ARCHIVES
AHEYMThe Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories at Indiana University, a linguistic and oral history project that includes Yiddish language interviews with approximately 380 people, most of whom were born between the 1900s and the 1930s. The interviews were conducted in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia between 2002 and 2012.
American Jewish Joint Distribution CommitteeThe JDC (JOINT), the Jewish relief agency founded in 1914, has put its vast Archives online as a searchable database
Central Archives of the Jewish PeopleGiv’at Ram Campus, Hebrew University, Jerusalem P.O.B. 39077 Jerusalem 91390 Tel. +972 2 6586249 Email: archives@vms.huji.ac.il
Established in 1939, the Archive holds the archives of hundreds of Jewish communities and local, national and international Jewish organizations, as well as the collections of a number of prominent individuals. They constitute the most extensive collection of documents, pinkassim (registers) and other records of Jewish history from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) News ArchiveJTA has digitized its news archive, from 1917 onwards, as a searchable database. There are numerous articles about Jewish heritage sites
National Library of IsraelA rich repository of a wide variety of material, much of it digitized.
Yerusha: Jewish Archives EuropeA sister project to Jewish Heritage Europe of the Rothschild Roundation (Hanadiv) Europe. A listing and description of Jewish archives and archives with Jewish content.
GENERAL (HISTORY; CULTURE; HERITAGE)
AEPJ – European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and HeritagePromotes and loosely coordinates the annual European Day of Jewish Culture, held in many countries across Europe on the first Sunday in September. Also promotes the European Routes of Jewish Heritage. So far, thematic routes include Architectural Modernism in Synagogues, and Wooden Synagogues in central and eastern Europe. There are also routes to Jewish heritage in various individual countries.
The Beit Project: Creating Consciousness; Jewish Heritage and European IdentityAnd international project aimed at using Jewish heritage sites as a focus of meaningful social debate to promote tolerance and understanding between all local cultures
The Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University, JerusalemFounded by Professor Bezalel Narkiss in 1979. Activities include documentation, research, education and publishing. The Center’s archives and collections comprise about 180,000 pictures, sketches and documents, including photographs and architectural drawings of synagogues. These are now being digitized and put online, in a database shared with Israel’s National Library. By early 2014, some 42,000 items had been digitized. Another major project is the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, an iconographical Jewish art database, which has now been digitized and put online.
Catalogue of Wall Paintings in Central and Eastern European Synagogues
A wealth of descriptive material and images from 145 synagogues in 11 countries in the region
Database and interactive map on more tha 3,000 standing pre-WW2 synagogues in 48 countries, with information on construction, style, current use and condition, and threats.
Online photographic database of CJA’s Jewish art & heritage collections
Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish PeopleThe museum’s wide-ranging web site has extensive links and databases on Jewish heritage sites, Jewish communities worldwide, synagogues, genealogy, and much more.
Center for Jewish History, New YorkThe Center for Jewish History, located in New York, is the home of five Jewish institutions dedicated to history, culture, and art. It is comprised of:
The American Jewish Historical Society
The American Sephardi Federation
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Center for Jewish History — Digital CollectionsAccess to a variety of digital objects, including rare books, children’s books, personal letters, official decrees, maps, memoirs, posters, photographs, scrapbooks, oral histories, finding aids, dissertations, and more.
CENTROPA: Connecting the World to the Lands of Jewish HeritageIncludes photographs, links, interviews, articles, recipes, films, travel information, educations material. Operated by the Central Europe Center for Research and Documentation.
Claims Conference/WJRO Looted Art & Cultural Property InitiativeEssential links, resources and information regarding looted art and other cultural property for provenance researchers; staffs of museums, libraries, and other repositories; art and Judaica dealers; archivists and historians – as well as individual and family claimants and the general public.
European Association for Jewish StudiesThe sole umbrella organization representing this field of university studies in Europe. Its aims are the encouragement and support of the research and teaching of Jewish studies at university level in Europe, and other places of higher education and learning.
European Center for Jewish MusicAn institute at the Hanover, Germany University of Music, Drama and Media
European Holocaust Research InfrastructureA portal designed to implement a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) offering online access to a wide variety of dispersed Holocaust archives and to a number of tools to work with them. Building on integration programs undertaken over the past decades by the 20 partners in the consortium and a large network of associate partners, EHRI “sets out to transform the data available for Holocaust research around Europe and elsewhere into a cohesive body of resources.”
