Author: Dan Alssid

JDC Archives staff often receive queries from users having difficulty accessing information in the JDC Archives archival collections about their families because of spelling variants for names and names of cities. This is true for both family researchers searching for their ancestors in our name database and scholars looking for information about particular cities and towns. A common reason family historians might not find their ancestors in our records is name spelling variants or name changes. Sometimes it is just a slight spelling variation or an Anglicization. Hence, “Abramowitz” might have become “Abramovitz” or “Abrams” and “Brojnstein” might have...

  A little known treasure trove of the JDC Archives is its collection of awards and medals. These decorations exemplify the far reaching global humanitarian work of the JDC while recognizing the individuals who made it possible. Two prominent examples of medals in the JDC’s collections are that of the Order of the Crown awarded to Laura Jarblum Margolis and the Order of Rebirth of Poland presented to Edward M. M. Warburg. A social worker by profession, Laura Margolis’ career with JDC spanned several decades and continents from working with European Jewish refugees in Cuba seeking asylum in the...