Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
Hours of Operation
Sunday 11am - 4pm
Monday, 9:30am - 7:30pm
Tuesday - Thursday, 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 1:30pm
Inquiries: 917.606.8217 | gi@cjh.org
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute will be closed on July 4 & 5 for Independence Day.
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute provides an enormous wealth of genealogical resources through the partners' collections and a variety of fact sheets ranging from "how to" guides for the beginner to advanced research guides for the seasoned researcher.
Many resources are available both on-site and online, including some of the most comprehensive databases available, many unique to the Center. Extensive microfilm collections are accessible to researchers, including microfilms on indefinite loan from the Family History Library containing birth, marriage and death records. The Center offers researchers the ability to view microfilm using Scan Pro 2000 digital microfilm readers; these enable patrons to save images as JPGs, PDFs and other image file formats, and also allow for printing. Genealogy librarians are available six days a week to assist patrons with their own family history research.
The Institute's Monday evening hours have been made possible through a generous grant from the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York.
Click to learn more about our research and reference services.
Click to learn more about giving the gift of genealogy.
To read more about the Center’s incorporation of Routes to Roots Foundation databases into its online catalog, click here.
Resources at the The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
- An open-stack reference collection that includes how-to books, name dictionaries, gazetteers, historical atlases, guides to translating vital records, newsletters of Jewish genealogical societies and directories of family history resources around the world.
- Public computers, offering free Internet connection and access to electronic resources such as Ancestry Library Edition and other commercial genealogy websites; Encyclopedia Judaica; ProQuest Historical Newspapers (including New York Times and Chicago Tribute); World Bibliographical Information System; Columbia Gazetteer of the World; Testaments to the Holocaust; and the "Russians to America" CD-ROM database.
- Access to the Center's Reading Room, which is adjacent to the Genealogy Institute and offers open-stack reference material including biographical dictionaries, Pinkas Hakehillot and other Holocaust reference works, general histories, multi-volume gazetteers, and a variety of encyclopedias.
- More than 2,000 microfilms and microfiche on long-term loan (as an authorized branch of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City). Material on loan includes Jewish records from Austria, Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and several other countries. It also includes the German Minority Census of 1938, Philadelphia HIAS records, Russian Consular records and indexes, and Hamburg emigration lists and indexes. For instructions on how to order microfilm or microfiche, please click here.
- The Center offers researchers the ability to view microfilm using Scan Pro 2000 digital microfilm readers; these enable patrons to save images as JPGs, PDFs and other image file formats, and also allow for printing. It is recommended that patrons reserve a microfilm machine if they know that they will be using microfilm. To reserve a machine please call 917.606.8217.
- A series of fact sheets on family history research that highlight resources found only at the Center. These research guides indicate where to find both U.S. and foreign records as well as records of synagogues, rabbis and landmanshaftn.
- Skilled support staff and volunteers will guide you to the most relevant resources and answer your genealogy research inquiries. Please note that the average response time to inquiries sent via e-mail is 1-3 weeks. The Center will fulfill only reasonable requests.
Microfilm Orders
Starting October 19, 2011 you can no longer order microfilms at the Center for Jewish History. To order microfilms please visit http://www.familysearch.org/films/. You will need to login and register. Also, you can choose your own Family History Center where the film/s will be sent. If you choose the CJH your films will be sent to the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at the Center for Jewish History.
There are several options to choose from:
Short-Term Microfilm Loan will allow you to keep the films at the Center for 90 days.
Short term Microfilm Loan Renewal will allow you to renew a film that is already at the Center for another 60 days.
Extended Microfilm Loan Renewal will allow you to keep the film at the Center permanently.
Extended Microfilm Loan can be picked from the beginning, and will allow you to keep the film at the CJH Permanently.
Using Microfilms
- We will telephone you when your microfilms arrive.
- You may come in to use the microfilms any time that the Reading Room is open. Please read our microfilm/microfiche reader reservation policy prior to your coming, and then call (917) 606-8217 for reservation.
- When you arrive, staff members can help you obtain your microfilms from the brown cabinet outside the Genealogy Institute offices. When you are finished, please return your microfilms to the same cabinet.
The Center has more than 2,000 microfilms and microfiche on long-term loan (as an authorized branch of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City). Please visit the JGSNY website for a list of the microfilms and microfiches available.
Family Pedigree Charts
For people who are planning on visiting the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute in person:
Please download one of the free family pedigree charts provided by the MISBACH Enterprises at http://misbach.org/pdfcharts, fill it in and bring it with you to the institute. One of our trained staff members or volunteers will be happy to assist you with your research.