European Institute for Jewish MusicAn Institute based in Paris dedicated to the documentation and resources pertaining to Jewish music in Europe. It was created in 2006 by the French Judaism Foundation, the Yuval association and the Henriette Halphen Foundation.
European Sephardic Institute European Sites of Remembrance — Information PortalAn interactive web site with links to numerous Holocaust memorial sites, museums and related places in Europe, accessible via an ineractive map. It is is a project of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation and forms part of the exhibition of the Information Center under the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.
EJewishPhilanthropyA web site and publishing channel that highlights the news and developments in the world of Jewish philanthropy, including projects, funders, issues.
European Shoah Legacy InstituteA public benefit corporation set up by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010 as a follow-up to the Terezin Declaration endorsed by representatives of 47 states, who met in June 2009 in Prague and Terezin at the Holocaust Era Assets Conference organized by the Czech Presidency of the European Union Council. Its role is to seek – in cooperation with governments, non-governmental organizations and independent experts – systemic solutions on an international level leading to restitution of immovable property, art, Judaica and Jewish cultural assets stolen by the Nazis; provision of adequate social welfare to Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and other victims of Nazism; and promotion of Holocaust education, research and remembrance.
Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and CultureMany links and online resources.
Foundation for Jewish HeritageFoundation promoting the preservation, restoration, and documentation of Historic Synagogues in Europe.
Future for Religious HeritageA networks of charities, governmental, religious and university department that work to protect religious heritage buildings and interiors across Europe. Its news feed features links to article on these topics.
Google Art ProjectDigitlized collections from a variety of international museums, including several with Jewish content.
Haruth: All Things Jewish (lots of links) Historic Synagogues in EuropeDatabase and interactive map on more tha 3,000 standing pre-WW2 synagogues in 48 countries, with information on construction, style, current use and condition, and threats.
International Survey of Jewish MonumentsPioneering organization devoted to Jewish built heritage. The site includes the archives of its one-time periodical, the Jewish Heritage Report.
Jewish Country HousesWeb site of a 4-year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council commencing in October 2019. The project focuses on country houses owned, renewed and sometimes built by Jews and those of Jewish origin. Its aim is to “write these houses and their owners back into British, European and Jewish history and to establish their importance as sites of European – and Jewish – memory.”
Jewish Music Web Center Jewish People Around the WorldWeb site with sections on Jewish communities, synagogues, monuments, etc
Jewish Virtual History Tour (Western Europe) Jewish Virtual LibraryA comprehensive online Jewish site, with many links and articles about specific countries.
Judaica EuropeanaAn ever-growing online database of Jewish artifacts and cultural heritage. Judaica Europeana is one of a series of initiatives supported by the European Commission’s eContentplus programme that harvest and aggregate content for EUROPEANA, Europe’s museums, libraries and archives online.
Judaica Europeana — Virtual Exhibitions Online
Museum of Family HistoryWide-ranging resources and online exhibitions, including a photographic exhibition of World Holocaust Memorials (including 19 European countries)
Rio Wang blog/web siteA blog that features some excellent documentation and photographs of Jewish heritage sites in Europe.
SefardiWebA web site about Sephardic studies and Ladino, with many links to academic and other resources.
S & P CentralA web portal serving as an “information hub” with links to Spanish and Portuguese synagogues and Jewish communities.
Synagogue Art Research web siteA web site that draws on and summarizes the decades-long research work of Rivka and Ben Zion Dorfman, who documented synagogue buildings and Jewish communities in centeral and eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. Their research was published inthe book Synagogues without Jews (Jewish Publication Society, 2001)
U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad1400 K Street, NW-Ste. 401 Washington, DC 20005 Tel: (202) 254-3824 Fax: (202) 254-3934 Email: uscommission@heritageabroad.gov
An independent agency of the U.S. Government that aims to (1) identify and report on cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with the heritage of U.S. citizens, particularly endangered properties, and (2) obtain, in cooperation with the Department of State, assurances from the governments of the region that the properties will be protected and preserved. The commission has overseen ground-breaking inventory surveys of Jewish heritage sites in several countries that can be accessed here: http://heritageabroad.gov/Reports.aspx It also organizes or oversees projects that help restore, preserve, and memorialize cultural heritage properties, including Jewish cemeteries, monuments and historic buildings.
World Monuments Fund350 Fifth Avenue Suite 2412 New York, NY 10118 Tel: 646-424-9594 Fax: 646-424-9593 Email: wmf@wmf.org
Yad VashemWorld center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust.
