Presenter: Michael Tobias
Format: Download MP4 video file of Slides with synchronized audio

This presentation deals with the IIJG sponsored project "200 Years of Scottish Jewry ? a Genealogical and Demographic Survey ". The project constructed a ?Family Tree? of a National Jewry, something never done before. The Jewish community in Scotland, founded in Edinburgh in 1817, was chosen. New data gathered provided fresh insights into Scottish Jewry and challenged a number of long-standing assumptions about its origins and evolution. The procedures and methods adopted will be briefly described as will the analysis and mapping of the origins of Jewish immigrants to Scotland and their settlement patterns and development. An overview will be given of the process of linking all of the data gathered into one large collection of linked family trees, an effort complicated by the multiple spellings of East European names and a tendency among immigrant Jews to have frequent name-changes as they transited from their countries of origin into Scottish life.