Jewish Societies

Jews are members of many types of societies. You may be able to obtain help with your family history research from the following types of societies:


 * Family associations - Many family organizations are gathering information about their ancestors and descendants. Some organization are gathering information about all individuals with a particular surname.
 * Fraternal organizations - These types of societies, associations, and lodges include people with common interests, religions, or ethnicities. Membership records and other records that they generated may be useful in tracing your family history. Examples of fraternal organizations include Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (Freemasonry), Knights of Pythias, and Order of Odd Fellows. Lineage and hereditary societies - Lineage and hereditary societies are for people or their descendants who were associated with prominent individuals or events, for example National Society, Daughters of the AmericanRevolution (DAR), and Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). They generally are involved in educational, cultural, social, and other programs to preserve the documents and memories of the past and often maintain libraries and museums that can help you in your research. Most publish a periodical or newsletter.
 * Historical and genealogical societies - These types of societies may have records and services to help you with your research. Many countries throughout the world and each state and most counties in the U.S. have organizedsocieties. They generally collect historical documents of local interest, publish periodicals, and have special projects and compiled indexes. The Federation of East European Family History Societies (FEEFHS) includes individuals as well as genealogy societies, heritage societies, surname associations, book or periodical publishers or besellers, archives, libraries, institutions, and other groups. One of their goals is to share information about new developments and research opportunities in Eastern and Central Europe. Included in their Internet site are notices of new publications put outby its member societies; information about the services and activities of FEEFHS and their member societies; and online databases of pertinent resources. Many of these databases include Jews while some are Jewish specific. For membership information, contact them at:


 * Federation of East European Family History Societies
 * P.O. Box 510898
 * Salt Lake City Utah 84151-0898
 * Internet: http://www.feefhs.org/

If there is a research outline for the country or state where your ancestor lived, see “Societies” in this outline to find out more information. In addition to these general types of organizations, many societies were formed specifically for Jews. These societies are generally located in areas with a significant Jewish population. Some focus on Jewish genealogy and are able to help members with genealogical research. Others focus on local Jewish history or a common place of origin. Many publish helpful journals and newsletters.

 Special Interest Groups Many Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have formed to focus on Jewish genealogy research in particular localities or subjects. Examples of such groups are: Austria-Czech SIG; Belarus SIG; Bailystok Region; Early American SIG; Glaicia SIG; German-Jewish SIG; Grodno SIG; Lativia SIG; Sephardic SIG; Southern Africa SIG; Hungary SIG;and Rabbinic Genealogy SIG. Most SIGs have web sites and E-mail list serves. For a more complete listing of SIGs, and information about them, see: http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen/sigs.htm http://iajgs.org/Yearbook-Index.htm

JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy JewishGen, Inc. is the primary internet source connecting researchers of Jewish genealogy worldwide. Its most popular components are the JewishGen Discussion Group, the JewishGen Family Finder (a database of 400,000 surnames and towns), the comprehensive directory of InfoFiles, ShtetLinks for over 200 communities, Yizkor Book translations, and databases such as the ShtetlSeeker and All Country Databases. JewishGen’s Family Tree of the Jewish People contains data on more than three million people. The web address for JewishGen is: http://www.jewishgen.org

Jewish Historical Societies Historical societies can be valuable sources of information. They generally collect information about Jewish history in particular areas. Some may have information about specific individuals. Many societies have books and manuscripts about Jews that may be difficult to find in libraries and archives. Most publish historical periodicals. You may be interested in the services, activities, and collections of these groups. The American Jewish Historical Society maintains a list of local Jewish historical societies in North America and national Jewish historical societies overseas. This list is found on their Internet site at: http://www.ajhs.org/jhs.htm/

The American Jewish Historical Society has relocated to the Jewish History Center, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011.