Those of us who have heard Yale Reisner of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation talk about the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw have dreamed of having easy access to their large archival collections. But, broad access to these holdings has been impossible while the Institute was undergoing reconstruction. The 2000 re-opening of the archives at the Institute coincided with another JRI-Poland milestone.

Following the very successful 1999 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy hosted by the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. (New York), the society allocated $6,000 to JRI-Poland to be used for a mutually-approved project. JRI-Poland proposed that this grant be used to launch a formal program to index genealogically-related holdings at the Jewish Historical Institute. Discussions started in October 1999 and the formal program was launched in early July 2000 when JRI-Poland hired an experienced multi-lingual transliterator to handle the complex indexing, and a computer was made available for the work. JRI - Poland extends its gratitude to Professor Feliks Tych, Director, Jewish Historical Research Institute, and Yale Reisner, Director of the Ronald S. Lauder Genealogy Project at the Institute, for giving us the opportunity to index these holdings and thus make them far more accessible to researchers around the world.

In consultation with JGS, Inc., the board of JRI-Poland has decided to use the donation as seed money so that this project can be extended indefinitely with a view of indexing many other holdings at the Jewish Historical Institute. Thus, the experience gained through the JRI-Poland / Polish State Archives project has been the guide in structuring this project. The key element is that each group of indices will be funded by those researchers with a specific interest in the material. Individual fundraising initiatives will be started for each collection starting with the Krakow Jewish Community Marriage and Banns Registers.

As each collection is undertaken, JRI-Poland will initiate fund-raising activities to offset the cost of the work for the records in the collection. The process will be quite similar to the fund-raising we now do for the indices created under the JRI-Poland / Polish State Archives project, where typically those people with an interest in the specific records are asked to help fund the work.

Copies of records found in JRI-Poland searches may be ordered directly from the Ronald S. Lauder Genealogy Project at the Jewish Historical Institute. There is a separate order form linked from the web page of each of the projects lists below.

This indexing initiative is yet another example of the power of cooperative effort by volunteers and contributors with a common interest. There will be many Town Leaders needed as work progresses on the various holdings in the Jewish Historical Institute. Messages will be posted on the JRI-Poland and JewishGen mailing lists as work starts on each project, inviting participation as a Town Leader.

Contributions should be made to Jewish Records Indexing – Poland.
Please specify " For the [name of project] " on your check or other correspondence.
Click on the logo below for instructions on how to make a contribution.

Projects

Project 1: Kraków Marriage and Banns Registers, 1877 - 1939

Project 2: Wyszków Banns, 1890- 1910

Project 3: Zniesienie (4 km NE of Lwów) Death records, 1914

Project 4: Dzialoszyce Birth, Death, and Marriage and Marriage Supplements, 1829/1846

Project 5: Wroclaw Matzevah/Gravestone files, ca 1900 - 1939

Project 6: Kaskada (district of Warszawa) Birth, Marriage, and Death records, 1915

Project 7: Biala Podlaska, Jewish Census, 1939

Project 8: Warsaw Cemetery Records and Photographs

Project 9: Polish Aliyah Passports

Project 10: Warsaw Ghetto Death Cards

Status of the above projects

While identified by number, projects may be started out of sequence and one or more projects may be active at any one time.

Other JRI-Poland - Jewish Historical Institute / Ronald S. Lauder Foundation projects:

• Zareby Koscielne Jewish vital records
• Kutno Jewish community death records 1830-1840