About the Archives

The Archives of the JHSMW contain many of the treasures of the Jewish community of MetroWest, including photographs, documents, oral histories, audio-visual materials, private papers, newspapers, memorabilia, and artifacts.

Collections in the JHSMW Archives are drawn from a variety of sources and include the administrative records of the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest (the Federation) and its beneficiary agencies, as well as historical materials from synagogues, mutual benefits societies and volunteer organizations. The JHSMW also collects the private papers of individuals and families.

Library of Congress

Finding Aids and Container Lists

A finding aid is a description of an archival collection, usually containing a history of the person or organization that produced the collection and an inventory of its contents.

This section contains finding aids for selected collections from the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest Archives.

Please note that not all of the Archives' finding aids are online yet. Paper finding aids for our archival collections are located in the headquarters of JHS. Please contact us if you are searching for a collection or have a question about our finding aids.

Browse All Finding Aids and Container Lists

search for collections via nucmc

Go to http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc

Click on "Searching on OCLC World Cat"

Click on "Advanced Search Form"

Where it says Enter Term 1, type: nucmc/jewish historical society of metrowest

In the drop down box to the right, change to "Author"

In the drop down box to the far right, change to "Phrase"

Then click on the "Submit Query" icon

USING THE CATALOG

To access the JHSMW catalog, click on the "search the catalog" link on the upper right side of this page, which will open a new window.

Next, in the box provided, enter the word or phrase that best represents the subject you are looking for; the search engine will return all records that contain that word or phrase. If you are having difficulty completing your search, contact Jill Hershorin .

In addition, JHSMW Archivist Jill Hershorin is available to provide reference assistance at 973-929-2995, or click here to send an email.

Selected Genealogy Resources

The JHSMW does not hold any vital records, such as birth, death or marriage certificates. If you are looking for those types of records, you will need to contact the NJ State Vital Records office or the NJ State Archives .

In addition, the JHSMW does not hold any military records of any kind. For military records visit the New Jersey State Library , the National Archives or the NJ State Archives .

Click here for the Jewish Genealogy Society of North Jersey and click here for The Genealogy Society of New Jersey .

However, the following resouces are just some of the materials in the JHSMW collections that may be of use to genealogists:

The Jewish Community Blue Book of Newark , Newark, NJ: The Jewish Community Blue Book Publishing Company, 1925, features a brief history of the community as a whole, including institutions, locally prominent individuals, membership lists (with addresses) for synagogues, sick benefits societies, community organizations, and a list of donors to Newark Beth Israel Hospital.

The Jewish Chronicle (1921-1943), the Newark Jewish Times (1943-45), the New Jersey Jewish News, (1946-1997 ) , the Morris-Sussex Jewish News (1978-1983) are on microfilm. The JHSMW also has bound copies of the New Jersey Jewish News from 1946-1997 and individual copies (1997-present). Indices for these papers are:

• Jewish Chronicle Index 15th anniversary issue (1936) and 20th anniversary issue (1941) in hard copy only
• Black-Jewish Relations Index, 1921-1930 and 1948-1967 for the Jewish Chronicle and the New Jersey Jewish News. This index is still in progress and is available at the JHSMW office.

Annual Reports of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society, Newark, NJ, 1887-1911. Located within the Jewish Family Service collection, these reports include a wealth of detail about life within the Orphan Asylum, including the names and ages of the orphans in residence. However, the JHSMW does not have any individual case files.

UJA Deceased and Inactive Biographical files - Newspaper clippings, photographs and other documents relating to lay leaders and donors to the UJA of the MetroWest region.

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