ANCESTRY.COM AND JEWISHGEN ALIGN TO PROVIDE MORE ONLINE ACCESS TO MILLIONS OF JEWISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTSI think this will be great for the genealogist interested in these databases. The one difficulty I have had with JewishGen is the ability to only search by surname. There is a paid membership option which allows for more search options which I haven't tried yet, but the promised ability to search the databases with Ancestry's search capabilities is exciting. (The press release suggests it will be available by the end of the year.)
Partnership Enables Broader Research of Jewish Ancestry Through Powerful Search Tools in One Centralized Location
CHICAGO – Aug. 19, 2008 – The Generations Network, Inc., parent company of Ancestry.com, and JewishGen, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and promoting Jewish genealogy and an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, today announced a partnership designed to provide easier online access to millions of important Jewish historical documents. JewishGen's collection of databases will be integrated and be made available for free on Ancestry.com, making these historical Jewish records and information ore accessible than ever before. As part of the agreement, the JewishGen site will also be hosted in Ancestry.com's data center.
The rest of the press release suggests not all databases at JewishGen will be available at Ancestry, but many will, providing data to many researchers who may never have thought of researching JewishGen's databases, and Ancestry will provide JewishGen with hardware and network support making JewishGen a 'more robust' web experience, and allow JewishGen to be able to afford to keep the data free. It looks like a win-win collaboration.
This looks like a good move which could open up a lot more information.
ReplyDeleteVery exciting.
Mom