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From the Jewish Encyclopedia:

NOVOGRUDOK: Russian town in the government of Minsk. The first mention of Jews in connection with Novogrudok dates back to 1484, when King Casimir Jagellon leased the customs duties of the place to Ilia Moiseyevich, Rubim Sakovich, Avram Danilovich, and Eska Shelemovich, Jews of Troki. Novogrudok is next mentioned in two documents of the year 1529. On Jan. 21 of that year the Jews there were made subject, with those of other Lithuanian towns, to the payment of a special military tax. On March 4, in the same year, King Sigismund ordered the waywode of Novogrudok to render all necessary aid to the farmer of taxes Michael Jesofovich in the collection of customs duties throughout the waywodeship. In a document of Nov. 27, 1551, Novogrudok is mentioned among the cities which were exempted from the payment of the special tax called the 'serebschizna.' In 1559 the city authorities of Novogrudok were ordered by the king to place no obstacles in the way of the Jewish leaseholders Jacob Ikhelovich of Brest-Litovsk and Nissan Khaimovich of Grodno in their work of collecting customs duties. By an edict dated Sept. 24, 1563, King Sigismund ordered the Jews of Novogrudok to settle in the lower part of the town on the streets Wilna and Trumko on the farther side of the castle, and to cease erecting new buildings on the street Podlyaskaya. The Jews were not prompt to comply with the new regulations, for in the following year the burghers of Novogrudok complained to the king that the Jews had failed to remove from houses on the street Podlyaskaya. In response to this complaint the Jews were ordered to pay a fine of 1,600 ducats, and to remove from buildings on that street. In 1565 the customs duties were farmed out to David Shmerlovich and his partners, all Jews of Brest-Litovsk. On July 20, 1576, King Stephen Bathori renewed the charter of privileges of the Novogrudok Jews. Among the prominent merchants of the town at that time was Lazar Shmoilovich. The Jewish sources give but little information on the history of the Novogrudok community. The gravestones in the old cemetery have been weathered until the inscriptions are no longer legible. Of the older cemetery, on the north side of the city, all traces have disappeared. Novogrudok is mentioned in one of the responsa of Solomon Luria (d. 1575). The prosperity of the community has decreased since the last Polish revolution. Albert Harkavy, the Orientalist, besides other members of that family, was born at Novogrudok. The following rabbis, among others, officiated there during the nineteenth century: David ben Moses (1794-1837; author of 'Galya Massekta,' responsa, halakic notes and sermons, Wilna, 1848); Alexander Susskind; Baruch Mordecai Lipschutz (author of ''Berit Ya’akob,' etc.; d. Shedlitz 1885). Novogrudok has a total population of 13,656, of whom 8,137 are Jews (1897).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Russko Yevreiski Arkhiv, vol. I., Nos. 4, 130; vol. ii., Nos. 104, 184, 196, 202, 222, 249, 268; Regesty i Nadpisi; Ha-Zefirah, 1887, No. 280.Novogrudok was in the uyezdny gorod volost' (courtesy of Vitaly Charny)
There is an article about Novogrudok in the Encyclopedia Judaica. The article can be found in volume XII, page 1237-1238, and is 75 lines long. (contributed by Joel Spector)
There is an article about Novogrudok in the Jewish Encyclopedia. The article can be found in volume IX, page 342, and is 60 lines long. (contributed by Joel Spector)
There is an article about Novogrudok in the Russian language Jewish Encyclopedia (Evreiskaya Encyclopedia). The article can be found in volume XI, page 757, and is 47 lines long. (contributed by Joel Spector)
link;
BELARUS NEWSLETTER; Novogrudok,, an article from the Belarus SIG newsletter
http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/newsletter/novogrudok.htm
Navagrudak, an article by Alex Friedman
http://www.beljews.info/Navagrudak.htm

Abstract:

This short documentary features footage of an American Jewish immigrant's visit to his East European hometown, Novogrudek, located 80 miles south of Vilna. Shot in 1931, when over half the town's population was Jewish, this film records the Jewish community's social services, sports and educational activities, and religious and cultural life before the Second World War. This glimpse of pre-Holocaust Polish life is one of the only existing views we have of a world lost to us forever. While watching this film, the viewer will come to the chilling realization that few, if any, of the Jews filmed survived the Holocaust.

Novogrudek

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Presented by Naama Galil
Project Coordinator
Commemoration & Public relations Division
Yad Vashem
Tel: 02-6443146
Mobile: 050-9902283

Even if your family shtetl is other then Novogrudak, the film provides some valuable insight in how our ancestors lived in the "old country".

I will provide a copy of the DVD to anyone who makes a minimum donation of $100 US to the Belarus SIG general fund
<http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen-erosity/belarus.html > between January 21 and February 21, 2005. Just email me a copy of the donation acknowledgement message you receive from JewishGen along with you postal mailing address. I will only be able to send copies to locations outside of the US and Canada via surface mail, because of the high postal
costs. This is a SIG fundraiser.

David Fox
Mail to: davefox73@earthlink.net
Belarus SIG Coordinator
Arnold, MD USA
http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus
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I stem from Novogrudok (Russian) or Navaredok (Yiddish). I have a copy of the film. It was made for Alexander Harkavy, a native son and a well known writer and activist from New York, by a film crew from Warsaw during Harkavy's visit to Novogrudok in 1931. The film is unnique and well known among the students of the Jewish communities of those times. A local (Melbourne Australia) lady is using the film in her lectures on the period. Anyone who is interested in the existance and institutions in Navaredok can learn more at: http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Novogrudok/Novogrudok.html where the Yizkor book of Navaredok is being translated.