From: "Jackye Sullins" <jsullins@...>
In my great-great uncle's memoir, he stated: "I entered the school of the
prophets in Yanishock, Russia - age 15." This would have been about 1870
and I surmise it is the town now known as Joniskis. They were >from the
Skaudvile/Silale area. Was there a well known school there at that time
and would I be able to access any records?

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The above question is a good one. The Central Archive in Vilnius has
records of all of the schools in Lithuania, including information about the
students and teachers. However, only the inter war years are included -
1919-1940.

A few years ago, under the very able direction of Olga Zabludoff, Jewish
school records >from Lithuania were found in the CAHJP in Jerusalem. The
project was soon ended however, because the records did not identify who was
the teacher and who was a student, among other problems. An example of the
records can be found on www.telsiai.shutterfly.com web site. It is an 1845
Cheder record in the city of Telsiai. You have to be a member of the Telsiai
District Research Group in order to see the records.

Later on it was discovered that the school records in the CAHJP in
Jerusalem are copies. The original records are in the LVIA in Vilnius.
If enough funds are contributed to LitvakSIG, a special project can be
established to investigate the original school records in the LVIA.

Another possibility would be to contact YIVO in New York.

Howard Margol
LitvakSIG Coordinator for Records Acquisition