Ready to Explore Your Family History?

We can help! Though the computers in the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute are currently closed to the public, the librarians are accessible and eager to assist you with your research. We are responding to your inquiries via email and phone. We are also 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 >a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k_Y6RTYh9s&list=PLdXJlaq_fr1bzWVzZFXm-syaq-Bq0qp3K" target="_blank">YouTube).

Schedule a free workshop via Zoom for your senior center, synagogue, school, or community group.

Map of Europe with links to genealogy guides Austria Genealogy Guides Hungary Genealogy Guides Czech and Slovak Republics Genealogy Guides Poland Genealogy Guides Latvia Genealogy Guides Lithuania Genealogy Guides Germany Genealogy Guides Romania Genealogy Guides Belarus Genealogy Guides Ukraine Genealogy Guides France Genealogy Guides Ukraine Genealogy Guides UK/Ireland Genealogy Guides UK/Ireland Genealogy Guides Bulgaria Genealogy Guides Romania and Moldova Genealogy Guides Sephardic Mizrahi Genealogy Guides Sephardic Mizrahi Genealogy Guides Sephardic Mizrahi Genealogy Guides Sephardic Mizrahi Genealogy Guides UK/Ireland Genealogy Guides Greece Genealogy Guides

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