The Cemetery Photography Project
of the Genealogical Institute
of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada

This project was made possible by the generous funding of
the Heritage Grants Program, Manitoba Culture, Heritage & Citizenship, and the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba supported by the Mark & Dorothy Danzker Fund.

This successful completion of this project would not have been possible without the unbelievable efforts of the dozens of volunteers and the many hundreds of hours they selflessly contributed.

Project Conceived: Spring 1995
Photos Taken: Summer & Fall 1996
Albums Completed: October 1997

The Project

The Cemetery Photography Project was an ambitious undertaking of the Genealogical Institute of the Jewish Historical Society (now Jewish Heritage Centre) of Western Canada . The goal was to photograph all the gravestones in all the Jewish Cemeteries in the province of Manitoba, in order to:

1. record them if ever needed for reconstructive purposes,
2. to make them available for research or display, and
3. to make the inscriptions available to genealogists and other researchers.

The project was of enormous proportions:

• Photos were taken of the burial sites of 15,367 dearly departed in four large cemeteries in Winnipeg and in several smaller cemeteries throughout the province.
• 656 rolls of film were developed
• Two prints were made of each photo, totalling over 30,000 photos. Second copies of the photos were made for the Trustees of the cemeteries.
• 5,000 index cards and 45,000 identification labels were required.
• Our 35 volunteers put in about 1200 hours of their time.
• 54 large albums now house the collection.
• The printed listing of our database of burials is 364 pages long.

We believe that this was the first project of its type done by a genealogical society anywhere! We know many individual cemeteries have been photographed, usually by the cemetery administrators, but we know of no society that has previously attempted such a large scale, comprehensive gravestone photography project.

We are very proud of this, and we hope our project's success will encourage other societies to follow our lead.

The Project in Pictures

The photography phase was very challenging. All photographers used their own 35mm SLR cameras. They had to try to photo the stone straight-on. Often they had to crouch or be in awkward positions to take the picture.

We meticulously checked to ensure the database was correct. The names and location of each burial was effectively checked several times. Printed listings of the burials helped to guide the photography and album assembly phases.

Assembling the albums was much more labour-intensive than we expected. Each album (about 300 photos) took between 5 and 8 hours to assemble. The work included sorting and identifying the photos, placing labels on the identification cards and the backs of the photos, and inserting the cards and photos into the albums.

Every side of each album page contains three photos and an identification card. The backs of each photo have their own identification label and a roll and negative number. The album pages are archival quality.

On display - our 54 completed albums. These albums are now housed at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada office at the Asper Jewish Community Campus in Winnipeg. The negatives are also being kept so that reprints can be made upon request.

Participating Volunteers

• Bev Rayburn was our Project Leader. She coordinated the project, arranged for volunteers, and took charge of the photo tendering and development. Bev's leadership kept everyone on the right path.
• Lynn Roseman was in charge of material requirements, and coordinated the assembly of the final product. In so doing, she put several hundred hours of her own time into meticulously sorting and organizing the photos, negatives, and supplies to make the album assembly as simple as possible. This was followed up by her checking and correcting of every photo in each album, ensuring that the best-possible job was done. Lynn's effort is not to be taken lightly.
• Louis Kessler was program director of the Genealogical Institute of the Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada. He interfaced with the society to arrange the funding, worked with the synagogues and was allowed access to their burial records, produced the database of burials, and arranged publicity with the local Jewish papers and on the Internet.

Special Recognition:

• Irma and Marvin Penn devoted themselves to this project. They were involved in many of the Photographic outings, and were credited with 150 hours of time to assemble more than 20 of our albums.
• Faygee and Phil Hecht provided much help and assistance throughout the project, always making themselves available, and they were always there when called upon. Faygee provided much needed leadership in directing the photographers to do their jobs correctly.
• Lee Saidman joined our project as our photographic consultant. Lee set up procedures for the photographers to follow, coerced many quality amateur and semi-pro photographers to volunteer, and led much of the photographic work that was done.
• Peter Leipsic was our star photographer. Working at light speed, Peter took about 4,000 photographs of superb quality - often while still doing business on his cellular with his other hand.
• Arky Berkal who participated in every possible aspect of the project and made the jobs of everyone just that much easier.
• Ken Roseman who in addition to driving all over the Province taking photos, provided valuable input and opinions for the project, and complained relatively little about losing his wife Lynn to the project for weeks-on-end.
• Harry Gutkin who was then President of the Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada - and was instrumental through his support of the project and his efforts to secure the funding we required.

The Workers - who devoted hours to tens-of-hours of their time:

Mark Binder, Rebecca Cramer, and 6 month old Anna Binder (who was carried by Mark) - photos Joanna Burns - photos Perry Diamond - photos Miriam Fenster - photos Marshall Garland - photos Marlene Golden - photos Larry Hochman - photos Jack Kaplan - photos and albums Sid Kasner - photos Peggy Kessler - albums

Nonnie Keynes - photos Joe Lucas - photos Sandy Osipa - photos Sid Palay - photos Perry Rayburn - photos Samantha Rayburn - photos Sid Ritter - photos Michael Smith - photos Esther Spiegel - albums Maureen Wiseman - photos Harvey Zimberg - photos and albums

How to Get Access to the Information and Photos

A. The Database of Jewish Burials in Manitoba

Printed versions of the database have also been made available. These are listed in alphabetical order and serve as an index to the photograph collection.

The database is available in several locations:

1. The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada's research room. Contact our society, who can arrange for a search of the database for you. If you live in or are travelling to Winnipeg you can visit our office (appointment preferred).

   C116 - 123 Doncaster Street,
   Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3N 2B2
   Phone: (204) 477-7460; Fax: (204) 477-7465

2. The Manitoba Genealogical Society Resource Center. As the Resource Centre is staffed by volunteers, it is suggested that out of town visitors call ahead to confirm current operating hours. There is information about the society with their address, phone numbers, and operating hours on the web at: http://www.mbgenealogy.com/index.php?page=society.

3. The Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies' International Jewish Cemetery Project is an ambitious project launched in 1994. The database from our Cemetery Photography Project has been submitted to their project.

B. The Photograph Collection

The albums are available only at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada's research room. If you visit our office, you may at your leisure do your research with the albums. If you cannot visit, Vanesa Harari, our archivist, can find desired photos for you, and photos can be reprinted upon request for a small fee. See above for our address and phone numbers.

At least 90% of the photos are of excellent quality. You will be able to read the inscriptions on the stones and see the artwork. For Genealogists, a lot of information can be gathered from the inscription. The photos are in section/row/plot order in the albums. Be sure to check out neighboring stones for possible relatives.