Suggested Genealogical Resources for a Jewish Library

Home , Gary Mokotoff, JewishGen, Jewish genealogy, Jewish Roots in Poland

Courtesy of the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute Updated September 2008

How-To Books

Krasner-Khait, Barbara. Discovering Your Jewish Ancestors. Heritage Quest, 2001. 287 pp. $24.95. Comprehensive beginner’s guide to Jewish genealogy. www2.heritagequest.com/hq/bk.asp?Z_id=A0376

Kurzweil, Arthur. From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History. Jossey-Bass, 2004. $24.95. 400 pp. Classic beginner’s guide to Jewish genealogy. Updates the author’s earlier editions (1994, 1980). www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787970514.html

Mokotoff, Gary and Warren Blatt. Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy. Avotaynu, 1999. 72 pp. $11.00. Primer for Jewish genealogy. www.avotaynu.com/gettingstartedbook.htm

Wolfman, Ira. Climbing Your Family Tree: Online and Off-line Genealogy for Kids. Workman Publishing, 2002. 228 pp. $13.95. Genealogical primer for children and families. Updates the author’s Do People Grow on Family Trees? (1991). www.workman.com/familytree

Reference Books

Guide to Genealogical Resources in the National Archives of the United States. National Archives and Records Administration, 2001 (third edition). 420 pp. $25.00 softcover. http://www.archives.gov/publications/genealogy/index.html?template=print#gene

Guzik, Estelle M., editor. Genealogical Resources in New York. Jewish Genealogical Society, 2003. 418 pp. $49.95. Comprehensive guide to more than 80 library and archival repositories. Updates the Society’s Genealogical Resources in the New York Metropolitan Area (1989). www.jgsny.org/newbook.htm

Malka, Jeffrey S. Sephardic Genealogy: Discovering Your Sephardic Ancestors and Their World. Avotaynu, 2002. 384 pp. $45.00. Comprehensive guide to Sephardic research. AJL Reference Book Award, 2002. www.avotaynu.com/books/sephardic.htm

Mokotoff, Gary and Sallyann Amdur Sack with Alexander Sharon. Where Once We Walked—Revised Edition: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust. Avotaynu, 2002. 704 pp. $85.00. Gazetteer of 23,500 towns in Central and Eastern Europe where Jews lived before the Holocaust. Updates the authors’ 1991 edition. AJL Reference Book Award, 1991. www.avotaynu.com/books/woww2.htm

Sack, Sallyann Amdur and Gary Mokotoff, editors. Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy. Avotaynu, 2004. 624 pp. Comprehensive book on Jewish genealogical research with articles by 68 authors. $85.00. www.avotaynu.com/books/guide.htm

Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute • Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 • (212) 294-8318 http://genealogy.cjh.org Courtesy of the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute Updated September 2008

Shea, Jonathan D. and William F. Hoffman. In Their Words: A Genealogist’s Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Russian Documents. Language and Lineage Press. Vol. 1: Polish. 2000. 400 pp. $30.00. Vol. 2: Russian. 2002. 496 pp. $30.00. www.langline.com

Spector, Shmuel and Geoffrey Wigoder, editors. Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust. Yad Vashem and New York University Press, 2001. 3 volumes. $99.00 (originally $325.00). Comprehensive encyclopedia of the Jewish presence in more than 1,000 towns in Central and Eastern Europe. AJL Reference Book Award, 2001. National Jewish Book Award, Reference, 2001-2002. www.nyupress.org/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=2769

Weiner, Miriam. Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories. Routes to Roots Foundation, 1997. 446 pp. $50.00. The companion volume, Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova (1999) is out-of-print. AJL Reference Book Award, 1999. www.rtrfoundation.org/pubs.html

Zubatsky, David S. and Irwin M. Berent. Sourcebook for Jewish Genealogies and Family Histories. Avotaynu, 1996. 480 pp. $45.00. Jewish genealogies and family histories, both published and unpublished, for more than 10,000 family names. Updates the authors’ Jewish Genealogy: A Sourcebook of Family Histories and Genealogies (1984, 1990). www.avotaynu.com/books/sourcebook.htm

Books on Jewish Names

Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations. Avotaynu, 2001. 682 pp. $85.00. Comprehensive history and dictionary of names. www.avotaynu.com/books/dagn.htm

Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. 624 pp. $85.00. 25,000 different surnames used by Jews in Galicia, showing etymology, districts within Galicia where they appeared, and variations of the names. www.avotaynu.com/books/djsg.htm

Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland. Avotaynu, 1996. 608 pp. $69.50. More than 32,000 Jewish surnames with origins in that part of the Russian Empire known as the Kingdom of Poland, showing etymology, districts of the Kingdom where they appeared, and variations of the names. AJL Reference Book Award, 1996. www.avotaynu.com/djskptoc.htm

Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire. Avotaynu, 1993. 784 pp. $75.00. More than 50,000 Jewish surnames from the the Russian Empire, showing etymology, districts of the Empire where they appeared, and variations of the names. www.avotaynu.com/djsretoc.htm

Faiguenboim, Guilherme, Paulo Valadares, and Anna Rosa Campagnano, editors. Dicionario Sefaradi de Sobrenomes: inclusive cristao novos, converses, marranos, italianos, berberes e sua historia na Espanha, Portugal e Italia = Dictionary of Sephardic Surnames: including Christianized Jews, Conversos, Marranos, Italians, Berbers, and Their History in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Fraiha (Rio de Janeiro), 2003. 538 pp. $50.00. AJL Reference Book Award, 2003. www.siciliano.com.br/livro.asp?orn=LCAT&Tipo=2&ID=306962

Avotaynu (Publisher/Periodical)

Avotaynu, Inc. is the pre-eminent publisher of works on Jewish genealogy (155 North Washington Avenue, Bergenfield, NJ 07621). www.avotaynu.com. AJL One-Time Body-of-Work Award, 2004.

Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy. Quarterly magazine of Jewish genealogy. $35.00 per year. First published in 1985. www.avotaynu.com/journal.htm

Avotaynu on CD-ROM (1985-2002). Every article that appeared in Avotaynu for the first 18 years. More than 2,300 articles accessible with a full-word search engine. $99.95.

“Nu? What’s New?” News About Jewish Genealogy from Avotaynu. Biweekly electronic newsletter. www.avotaynu.com/nu.htm

On-line Resources www.apgen.org Association of Professional Genealogists including membership directory www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy National Archives genealogy page www.cjh.org Center for Jewish History www.cyndislist.com Comprehensive links to thousands of websites www.ellisisland.org Ellis Island passenger ship lists, 1892-1924 (Use stevemorse.org to search!) www.familysearch.org FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service (LDS Family History Library) www.iajgs.org International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies www.jewishgen.org Online starting point for Jewish genealogists www.nyc.gov/html/records/home.html New York City Dept. of Records and Information Services http://www.sephardicgen.com/ Sephardic genealogy resources www.rtrfoundation.org Routes to Roots Foundation database of archives and Judaica in Eastern European archives www.stevemorse.org Searching tools to numerous important genealogical websites www.vitalrec.com Vital records information for entire U.S.

Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute • Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 • (212) 294-8318 http://genealogy.cjh.org