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CJH Guide: Ackman & Ziff Genealogy Institute

Find information here about the Ackman & Ziff Genealogy Institute at the Center for Jewish History

Discover resources that will help you learn more about your family's ancestral town!

Institute Resources

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute provides all patrons with the following resources:

  • An open-stack reference collection that includes how-to books, name dictionaries, gazetteers, historical atlases, guides to translating vital records, newsletters of Jewish genealogical societies and directories of family history resources around the world.
  • Public computers, offering free Internet connection and access to electronic resources such as Ancestry Library Edition and other commercial genealogy websites; Encyclopedia Judaica; ProQuest Historical Newspapers (including New York Times and Chicago Tribute); World Bibliographical Information System; Columbia Gazetteer of the World; Testaments to the Holocaust; and the "Russians to America" CD-ROM database.
  • Access to the Center's Lillian Goldman Reading Room, which is adjacent to the Genealogy Institute and offers open-stack reference material including biographical dictionaries, Pinkas Hakehillot and other Holocaust reference works, general histories, multi-volume gazetteers, and a variety of encyclopedias.
  • More than 2,000 microfilms and microfiche on long-term loan (as an authorized branch of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City). Material on loan includes Jewish records from Austria, Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and several other countries. It also includes the German Minority Census of 1938, Philadelphia HIAS records, Russian Consular records and indexes, and Hamburg emigration lists and indexes. For instructions on how to order microfilm or microfiche, please click here.
  • A series of fact sheets on family history research that highlight resources found only at the Center. These research guides indicate where to find both U.S. and foreign records as well as records of synagogues, rabbis and landmanshaftn.
  • Skilled support staff and volunteers to guide you to the most relevant resources and answer your genealogy research inquiries. Please note that the average response time to inquiries sent via e-mail is 1-3 weeks. The Center will fulfill only reasonable requests.