Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain Blog

From Ton Tielen and David Mendoza: Who Owns the Synagogue? Shearith Israel in New York and Jeshuat Israel (the Touro synagogue) in Newport are two of the oldest congregations in North America. The Touro ceased functioning as a Sephardic community. In the 1880s Shearith Israel secured deeds from the descendants of the original members of the Touro. Zachary Edinger will discuss the history of both congregations, and will provide an introduction to their archives and genealogical records. Zachary serves as Assistant Hazzan and Ritual Director at Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City, and is a well-known figure within the Western Sephardic world. Time: Sunday Dec 20, 2020. 2pm NYC, 7pm London, 8pm Amsterdam/Paris, 9pm Jerusalem. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86398743437 Thanks to everyone who supports our work. If you are not already a patron, please consider a small monthly donation. As little as $5/month makes a huge difference. https://www.patreon.com/seph...

Access and use of records held by the New York City Municipal Archives is being threatened by proposed amendments. The New York City Municipal Archives is a key gateway to access records from the 1600s to the present day include birth, marriage, and death records for New York City, and “comprises the largest local government archive in North America … the Archives hold the records depicting the daily work of city government, including paper records … still and moving images, ledgers and docket books, vital records, cartographic materials, blueprints, and sound recordings.” However, existing rules require licensing fees—in addition to reproduction (copy) fees—to use materials these materials. The proposed amendments limit personal use. The changes mandate licensing fees to use these public records for educational, scholarly, non-profit, and media purposes. As proposed, this general statement limits individuals, genealogists, biographers, historians, members of the press, and other resea...