A finding aid compiled by Ellen Kowitt, Director of the JewishGen USA Research Division, that currently lists 1,517 synagogue (shul) record collections from North America and the Caribbean.
What These Synagogue Records Include?
• Records created by congregations: rabbis, administrators, educators, mohels, board members.
• Types of records with genealogical value:
• Birth, marriage (ketubot), and death registers
• Mohel (circumcision) lists
• Eulogies
• Burial records
• Yahrzeit memorial plaques
• Other helpful materials:
• Membership lists
• Congregational bulletins or newsletters
• Board meeting minutes
• Donor lists
• Bar/Bat Mitzvah lists
• Photographs, conversion records, and more
Where Are Records Held?
• In active synagogues.
• In archives (especially for defunct congregations). These archives may be:
• Historical societies
• Museums
• University libraries
• Smaller regional archives
• JewishGen notes that archival catalogs are inconsistent: different collections may use different terms (“congregation register,” “rabbinical papers”), so they may be hard to locate via standard catalog searches.
• Some records are not described in public finding aids.
• There are often cataloging errors, and sometimes the only way to know what’s in a collection is to visit or digitize it.
Details about the Resource
• Languages of records: mostly English, but also Hebrew, German, Yiddish.
• Most collections are not digitized. When there is a digital collection, the entry links to it.
• Some congregational records are duplicated in different repositories.
• Other congregations’ records are “split” — parts are in different archives.
• The project encourages corrections: if users find errors, they’re asked to report them.
• If you know of other synagogue records not listed, JewishGen invites you to submit them so they can expand the directory.
• For yahrzeit and burial records, some are already indexed; others are not. JewishGen collaborates with:
• The Memorial Plaques Indexing Project
• The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR)
How You Can Help or Use It
1. Help identify more collections — both online and in physical archives.
2. Encourage indexing — Jewish genealogy societies or local congregations can index records and upload them to JewishGen.
3. Advocate for record preservation — particularly for congregations whose records aren’t yet listed, users can encourage them to deposit records in formal archives (e.g., American Jewish Archives (AJA), Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), Yeshiva University (YU).
Examples of Repositories
Some of the 182 listed sources include:
• American Jewish Archives
• American Jewish Historical Society
• University special collections (e.g., University of Denver)
• Public libraries (e.g., Birmingham Public Library)
• Historical societies (e.g., Georgia Historical Society)
They also list specific synagogues whose records are part of the finding aid, such as:
• Bialystoker Synagogue (Manhattan, NY)
• Temple Emanu-El (San Francisco)
• Temple Israel (Leadville, CO)
Status
• This is a work in progress. JewishGen continuously updates it as they discover more collections.
Why It’s Useful for Genealogy?
• Because synagogue records include key life events (birth, marriage, death) and community involvement, they’re incredibly valuable for genealogists.
• Even when records are not digitized, knowing where they are gives you a starting point for requesting access, visiting, or hiring a researcher.
• By contributing (reporting missing records or helping index), you can help make this resource stronger for everyone.
