Until 1934, this was the only institution that would accept archival material in Palestine. Over the years, it has accumulated documents for the study of the Jewish people in its homeland and in the Diaspora, with special emphasis on the last few generations. It also actively solicits records and information from Jewish genealogists.
Archives are catalogued by subject matter; manuscripts are not, and are kept separately. Ask the librarian to help you check the manuscript list. Do not overlook this resource; many researchers have had great success here.
The collection of betrothal and wedding contacts is indexed. These are listed by year and name of community where the event occurred. Ask about
mohel registers, also, as well as British consular files (call number ARC4 1513). The consular files include lists and documents of Jewish residents of Acre, Damascus, Haifa (Caiffa), Hebron, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Safed and Tiberias. See ISRAEL STATE ARCHIVES for an explanation of the value of the consular records.
Ketubot = marriage certificates are on the JNUL website.
http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/ketubbot/
A microfiche has been prepared of all the finding aids to the Manuscripts and Archives Collection. It may be ordered from Interdocumentation BV, P.O. Box 11205, Leiden, The Netherlands.
The archives director answers mail inquiries and can send requested photocopies by mail for the cost of postage and copying. Upon request, he has been able to find students who can be hired to do translations and other research.
This department has many valuable collections, but the catalogue cards are written in Hebrew. The card catalogue for the pinkassim, translated into English, is found in Appendix H. Another collection, Toledoth Israel Bibliography, also has much valuable genealogical material. Ruth Rigbi of the Israel Genealogical Society and Esther Ramon, president of the society, copied all of the entries and translated them into English. The list may be found in Appendix I.
A great number of private archives, family records, family trees and genealogies are held by the JNUL. See Appendix J for a list of these resources.
The material is in Hebrew, English and other European languages.