@Passenger Arrival Records, 1883-1954: All print is very small and hard-to-read. A catalog restrictions have been lifted on access to name describing microfilm publications of passenger indexes to passenger arrivals and passenger and arrivals, crew lists and indexes may be obtaj-ned crew lists in the custody of the National Ar- for free from the Publication Sales Branch (NEPS) , chives. The Immigration and Naturalization National Archive's, Washington, DC 20408. Service (INS), at the request of the Archives, agreed to the release of Passenger Arrival Rec- NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: For the first time in ords, 1883-1954, previously subject to a 50-year seven years, the Central Research Library on Fifth restriction. The agreement opened 6055 rolls of Avenue -- the building with the lions in front -- microfilm to researchers, making a total of is open on Thursdays, beginning Jan. 6, 1983. 11,746 rolls of INS microfilm available. Of The Central building, which houses several special special interest is the Index (Soundex) to Pass- collections of interest to genealogists (such as enger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, the Jewish Div., Local History and Genealogy Div., July 1, 1902-Dec. 31, 1943 (microfilm publication and Map Div.), will be open from Monday through no. T621), comprising 756 rolls. The cost for a Saturday. set, at $17 per roll, is only $12,852 -- and the JEWISH GENEALOGICAL MATERIALS IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: An Introductory Checklist with Annotations Ellen R. Murphy INTRODUCTION virtually every field of Jewish study. HEBRAICA AND JUDAICA IN The Hebraic script titles are in the physical THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS custody of the Hebraic Section, which was estab- lished in July, 1914 as the Semitic Division to In the early part of this century, between serve as a separate administrative unit responsi- the years 1912-1920, the Library of Congress (LC) ble for supervising the acquisition and organiza- acquired from Ephraim Deinard, the well-known tion of Hebraic materials. The Section is cur- book-dealer and bibliographer, a collection of rently housed in the Library's John Adams Building, some 20,000 Hebrew volumes. This collection, room 1006, which also contains a small but vital part of which was donated to the Library by Jacob reference collection covering all fields of Juda- H. Schiff, the New York philanthropist, formed ica in various languages. In addition, we main- the nucleus of the Library's holdings in Hebraica tain two National Union Card Catalogs for Hebrew and Judaica which today are world-renowned in and Yiddish, respectively. Each of these catalogs scope and richness. This is a fitting development comprises a title catalog arranged alphabetically inasmuch as Deinard himself original 1y envisioned by vernacular title and a combined romanized au- the Library of Congress as a storehouse of Hebra- thor and subject catalog. Generally, the title ica rivalling the collections in the great li- catalogs reflect the Hebraic Section's holdings braries of Europe. only, while the author-subject catalogs also re- The Deinard collections, extremely rich in flect the holdings of the approximately fifty the traditional fields of Jewish learning includ- libraries in the United States which have reported ing Biblical exegesis, rabbinical literature, their acquisitions to us over the years. At pre- liturgy, etc., also covered all of Haskalah liter- sent, there are some 643,000 cards filed into ature. The high quality of holdings in these these catalogs. A separate National Union Catalog areas has been maintained over the years. At the of Microforms is also available. It is arranged same time, the Library's responsibilities to the in two parts, author and title. Congress and Executive agencies, as well as the The Judaica (non-Hebraic) holdings are inte- American academic community, dictated that we ac- grated into the Library's general collections and quire widely in all fields pertaining to the State access to them can be gained through the Main of Israel, its government and society, as well as Catalog housed in the Main Reading Room. This the Holocaust, Yiddish literature and contemporary catalog is arranged in an alphabetic sequence of Hebrew literature. Today, the Library has some authors, subjects and romanized titles for books, 120,000 volumes of Hebrew, Yiddish and cognate pamphlets, and periodicals cataloged through 1980 languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian and in most languages; there is also a separate card Ladino, including an extensive serial collection. catalog for periodical titles. English-language The Library also has a preeminent collection of works that were cataloged by LC starting in 1968 Judaica in various western languages, which spans (somewhat later for French, German, etc.) may be TOLEQOTIVOL. 