+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ I. Malcolm H. Stern (1915-1994), Dean of American-Jewish Genealogy II. The Ten Commandments for Genealogists III. Malcolm H. Stern NARA Gift Fund IV. Inventory to the Malcolm H. Stern Papers +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ A JewishGen InfoFile I. Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern (1916-1994), Dean of American-Jewish Genealogy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This article originally appeared in "Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy", Volume IX, Number 4, Winter 1993. Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern, widely considered to be the dean of American Jewish genealogy, died in New York City on January 5, 1994. He was 78 years old. Rabbi Stern's outstanding contributions to all aspects of American genealogy, and to Jewish genealogy in particular, spanned a 44-year period. He was especially active in the organizational aspect of genealogy. Since 1949, he served as genealogist to the American Jewish Archives; a charter member of the New York-based Jewish Genealogical Society, president (1979-84); the first Jewish Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, president (1976-79); founder of the Jewish Historical Society of New York, president (1979-89); a trustee of the American Jewish Historical Society and a trustee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, vice-president (1985- 88). He wrote many articles for genealogical and historical publications. His best-known book, "Americans of Jewish Descent: 600 Genealogies (1654-1988)," documents the genealogies of Jewish families that arrived during the American colonial and federal periods (1654-1838), tracing many families to the present. The third edition, published in 1991, lists some 50,000 individuals. This work was the basis for much of Stephen Birmingham's best-selling book, "The Grandees." He also had a great interest in Sephardic genealogy, especially the Sephardim of the Western Hemisphere. He contributed a chapter in the book "Sephardim in America" which is reviewed in this issue. The pictures associated with the review were provided by Rabbi Stern. His pioneer accomplishments were recognized by many of the associations to which he belonged. He was a Fellow of the National Genealogical Society, recipient of the Federation of Genealogical Societies George Williams Award for outstanding contributions to the FGS and to the genealogical community, and was honored with a testimonial brunch in 1987 by his home society, the Jewish Genealogical Society (New York). Last November he was made a Fellow of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Of particular interest to Rabbi Stern was the importance to genealogists of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). He founded and was first president of the Genealogical Coordinating Committee, an organization that represented a single position for the genealogist to the larger world. He created the NARA Gift Fund to which American genealogical societies contribute money to improve the genealogical collections of the National Archives Regional Branches. In 1989, he testified for the American genealogical community before the U.S. Congress, successfully arguing that the position of Archivist of the United States should be awarded to a scholar and not to an administrator. He was the genealogical representative to the National Archives Advisory Council and was on the Advisory group that founded RAGAS, the Russian-American Genealogical Archival Service. Rabbi Stern was born in Philadelphia, the son of Arthur and Henrietta Berkowitz Stern. He received his rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1941 and served as a chaplain during World War II. He was a congregational rabbi in Philadelphia and Norfolk, Virginia. In 1964, he became Placement Director of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, continuing in this position until his retirement in 1980. In recent years, he served as counselor to newly ordained rabbis and taught at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Rabbi Stern's formal activities were many and impressive, but his personal relationships were at the heart of his importance to Jewish genealogy. To his associates he was Malcolm, a dear friend, mentor and inspiration. The word rabbi means teacher, and this Malcolm was in the best sense of the word. Despite his deep and time-consuming involvement in a wide range of activities, he always had time to help or to encourage the novice genealogist. His energy and enthusiasm were infectious. He was a wise, modest, and generous man, unen- cumbered by petty jealousies or the need for status. In the process, he became the catalyst for most of the major develop- ments in American Jewish genealogy. Many of the first Jewish genealogical societies in the United States were established as a direct result of his encouragement. He hosted the first summer seminar on Jewish genealogy and encouraged the subsequent ones that soon became an established tradition. The Jewish Genealogical Society of Philadelphia had planned to honor him this June in conjunction with its fifteenth anniversary. Its advance literature noted that, This Society, along with the more than 50 JGS groups throughout the world, owes its very existence to Rabbi Stern's vision and inspiration. Rabbi Stern's death brought an abrupt end to a man who was completely active and involved to the last day of his life. He never spoke of slowing down or of feeling too old to do anything. Just a few years ago, he purchased his first computer and set about mastering its intricacies. Two weeks before his death, he was working to raise funds to sponsor speakers at the up-coming Jerusalem seminar. Less than 24 hours before he died, Malcolm telephoned Marsha Saron Dennis, president of his New York-based Jewish Genealogical Society to say that he would be happy to accept her invitation to officiate at the marriage of her son and future daughter-in-law. He is survived by Louise, his wife of 52 years, and a brother, Edward, to whom we send our deepest condolences. By Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Amdur Sack Copyright 1994 by Avotaynu, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Avotaynu. Ten Commandments for Genealogists ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern I. I am a genealogist dedicated to true knowledge about the families I am researching. II. Thou shalt use family traditions with caution and only as clues. III. Thou shalt not accept as gospel every written record or printed record. IV. Thou shalt not hang nobility or royalty on your family tree without verifying with experts. V. Thou shalt clearly label the questionable and the fairy tale. VI. Thou shalt handle all records in such a way that the next users will find them in the same condition you did. VII. Thou shalt credit those who help you and ask permission of those whose work you use. VIII. Thou shalt not query any source of information without supplying postage. IX. Thou shalt respect the sensitivities of the living in whatever you record but tell the truth about the dead. X. Thou shalt not become a genealogical teacher or authority without appropriate training and certification. III. Malcolm H. Stern NARA Gift Fund - "Dollars for Documents." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) houses nearly 1.5 million cubic feet of records documenting our past. Only a tiny fraction of these records have been preserved on microform, allowing researchers better access and preserving the original records from deterioration. The Malcolm H. Stern NARA Gift Fund, established in 1983 as the Genealogical Coordinating Committee NARA Gift Fund, is a nationally supported program to finance the creation of finding aids and the microfilming of valuable research materials now preserved in NARA in Washington, D.C. These microfilm copies, produced without government funding, are then distributed to the 13 National Archives Regional Archives for use of researchers. These records are also available through any LDS (Mormon) Family History Center in the owrld. Through the generous donations of genealogists nationwide since 1983, many records have been preserved. There's a document waiting for your dollars. See: http://www.fgs.org/fgs-naragift.htm IV. An Inventory to the Malcolm H. Stern Papers 1882-1994 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 15.5 Linear ft. at the American Jewish Archives. (Includes biographical sketch) See: http://huc.edu/aja/stern.htm ------------------- filename mstern.txt Compiled by Bernard I. Kouchel [9Nov98]bik 06Jan01 Copyright 2000 JewishGen Inc. http://www.jewishgen.org +----------------------------------------------------------------------+