Discovering Who We Are: The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute

Family history research has long been one of America's most popular pastimes. Throughout the last decade, widespread use of technology and the Internet have fueled significant advancements in the field of genealogy, making it more popular now than ever before.

From its inception, the Center for Jewish History has understood the significance of discovering one's past through tracing family roots. Established by the Center Partners and the Jewish Genealogical Society in 2000, the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute assists a wide variety of lay, academic, and professional researchers from around the world. Many seek to understand how the lives of their ancestors relate to the broader context of Jewish history and world history, while others seek to discover the fate of relatives lost during the Holocaust, to explore a Jewish past that was lost due to intermarriage and conversion, or to re-connect with branches of their family separated long ago by migration, war, and the Iron Curtain.

Its location within the Center for Jewish History uniquely enables the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute to serve as the gateway to the enormous wealth of genealogical resources in the Partners’ collections.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute is open whenever the Lillian Goldman Reading Room is open, with the exception of Mondays, when the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute is open until 7:30pm.  These extended evening hours on Mondays have been made possible through a generous grant from the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York.