metro >> Jews in the digital age
Detroit Jewish News Foun...
Suggested Sites ∎
a
Welcome to The Detroit 1...
Our Story
AA Treasure
Of Jewish
Nostalgia!
The Archive
You are about to embark on an intimate visit
IN News , Log In
Twitter - Home RT Red Thread Magazine, Lo...
Our Donors
Donate
Contact Us
Welcome to the Detroit Jewish News Archive
with the Detroit Jewish community and the
thousands of families who shaped it! Before
you get started, thanks for being sure to read
N
Sea,* Pluatiossa
•
and, if required, take action of the archive's
ostalgia is in. One of the most common memes
on Facebook these days is the Throwback
Thursday, in which individuals and organiza-
tions post old photos from yesteryear and allow viewers
to tag people they recognize and be amused at how things
have changed over the years including hairstyles and
fashion. One local company making good use of this is Joe
Cornell Entertainment, which has been posting photos
from their archives of Joe Cornell's pre-bar mitzvah dance
classes from the past few decades.
Metro Detroiters, as well as former
residents, have found themselves
getting lost in time on the Web since
the Detroit Jewish News Foundation
launched its digital archives in
mid-November. Residing on the
DJN Foundation's website at www.
djnfoundation.org, the archives have
allowed members of the local Jewish
community to scratch their nos-
talgia itch by searching for friends
and family in the archives' search
function. Every weekly issue of the
Detroit Jewish News over the past
seven decades is included in the digi-
tal archives and even advertisements can be searched.
Arthur Horwitz, publisher and executive editor of the
Detroit Jewish News, recognized the importance of digitiz-
ing the thousands of old issues of the paper after a devastat-
ing fire occurred in the Detroit Jewish News offices back in
2002 and destroyed nearly all of the paper's print archives.
Horwitz and the new nonprofit foundation turned to
Services
Detroit Jewish News
e _
terms of use Also, consider viewing the brief
- -*Dent
instructional video for tips on how to quickly
2.0 12.222
tem
'ten
Jar. tee.ar.. ft.
lawn"
OCt
. -
n. 242r Iftwirt %bora 00 IL 321:
and easily navigate the Detroit Jewish News
Me P.M 1/24.21. %war 02 1.1..
archive.
Watch the video to learn about The Archive,
how to use it, and what it offers the community.
Watch the Video and Enter the Archives
© 2013 Detroit Jewish News Foundation. All rights reserved. Created by Media Genesis
http: dj
ag ng medlag.ccr, done
Privacy Policy/Temis & Conditions
ArcaSearch and Media Genesis, Internet services providers,
to create the searchable index and attractive web portal on
the new website that lets users perform quick and accurate
searches on the more than 260,000 pages dating back to
1942. The archives are available to the public at no cost, and
they have already proven useful to local historians, educa-
tors, students and community leaders.
Like Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo or
Bing, the DJN Foundation's digital archives are fully search-
able by date, name and other keyword searches including
advanced Boolean searches, which are a type of search
allowing users to combine keywords with operators such as
"and:" "not" and "nor" to produce more relevant results.
As word of the power of these digital archives began to
spread around the community, individuals began posting
news clips on social media sites such as Facebook. It has
now become commonplace to see birth announcements
published in the Detroit Jewish News from the 1940s, '50s,
'60s or '70s in our Facebook feed. And just as people began
to Google themselves in the past decade, now members of
the Detroit Jewish community have begun doing searches
on their own name in the archives. It has also become a fun
way to do genealogical research on one's family by learning
about departed relatives. One of the first searches many
users perform is to look up the death notices of great-grand-
parents and other family members.
Treasure Of Nostalgia on page 10
Community Feedback
T
he feedback on the Detroit
Jewish News Foundation archive,
available at www.djnfoundation.
org, has been rolling in from across the
community. Here are some of the com-
ments that have been received.
" it's way past my bedtime ... and
I can't get off the site ... it's amazing ...
wow ... Yasher koach:'
—Joel Jacob
"The JN archive is astounding! And not
just because it's telling the story of our
incredible community. It's as though I'm
reliving my past, week by week! But there
is a downside: If I don't start budgeting
my archives reading time, I'll get abso-
lutely no sleep at
"Holy cow, this archive is amazing! I
learned so much in only an hour's time! I
got to see the obits of all four of my grand-
parents, three of my great-grandparents
and my uncle I never knew because he
died when he was 1 year old. Also, my
parents' engagement announcement, my
dad's bar mitzvah announcement, etc.
Incredibly cool. Think I found a list of
local parties thrown for my grandparents
who were married in Florida. One of them
was at the Book Cadillac! Never knew
that! Absolutely incredible."
— Charlotte Dubin
— Amy Gantz Gers
"WARNING: This is more addictive
than Facebook! I'm in heaven right
now!!!!"
— Steven Hartz
8
December 12 • 2013
"Totally blew me away. I did not have
enough time to reminisce or reflect on all
of the memories! A youngish guy came
into my store yesterday praising the site!!
He has already put it on Facebook."
—Ron Elkus
"We are using it in class RIGHT NOW!"
—Emily Meister, University of Michigan
Drachler Master's Program in Jewish
Communal Service
"I just poked around the website. It's
beautifully designed, easy to use and
remarkably functional. Maybe the gov-
ernment should draw on your expertise
for the health care site! Yasher koyekh!"
"I have been playing with the new
website since Monday, and I have already
found over 100 articles and lifecycle
announcements that are important to my
family history in Detroit. I am so grate-
ful to you for making this database free
and searchable! I have made a discovery
in my great-grandfather's obituary that
he was survived by a brother before the
War who survived the Holocaust. Now, I
have to figure out who he was and where
he is."
— Corey Rosen
"This is amazing! ... The sheer volume
of information is staggering ... This is of
great benefit to our community."
—Aaron Lansky, founder and president,
— Sharon Alterman, archivist, the Leonard
National Yiddish Book Center
Simons Detroit Jewish Community Archive