YIVO EncyclopediaAuthoritative online encyclopedia of Jewish history, culture and heritage in (mainly) Eastern Europe.
Zalman Schachter Center — Journey into Jewish HeritageInformation and results of student research trips documenting Jewish heritage in Romania, Greece, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bosnia-Hercegovina. The Center also has a rich and extensive YouTube channel that posts videos documenting the expeditions.
MAPS AND MAPPING
Gesher Galicia Map RoomValuable resource including digitized detailed cadastral maps from the historic Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. Digital images of maps in the inventory are being acquired with permission from collections covering historic Galicia, in modern Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Israel, and the United States. Historic maps were often produced on multiple sheets; to display the maps here, typically the individual sheets are digitally stitched together and then tiled to simplify viewing in a web browser.
Mapire — Historic Maps of the Habsburg EmpireOld maps from the Habsburg Empire and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, published using modern GIS technologies. Users can compare old maps with today maps (Google or OpenStreetMap), also in 3 dimensions.
Mapping the Jewish Communities of the Byzantine EmpireCentre for Advanced Religious and Theological Study Faculty of Divinity West Road Cambridge CB3 9BS England Email: byzantium@divinity.cam.ac.uk
An ambitious project to map the Jewish presence in the former Byzantine Empire and collate, digitize and publish physical and archival information.
Topographic Maps of Eastern EuropeMaps and related links, focusing on Eastern Europe and the Pale of Settlement.
MUSEUMS
Association of European Jewish MuseumsThe Association’s web site has links to Jewish museums in 20 countries.
Links to web sites and contact numbers for Jewish museums and Holocaust museums around the world.
Museums AssociationA membership organization for people working in museums, galleries and heritage.
Museum PracticeOnline resource that shares examples of new developments and innovations in museums and galleries, from technology to new ways of interpreting objects and storing collections.
PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES
Center for Jewish Art’s online photographic database of Jewish art & heritage collections Center for Jewish Art’s Narkiss Index of Jewish Art Center for Jewish Art’s Catalogue of Wall Paintings in Central and Eastern European SynagoguesA wealth of descriptive material and images from 145 synagogues in 11 countries in the region
CENTROPA: Connecting the World to the Lands of Jewish HeritageIncludes photographs, links, interviews, articles, recipes, films, travel information, educations material. Operated by the Central Europe Center for Research and Documentation.
College of Charleston Library, Rabbi William A. Rosenthall CollectionThe collection includes postcards and other images of synagogues around the globe, including European synagogues destroyed by the Nazis or converted to stables and warehouses. Many of the synagogue images have been digitized and are viewable online from the main web page.
Jewish Photo Library — HaChayim HaYehudimJono David’s collection of thousands of photographs of Jewish heritage sites, Holocaust memorials, Judaica and other images related to Jewish culture.
Ritual Baths (mikvaot)German photographer Peter Seidel’s web site, with a collection of his images of mikvehs – ritual baths – ancient to modern, in several countries.
Roman Vishniac ArchiveThousands of photos of pre-World War II Jewish life by Roman Vishniac, digitized and available in a searchable database
Synagogue Images and Jewish Communal History in Many Countries (Edward Victor Collection)Photographs of synagogues and images of synagogues on stamps and postcards in many countries, combined with historical background and description. Edward Victor donated his collection to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust but maintains a web site with extensive material.
Synagogues360Interactive, 360-degree panoramic images — as well as other images — of many synagogues in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Synagogues of Europe, Past and PresentCollection of nearly 600 synagogue photos from more than 30 European countries. Part of the online Museum of Family History.
Wooden Synagogues in EuropeA photo gallery of pre-WW2 wooden synagogues in Eastern Europe.
POSTCARD COLLECTIONS
College of Charleston Library, Rabbi William A. Rosenthall Collection (postcards)The collection includes postcards and other images of synagogues around the globe, including European synagogues destroyed by the Nazis or converted to stables and warehouses.
Jewish Postcards Collection — Frantisek Banyai’s CollectionHundreds of images of synagogues, Judaica and other Jewish sites and themes in Europe.
Jewish Postcards Collection — Stephanie Comfort’s CollectionThousands of images from all around the world, including synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and other Jewish heritage sites.
VIDEOS AND VIDEO CHANNELS
Jewish Discoveries — video mini-docs of Jewish quarters and heritage sites Zalman Schachter Center — Journey into Jewish HeritageThe Center has a rich and extensive YouTube channel that posts videos documenting the expeditions to towns and cities in Romania, Greece, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bosnia-Hercegovina