Volunteer Spotlight: Robert Siegel
Robert Siegel is our newest volunteer at the JMM. He has been with us for just over a month. He volunteers in the Archives department because he loves history and finds old documents intriguing. Also, because he knows that in the history world, what he is doing will be helpful to others in their research.
He is currently looking at questionnaires completed by Museum donors regarding their family histories, and at information about their donations. This information will be useful for the upcoming Accession’s Committee meeting at the JMM. He also does work in the photo archives with identifications. He inputs all of this information into Past Perfect, the Museum software system.
Robert admits to having a passion for Jewish history. He majored in History in college and had a double minor in Jewish Studies and German Studies. He acknowledges that most of his assignments involved some aspect or another of Jewish History.
He had the opportunity to live in Vienna, Austria for a while and hopes to live in Europe again someday. He won’t admit to being fluent in German, but has a strong intermediate level of understanding. He enjoys family history, and while researching his, he learned about a branch of the family who came to Baltimore in the 1950’s, the Hershfield’s. They are related to his mother and he’s trying to find out more about them. His great-great-grandparents emigrated from Moldova in the late 19th century. He is trying to follow clues to their past also.
We’re glad that Robert is able to meet his needs and ours by volunteering at the JMM. We hope he’ll continue to do so for a good, long while.
A blog post by Volunteer Coordinator Ilene Cohen. The first Monday of every month she will be highlighting one of our fantastic JMM volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with the JMM, drop her an email at icohen@jewishmuseummd.org or call 410-732-6402 x217! You can also get more information about volunteering at the Museum here.