PLEASE NOTE: The Reading Room and Genealogy Institute have paused all in-person researcher visits as a result of staffing shortages due to COVID. We will resume in-person researcher visits on Tuesday, February 1, 2022.
Ready to Explore Your Family History?
We can help! The Genealogy Institute is open by appointment only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm. You can make a half-day appointment through your research account. (Make sure to choose Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute in the Appointments drop-down menu.) We are also responding to your inquiries via email and phone, and are available for more intensive one-on-one zoom sessions, as needed. To help you get started on your genealogy research or to learn how to access the Center's resources, see our genealogy guides here.
Tune into the Center’s Facebook page the second Friday of every month at 2:00PM ET for Genealogy Coffee Break, a monthly short talk on a genealogy topic (and see past sessions on Facebook or YouTube).
Schedule a free workshop via Zoom for your senior center, synagogue, school, or community group.
Search by Region
Click on a country or region on the map to discover resources about your ancestral town. For guides to additional countries (including the U.S.) and topics, please click here.
Visit Us
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute provides access to a wealth of genealogical resources through the Center for Jewish History's partner collections and the Institute's extensive reference collection, online databases, and a variety of research guides.
Group Visits
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute welcomes groups and classes of all ages and backgrounds. Visitors may learn how to begin tracing their roots, explore primary sources useful to genealogy research, and gain hands-on experience searching for their ancestors in online databases. We have provided personalized sessions for high school, undergraduate, and graduate classes, non-profit organizations, synagogues, and senior centers. All classes can be customized to suit your needs. To schedule your group visit, please fill out this form.
Image: Detail, The Written World (Diane Samuels, 2014)
Commissioned by The Center for Jewish History for the Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Did you know?
The collections of the Center’s five partner organizations—The American Jewish Historical Society, The American Sephardi Federation, The Leo Baeck Institute, The Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research—as well as the collection of the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute and the Center’s digital collections can all be accessed through one central online catalog? Go to http://search.cjh.org to begin exploring the breadth of modern Jewish experience as documented in our collections.
Image: Unidentified Family, 19th century
Photograph black-and-white postcard
From the Leo Baeck Institute LBI Photograph Collection
Courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute
PID: 891299
Call Number: F 1966F
Family History Collections
The American Jewish Historical Society located at the Center for Jewish History has indexed a number of their genealogy-related collections. Search for your family name in these collections here.
Image: Fischer Family, 1870
Black-and-white photograph
From the Johanna Fischer Family Collection (AR 4289)
Courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute
PID: 854990
Call Number: F 17066