Nu? What's New? Vol. 20 No. 12

Underlined words are links to sites with additional information.

Announcing The Jacobi Papers: Genealogical Studies of Leading Ashkenazi Families

Avotaynu, in conjunction with the International Institute for Jewish Genealogy, has just published a four-volume work of the family trees developed by the late Paul Jacobi (1911–1997). It represents more than a half century of work by Jacobi in documenting the lineages of leading Ashkenazi families.

Running to 2,300 pages in all, and containing countless family trees going back many centuries, this work is a cornucopia of genealogical knowledge and data of relevance to all family historians and scholars working on Ashkenazi Jewry. There are tens of thousands of names.

Jacobi held that a core-group of some 80 elite families dominated Ashkenazi Jewry from its beginnings. To test his theory, he investigated more than 450 families to varying levels of detail, using the considerable resources available to him in Jerusalem. Of these, he took more than 100 studies to completion. None of his research, however, was published during his lifetime. On his death, his manuscripts were placed in the National Library of Israel. Two decades later, this invaluable genealogical compendium, Jacobi’s life-work, is being published for the first time.

Visit the website at http://avotaynu.com/books/Jacobi-Papers.html to see if any of your family names are included in the book. There is a link to the surname index as well as a table of contents for all four volumes.

Hints on How to Contact DNA Matches

When contacting for the first time someone who might help you with your family research, it is important to consider what to say and what not to say. Family History Daily has posted an essay titled “Ready to Contact Your DNA Matches? Here’s What to Say (and NOT to Say).” Many of the points apply to first contact with a person for any reason.

Examples considered in the article are:
• The content of the Subject Line is important to pique the person’s curiosity and not have it deleted before being read because the Subject Line makes it seem like spam.
• Use the basics of any communication such as be polite, don’t write in ALL CAPS and check your spelling and grammar carefully. Other basics are named.
• Other factors depending on your purpose and situation.

The complete article can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FHDContacting.

FamilySearch Adds Nearly 3.5 Million Records This Week

A list of recent additions to FamilySearch, nearly 3.5 million indexed records, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FamilySearch031819. This site provides direct links to the individual collections. Those identified with a dagger (†) are Christian-only records. They include records from Find A Grave, Argentina, Colombia(†), England(†), Germany, and United States: Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Virginia, and WWI Draft Registration Cards.

Large additions were made to:
• Germany, Bavaria, Middle Franconia, Brenner Collection of Genealogical Records, 1550–1900. 2.7M indexed records. (New collection)
• Find A Grave Index. 2M records added
• World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. 3.5M records added.

Note that at the website, announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. Also note that counts shown in the announcement are the number added, not the total number available in the collection, which can be greater.

Additions to FindMyPast This Week

Some of the additions to the FindMyPast collection possibly relevant to Jewish family history research are:
• US Servicemen in North Devon, England 1943–1945
• Scotland, Criminal Database 1801–1917
• El Salvador vital records

The complete list can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FindMyPast032219.

Finding Aid for the Records of HIAS Now Online

The American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History archivists have announced that a finding aid for the records of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) I-363 is now online.

Since the 1880s, HIAS has worked with immigrants and refugees to help them emigrate legally from their home countries to safe resettlement in the United States and elsewhere, and they continue this work today. The records focus on files of the Executive Directors, including James P. Rice, Gaynor I. Jacobson and Karl D. Zukerman, and other material created by executive staff and by the Board of Directors. Also of importance is the work of the HIAS United States Operations Department in the New York office, handling the everyday details of immigration documentation, migration issues and resettlement activities in connection with communities throughout the United States, and in coordination with HIAS staff in overseas offices and the other departments in New York and Washington, D.C.

This collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Collections and Engagement of the American Jewish Historical Society, except items that are restricted due to their fragility or for reasons of privacy. Privacy restrictions are generally removed after 72 years from the date of the most recent documents in a given folder.

There is an extensive photo archives online at https://tinyurl.com/HIASPhotoArchives but it is unindexed by names of persons in the photographs.

The full collection is announced at https://tinyurl.com/HIASArchivesCatalogOnline.

More About Jewish Genealogy & History Society of South Australia
The last issue of Nu? What’s New? reported a new Jewish Genealogy and History Society of South Australia located in Adelaide. Actually, the society has been in existence since 1993. What is new is that it is now a member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.