Quick Links: Center Resources
Online Catalog
Family History Databases
Family History Library Catalog
Research Guides: Fact Sheets
Giving the Gift of Genealogy
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Center have books and documents that might provide me with information about my family?
The Center for Jewish History is home to over 500 thousand books and 100 million archival documents. Our collections include family histories, memoirs, correspondence and personal papers (of both well-known and lesser-known individuals), as well as records of communal, cultural, political and professional organizations. Among these sources are many documents that can provide information about individuals and families.
The Center also provides access to ship passenger manifests, U.S. census records, U.S. vital records, and most U.S. naturalization records and European vital records through our electronic resources and our microfilm loan program.
How can staff members and volunteers at the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute help me?
Staff members and volunteers will be happy to guide you to appropriate resources both in the Center partner's collections and online. We will assist you in identifying the best sources to use as you continue your research into your family history.
How can I use Center resources to find the history and meaning of my family name?
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute provides several reference works on Jewish names. Most Ashkenazi families adopted surnames between 1780 and 1850, while Sephardic families and families living in Frankfurt and Prague used surnames much earlier. Some Jewish surnames were designated according to patronymics, matronymics, occupations, physical characteristics or places of origin. Others were based on words borrowed from the Bible or Jewish literature.
How can I find out where my ancestors were from?
To learn about identifying the towns where your ancestors lived (known as your "ancestral towns"), see our fact sheets on Starting Your Family History Research, Finding Your Ancestral Town, Immigration, Naturalization and Census Records. Other suggestions are available at JewishGen.org.
What information should I try to learn about my ancestral towns?
The Center's sources on Jewish communities worldwide include encyclopedias, yizkor books, landsmanshaft records, newspapers, memoirs, and records of communal, cultural, political and professional organizations.
You might interview relatives and conduct supplementary research to obtain additional information about your ancestral town, such as:
- What types of industry or trade were practiced there?
- What languages were spoken?
- Was it near any larger cities, rivers, forests or borders?
To learn about how to find information on ancestors who immigrated to countries other than the United States, see the fact sheet on the appropriate country. Consulting the fact sheet will help you to determine whether the country's census, naturalization or immigration records are available. Special Interest Groups focused on particular countries are also excellent sources of information.
Can I find my family tree on the Internet?
Most people will not find completed family trees on the Internet. However, you can check certain websites and make connections with other researchers who may be able to provide you with information about branches of your family.
Family Tree of the Jewish People: This database consists of family trees that individual researchers have chosen to share with others. (There is no guarantee that you will find information on branches of your family, but it is worth a search.) To search this database, you must be registered with JewishGen. For security and privacy reasons, the birthdates of living people are omitted from the family trees, and the names of the family tree submitters remain confidential. However, you may contact the person who submitted the family tree by sending a private message using the link provided by the website.
JewishGen Family Finder: Click here to access a database of genealogists and the surnames and towns that they are researching. You can run an "exact spelling" or "soundex" search of a specific family name or town. The results will provide the names and contact information of genealogists researching the same families or geographical areas. (You will obtain the most useful and comprehensive results if you search both the family name and the name of the town where your ancestors lived. However, if the town is too small or the name too unusual, you should also try conducting surname-only searches.) You must be registered with JewishGen to search this database.
WorldConnect Project: Many genealogists have posted their family trees on this website. You may find a family tree that intersects with your own family history.
MyHeritage family trees: This collection includes family trees submitted by MyHeritage members. You can download Family Tree Builder, MyHeritage free genealogy software for putting together your family tree, or search MyHeritage.com for your ancestors on Ancestor Search database. Currently, there are over 400,000,000 records submitted by MyHeritage members.
Personal Web Pages: Some families have posted their family trees on personal websites. To search for these, simply enter the surname you are researching into a search engine such as Google or Bing.
Commercial Web Sites: The Center currently subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition, which includes family tree databases. Other electronic resources, such as Genealogy.com, also have family trees.
How can I obtain records from countries other than the United States?
Please consult the fact sheet about the resources available on the appropriate country of origin. Reference books like the Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy and Jeffrey S. Malka's Sephardic Genealogy-which are both available at the Genealogy Institute—also provide information on how to obtain foreign records.
Many international records have been made available on microfilm by the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The Genealogy Institute maintains a microfilm loan agreement with the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. According to this agreement, researchers can order records through the Center's Genealogy Institute and study the microfilms at the Center.
To learn which records are available, consult the online Family History Library catalog. Please keep in mind that these microfilms are copies of original records that were mostly handwritten in languages other than English.