Jewish Historical Societies: Navigating the Professional-Amateur Divide -- Jonat

Since the early 1950s, local and regional historical<br>societies have been an important part of the American Jewish landscape, <br>providing community outreach, housing archives, fostering research, and<br>publishing historical studies. This book charts the development, undertakings, <br>successes, shortcomings, and possible future of local and regional Jewish<br>historical societies in the United States. </p> <p/>The lead chapter, by Joel Gereboff, explores the challenges<br>of constructing and presenting Jewish history and what disparities exist between<br>amateur historians and professionals in regards to standards, tools, methods, <br>analysis, and contextualization. Following an overview of key players, major<br>themes, representative organizations, and recurring critiques, the chapter<br>proposes ways to address the essential question: Can Jewish history on the<br>local and regional levels be more inclusive, better integrated with broader<br>trends of Jewish and general history, and improved according to scholarly norms<br>and expectations of social history?</p> <p/>Following this are six chapters by leaders of local and<br>regional Jewish historical societies: George M. Goodwin of the Rhode<br>Island Jewish Historical Association; Jonathan L. Friedmann of the Western<br>States Jewish History Association; Mark K. Bauman of the Southern Jewish<br>Historical Society; Catherine Cangany of the Jewish Historical Society of<br>Michigan; Jeanne Abrams of the Rocky Mountain J