Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh 1902

2012 PARIS

32nd IAJGS Conference

15-18 July 2012

Our sponsor Website:

Rauh Jewish Archives Genealogy Program

Sunday, February 26, 2012 10am-4pm 

The Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center is hosting a program on  Finding Your Family’s Story: Genealogy and the Rauh Jewish Archives.  The History Center is located at 1212 Smallman Street in Pittsburgh's historic Strip District. There are four presentations between 10 am and 2 pm including a 45 minute lunch break. Presenters will be available for questions during an open-house session from 2pm to 4pm.

This is the 2nd part of a two day seminar which includes African American genealogy on Saturday February 25th. There will be an article about genealogy at the History Center and the two programs in the Tribune Review on Sunday, February 19. 

Additional details on the programs are available on the History center's website at: Genealogy Weekend

Meetings

JGS Pittsburgh is no longer meeting on a regular basis but you can stay tuned to this website for announcements on special meetings. Also please join our message group by sending  an email message to:

PittsburghJGS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Let us know a little about your family and where you are now. Once approved you will be able to send and receive messages to/from all group members. There is no cost and you can unsubscribe at anytime.  

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project   

now complete 1895 to 1999

The PJN project went online in April 2007 and is the most extensive English Language online  Jewish newspaper offering in the USA. The project had been funded primarily by Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh UJF, but due to the recent economic challeges new sources of money are needed for the project to continue. 

Although primarily focused on the Pittsburgh area Jewish community there is a wealth of information on many Jewish topics. Institutions of higher learning as well as genealogists throughout the world are using it heavily. Currently more than 160,000 images have been digitized:

  • The Jewish Criterion - complete from 1895 to 1962 
  • The Jewish Chronicle - complete from 1962 to 1999
  • The American Jewish Outlook (1946 only)

Plans had included adding the AJO thru 1962 as well as other website improvements.

You can get further information on the project, how to contribute, and how to search from this link: Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project



Pittsburgh  Resources


Allegheny County Genealogy Resources
Marriage records, Wills and Estates

Carnegie Library (Oakland) Genealogy

Heinz History Center and Archives:
Original City Directories, Rauh Jewish Archives, Pittsburgh History. The Heinz Center has many high school yearbooks. Materials are available only in person at the HHC. There is no inter library lending. Many of these are the only known copies and they are not digitized.  If you know of other copies from these high schools they are usually very pleased to take donations. 
  • Fifth Avenue High School  1916-1976
  • Peabody High School 1914-22, 1925-30, 1932-36, 1938-39, 1941-50, 1952-53
  • Taylor Allderdice 1931, 1933-54, 1956-62, 1964-70, 1976, 1978-79, 1987-88, 1990-97

Pittsburgh History

Stefan Lorant,  PITTSBURGH The Story of an American City [1964, 1975, 1988]

George H. Thurston,   Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the Centennial Year. [1876].  Click here to read a short excerpt about a 21 year old major in the Virginia military who arrived at the forks of the Ohio River in 1753. 271 pps. Link to download complete book (PDF). 

George Thornton Fleming  History of Pittsburg and Environs: From Prehistoric Times to the American Revolution. Vol.I, 1922, (574 pages).  Link to download Vol I  (PDF).   Link to download Vol II (464 pages) (see Chapter 22 The Ecclesiastical History, pages 436-441 on Jewish History]  

Pittsburgh Area Jewish History

Jacob S. Feldman, The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania A History 1755-1945, [1986], 331pps.

Barbara S. Burstin, Steel City Jews 1840-1915, [2008], 366 pps.

Robert Perlman, From Shtetl to Milltown: Litvaks, Hungarians, and Galizianers in Western Pennsylvania, 1875-1925. 124 pps.

Diane Ashton Jewish Life in Pennsylvania [2007], 75 pps.   [read online at Google Books]

Online Genealogy Resources

Pittsburgh

Ancestry.com has Naturalization Records of the U.S. District Court, 1820-1930, and Circuit Court, 1820-1911, for the Western District of Pennsylvania; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1537, 437 rolls)  (subscription).  Ancestry also holds All Pittsburgh area census records and Ship Landings from most major US ports 1800-1957   Ancestry is available for free at major libraries or by subscription.


Historic Pittsburgh City Directories   the largest known digital collection of Pittsburgh City Directories  1815-1945

Historic Pittsburgh  - additional online Pittsburgh area resources

University of Pittsburgh Yearbooks - online and searchable from 1907 to 1980

Dons List (City Directories, yearbooks, etc)

Jewish Genealogy

AJC Digital Archives
Cindi's List - Jewish
Jewishgen
JOWBR
Museum of Family History
Pittsburgh Jewish community book  (1921)
Pittsburgh Shtetlinks
Routes to Roots
Yizkor Books (NYPL)

One Step Tools

Steve Morse Website

General Genealogy

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - Vital Records
FamilySearch.org (LDS)
Google Books
Library of Congress
MyHeritage.com
National Archives
Pennsylvania US GenWeb - Allegheny County
Pennsylvania Death Records and Indexes
Pennsylvania State Archives 
Public Records by state (BRB)
Ship Arrivals (Ellis Island 1892-1924)
Worldcat  (search for books at libraries around the world)
©2003-2012Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh.  Last updated  February 7, 2012
Robert Zavos, webmaster

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