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The Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at New England Historic Genealogical Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Melissa R. Klapper, Professor of History and Director of Women's & Gender Studies at Rowan University, has been named the inaugural Genevieve Geller Wyner Research Fellow. In Summer 2021, Dr. Klapper will be conducting research in the JHC archives on the topic, “At Home in the World: American Jewish Women Abroad, 1865-1940.” She will also give a talk on the subject at the first annual Genevieve Wyner Lecture in Fall 2021, which will be open to the public.

Dr. Klapper is the author of Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860-1920 (NYU Press, 2005); Small Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in the United States, 1880-1925 (Ivan R. Dee, 2007); and Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace: American Jewish Women's Activism, 1890-1940 (NYU Press, 2013), which won the National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies. Her most recent book is Ballet Class: An American History (Oxford University Press, 2020).

The Genevieve Geller Wyner Research Fellowship is funded by Justin Wyner in honor of his late wife, Genevieve, who shared his commitment to Jewish history, education, and community, and who pursued her own academic and professional studies throughout her life.