Jean Powers Soman is an author and historian who has dedicated much of her career to researching and writing about her Jewish ancestors, . Colonel Marcus M. Spiegel, who was one of the highest ranking Jewish officers in the Union Army and .Samuel G. Alschuler , who was a photographer in Illinois., who took two famous photographs of Abraham Lincoln. In addition, she maintains a high level of involvement with historical and Jewish-based organizations. Jean Soman is a former Acting- President of the national, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Foundation and served on the Advisory Committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. She served on the board of directors, of the successor organization, The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation. For many years, she has been a member of the Ezra Consortium of the American Jewish Archives.
Jean Soman has authored several peer-reviewed journal, newspaper, and magazine articles on historical topics. She has also been interviewed on radio and television and was in the History Channel's documentary, "America Promised Land".. She spent more than a decade transcribing and editing the book :A Jewish Colonel in the Civil War: Marcus M. Spiegel of the Ohio Volunteers (1995). originally published as:: Your True Marcus, the Civil War Letters of a Jewish Colonel (1985) .