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  Inside America's Alligator Family:  The David Crystal Story
  
  

• Join us in-person for two information-packed programs rolled into one!

  Stories behind IZOD-Lacoste and The Family That Made The Alligator Logo a Cultural Phenomenon

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  Speaker Ellen Kowitt 

  Sunday October 29, 2023 

  10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Mountain Time

  Location:  BMH/BJ 

  Main Foyer to Synagogue 

  560 S Monaco Parkway, Denver, CO 80224

  Refreshments during schmooze time at 9:30

   Bagels and Babka 

  • • • 
        

        Learn about the immigrant orphan David Crystal from Jedwabne, Russian Empire (now Poland) and his garment district success manufacturing clothing for seven decades.  You’ve heard about and maybe worn alligator-logo polo shirts, but The David Crystal Companies were trendsetting in so many ways!  As visible participants in New York City’s Jewish social scene, behind-the scenes drama within this family-run business will entertain and inform how secrets, silence, and storytelling can alter the narrative depending on who’s telling it.

        PLUS:  Tips from the Trenches:  Researching, Writing and Producing a Family History 

        Ellen’s story producing a family history book that involved extensive research, narrative writing, and production.  Learn how she pulled all elements together to identify themes and built a very large family tree through interviews with extended family and business employees, utilizing  Ancestry.com, newspapers, JewishGen, JRI-Poland, the Polish State Archives, Historical Vital Records NYC, professional genealogists in Poland and Canada, Russian-language translators, a citation expert, a production partner to assist with proofreading, layout, design, cleaning up images, generating an idea, and more!

        
        

        Bio:  Ellen Kowitt is a past president of JGSCO and current volunteer Director of the JewishGen USA Research Division.  She publishes articles in Family Tree Magazine, lectures Frequently, and condo t professional genealogy work.  As founder and principal genealogist at Sole Searching Genealogy & Historical Research, Ellen specializes in American records and Jewish ancestry.  She received her B.A. from Alfred University and spent twenty-five years working in marketing management and communications before transitioning into full-time research.  Ellen has completed ProGen and several genealogical institutes and she i a member of the Colorado Chapter of Association of Professional Genealogists.  Originally from New York, Ellen rises in Erie, Colorado with her Israeli-born husband and two teenage daughter.  For more information, visit  www.EllenKowitt.com

         
        

      This event is open to everyone at no charge 
      

      Everyone must register at JGSCO.org

This event will not be recorded