interpret the clues in real photo postcards can lead us not only to date the images more accurately but also learn more about the everyday lives and relationships of our family members as they moved throughout the Diaspora."

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping members collect, preserve, and perpetuate the records and history of their ancestors. JGSI is a resource for the worldwide Jewish community to research their Chicago-area roots. The JGSI motto is "Members Helping Members Since 1981." The group has more than 300 members and is affiliated with the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

JGSI members have access to useful and informative online family history research resources, including a members' forum, more than 65 video recordings of past speakers' presentations, monthly JGSI E-News, quarterly Morasha JGSI newsletter, and much more. Members as well as non-members can look for their ancestors on the free searchable JGSI Jewish Chicago Database.

For more information, see https://jgsi.org or phone 312-666-0100.