Jewish Merchants in the New
World: 1500-1800
A Conference Sponsored by the Gomez Foundation
for Mill House
Program
Welcome —
Dr. Ruth K. Abrahams,
Executive Director, GFMH
Keynote Address —
Dr. Jonathan Ray,
Samuel Eig Assistant Professor Jewish Studies
Georgetown University
Panel —
Exploration and Expansion:
Forces that Brought Merchant Jews
to the New World
Panel —
The Impact of Jews on Caribbean Trade
Panel —
The Importance of Jewish Merchants
in Early America
Conclusion —
Andrée Aelion Brooks.
Author and Trustee, GFMH
The Gomez Mill House was founded in 1714 by the Colonial American Jewish
merchant and pioneer, Luis Moses Gomez. This conference was the first
of three to explore the theme of Jewish merchants in the New World from
the first recorded reference of Jewish presence in the Americas in 1500,
to the present. The conference series was inspired by the life and work
of Luis Moses Gomez and the upcoming 300th anniversary of the Gomez
Mill House, built as a trading post on the 6,500 acre Gomez enterprise
in the Hudson Valley.
There is much scholarship on the families and lives of the early American
Jewish communities, especially on the great families who lived and contributed
to the development of infant America, including such familiar names
as Cardozo, Seixas, Lopez, Hendricks, Lehman, Levy, and Nathan, to name
but a few. With Gomez family, they and their descendents contributed
significantly to the commerce, politics, and fabric of society. From
the establishment of trade routes among America, Europe, the Caribbean
and South America, to the founding of the New York Stock Exchange, to
funding the American Revolution, the great merchant families of early
America made their mark and left a legacy that continues to today.
It is hoped that this conference on the period 1500–1800, and
the subsequent conferences in 2010 and 2011 exploring the nineteenth
century and then the twentieth century to the present will encourage
further dialogue on the themes explored and enthusiastic support and
participation in the 300th anniversary of the Gomez Mill House.
Ruth K. Abrahams
Executive Director
Gomez Foundation for Mill House
The Gomez Foundation for Mill House wishes to thank the conference
participants, the Trustees and Council of the Gomez Foundation for Mill
House, and the following for helping to make this conference possible:
Evan Kingsley and Susan Malbin of the American Jewish Historical Society;
Stanley Urman and the staff of the American Sephardi Federation, Michael
Glickman, Michael Stafford, Melissa Minaya, Giovanni Massa, Julie Kaplan
and the staff of Center for Jewish History, Jonathan Brent and the staff
of YIVO, Shelomo Alfassa, George Dorris, Sachiyo Ito, CJH volunteers
(Blanche Hutcherson, Mona Prokopin, Benita Watterworth, Bonnie Rosenstock,
and Sylvia Bashkow, and Desery Contreras Gomez Foundation office assistant
and conference assistant coordinator.
Design and Printing: Lehmann Printing
Catering: Village Crown
Conference Series:
Jewish Merchants in the New World
OCT 18, 2009
Jewish Merchants in the New World: 1500-1800
This conference was the first of three to
explore this theme
OCT 17, 2010
Jewish Merchants in the New World: 1800-1900
OCT 23, 2011
Jewish Merchants in the New World: 1900-Present
HELP DEFRAY THE COSTS FOR THIS CONFERENCE SERIES:
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Dr.
Ruth K. Abrahams
Gomez Foundation
for Mill House
Andrée
Aelion Brooks
Gomez Foundation
for Mill House
Randall
C. Belinfante
American Sephardi Federation
Ainsley
Henriques
Jamaica, NY
Dr.
Kenneth Libo
Author, NYC
Edward
Kritzler
Author, Jamaica, W.I.
Dr.
Jonathan Ray
Samuel Eig
Assistant Professor,
Jewish Studies
Georgetown University,
Washington D.C.
Dr.
Jessica V. Roitman
Young Scholar
University of London,
Birkbeck College
Dr.
Dale Rosengarten
Curator of the
Jewish Heritage Collection
College of Charleston, SC
Dr.
Holly Snyder
Special Collections,
John Hay Library
Brown University, RI
Dr.
Barry Steifel
Visiting Professor
College of Charleston, SC
Hilit
Surowitz
Young Scholar
Columbia University, NY
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