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Primary Records - Genealogy Guide: Sephardic and Mizrahi Research - LibGuides at Center for Jewish History

Captured 2025-11-23

163

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Primary Records - Genealogy Guide: Sephardic and Mizrahi Research - LibGuides at Center for Jewish History

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This webpage serves as a comprehensive research guide for genealogical investigation into Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities, hosted by the Center for Jewish History (CJH). The page functions as a specialized directory of primary archival sources and institutional repositories that house historical records essential for tracing Jewish family histories across the Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa, and former colonial territories. As part of the CJH's Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute, this resource specifically addresses the unique challenges researchers face when investigating Sephardic (Jews of Spanish origin) and Mizrahi (Jews from Middle Eastern and North African communities) genealogies, which often require accessing records scattered across multiple countries and languages. The guide provides detailed contact information and collection descriptions for major international archives, including Spain's Archivo Histórico Nacional (which holds Spanish Inquisition records), Israel's Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center and Ben Zvi Institute, and Jerusalem's Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. Particularly valuable are the French colonial archives, including the Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence and the Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes, which maintain vital records from former French territories in North Africa and the Levant. The guide also highlights specialized collections such as Yeshiva University's Jamie Lehmann Memorial Collection, containing Cairo Jewish community records from 1886-1961, and various Egyptian Jewish historical societies. This resource addresses a significant gap in genealogical research, as Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish records are often more dispersed and linguistically diverse than their Ashkenazi counterparts, requiring knowledge of Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, Greek, and French archives. The guide reflects the complex diaspora history of these communities, spanning from medieval Spain through Ottoman territories to French and British colonial periods. The comprehensive tagging system covering regions from the Caribbean to Central Asia demonstrates the truly global dispersion of these Jewish populations and the corresponding international scope required for effective genealogical research in these traditions.

Citation (APA Style)

Primary Records - Genealogy Guide: Sephardic and Mizrahi Research - LibGuides at Center for Jewish History. (2025, 11 23). libguides.cjh.org. https://libguides.cjh.org/genealogyguides/sephardic_mizrahi/primary_records

Technical Metadata

Domain libguides.cjh.org
File Size 209 KB
Archived 2025-11-23T01:47:18.457821
Document ID #163
Languages 5 available