BOSTON — The vibrant and influential history of New England’s Jewish population chronicled in a vast repository of documents stored at the New England Historic Genealogical Society is being celebrated Wednesday.
The Jewish Heritage Center at the Boston-based genealogical society is not just a resource for people tracing family roots, but a trove of information for scholars researching the Jewish influence on New England’s economy and the history of anti-Semitism. It also preserves the records of Jewish philanthropies and synagogues.
“The information archived here provides some context and shows what part Jewish immigrants played in growing the community,” said Stephanie Call, the center’s manager.
The Jewish Heritage Center oversees the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society-New England, which has collaborated with the New England Historic Genealogical Society for several years. Wednesday’s reception is the formal celebration of the partnership.
The archives have had several homes in the Boston area over the years, but moving them to the genealogical society permanently was a natural fit, because it is already considered the premier national resource for genealogists and family historians.
About 1.2 million documents have been digitized as part of a project to get the records online and available to the public, said Ryan Woods, the genealogical society’s senior vice president.