By Tumbleweed Smith

The Texas Jewish Historical Society featured former Texas Congressman Martin Frost at the TJHS winter quarterly Zoom meeting, held Jan. 29-31.  

Frost spoke about the Biden administration and some of its priorities. Frost, from Fort Worth, served in Congress from 1979 to 2005 and later was a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. For five years he lectured about politics on cruise ships.

Kathy Hart was the speaker during the Saturday afternoon session. An archivist who has worked in the Library of Congress, Hart discussed maneuvering The Portal to Texas History at North Texas University. She demonstrated how putting a name in the search window would reveal numerous references to that name in newspapers and magazines. Many of those in attendance went to the portal’s website, texashistory.unt.edu, after Kathy’s presentation to look up family history.

Hart is a Texas A&M University graduate with a master’s degree in library and information science. She worked in the field at A&M and Rice before joining the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She has published widely on historic and scientific maps, geographic data, government information, metadata and digital resources.

At the board meeting on Jan. 31, it was revealed that the society has 519 members, including seven new members who joined since October, from several states and one foreign country. 

Herschel Sheiness reported on a new Jewish War Veterans scholarship grant opportunity. Applicants must be direct descendants of a member in good standing of the Jewish War Veterans organization. For details contact jseines@swbell.net.

Rabbi Jimmy Kessler, one of the founders of TJHS, recommended the society publish a booklet for seventh graders studying Texas history that would mention some of the contributions of Texas Jews.

TJHS’s annual gathering will be held over Zoom the weekend of April 9-11. Hollace Weiner of Fort Worth and Gertrude and Don Teter (of blessed memory) of Baytown will receive the society’s highest award for exemplary contributions to the preservation of Texas Jewish history.

The nominating committee proposed a new slate of officers for the coming year. The slate will be sworn in at the April gathering. The list includes President: Sheldon Lippman, Austin; First Vice President: Sonny Gerber, Houston; Second Vice President: Joan Linares, Baytown; Third Vice President: Janice Gerber, Houston; Recording Secretary: John Campbell, Austin; Corresponding Secretary: Amy Milstein, Frisco; Treasurer: Ben Rosenberg, Sugar Land; Historian/Archivist: Sally Drayer, Dallas; and Parliamentarian: Susan Zack Lewis, Big Spring.

For more information on TJHS, visit txjhs.org.