4, NO. 3 3 searched on-line in the Library of Congress Com- Section 10 likewise covers the towns, cities and The following checklist is meant to serve as very thoroughly discussed in Zachary Baker's puterized Catalog (LCCC) . Adjacent to the Main other places within a state. Section 11 covers a very brief introduction to the Library's rich "Memorial books as sources for family history" Catalog is a Computer Catalog Center, equipped the ethnic or religious groups which settled in a Judaic and Hebraic collections and to the genea- and "Bibliography of Eastern European memorial with a number of computer terminals and printers. particular state and includes Jews. logically-related materials available within these books: updated and revised1'--both published in Printed instructions explaining how to use them Another catalog of importance is the family vast holdings. Inasmuch as the checklist contains TOLEDOT (vol. 3, nos. 2-3, pp. 3-43). are avail-able, and reference librarians are also name index which contains cards for the approxi- only 50 titles, it certainly can make no pretense With a few exceptions, the focus of the on duty there if you need further assistance. mately 25,000 genealogies in LC. The value of at being even moderately comprehensive! Rather, checklist is on non-English-language materials. When searching for a Hebrew or Yiddish work, this catalog is that it covers not only the U.S. the list is a sampling of items that I have found (The exceptions include, by and large, bibliog- it is best to consult the Hebraic Section's cata- but other countries as well, although Eastern to be--or readers have reported to be--helpful to raphies which refer to foreign-language sources.) logs rather than the Main Catalog. (And after Europe is not all that well represented. the beginning genealogist, as well as to the more There are several reasons for this. First, for searching the Section's catalogs, if you still It should be pointed out that while all the seasoned researcher. Hopefully, these titles the majority, a search for ancestors will take can't find what you're looking for, or aren't sure cards found in these two catalogs are also filed will lead the reader to many others. It should you back mainly to Europe, North Africa, etc., whether LC owns the work, don't hesitate to con- into the Main Catalog, there are often items be pointed out that a very large percentage of and the relevant materials are of course not in sult one of the staff members.) The reason for about a town or family which are contained in the the items listed here probably are available at English, but in Yiddish, Hebrew, German, French, this is that we hold a great number of uncataloged Main Catalog but not the LHGG catalogs because other major research and university libraries, etc. Secondly, where English-language materials works for which records have been prepared that they are not strictly of a genealogical or histor- and even if you do not live near one, you may do .exist or for information on American Jews or are available only in the Hebraic Section's cata- ical nature. For example, a biography about a still be able to get the items--in most cases-- Jews from other English-speaking countries, it logs. The Main Catalog will indicate LC's cata- family would not find its way into the family through inter-library loan. Thus, the checklist will be relatively easy to identify needed English loged holdings only, and you may be missing out name index. Thus, it is always good to check the can be helpful to those who are not able to use titles in library catalogs or bibliographies, and on a great number of important titles, especially Main Catalog in the course of the research. The the Library of Congress resources. there should be no trouble using the titles once older rabbinic works. On the other hand, when LHGG Section should not be bypassed, however, be- The checklist grew out of a speech which I they have been located. Since this is not usually searching for non-Hebraic titles, one should use cause the catalogs bring so much material tog.ether delivered before the Jewish Genealogy Society of the case for Hebrew, Yiddish and other foreign- the Main Catalog and the computers. The Hebraic conveniently, and there are other indices, cata- Greater Washington in May, 1981. The presenta- language titles, I have decided to concentrate on Section does maintain a very incomplete Judaica logs and reference materials which also may be of tion originally dealt with three groups of mate- bringing these items to light, and to spend some card file arranged by author, but this cannot be interest. Before starting a search there, it is rials corresponding to the three broad areas of time in the annotations describing what you can relied on to give up-to-date and comprehensive best to consult the mimeographed Guide to the research that the Jewish genealogist generally find in the source and how to use it.