Research Your Past
Are you curious about your family’s background in New Haven CT? How about the history of New Haven’s Jewish neighborhood, synagogues and organizations?
Our archives and archivists help people learn more about Jewish New Haven history as well as general New Haven history. Common questions we regularly research include births, deaths and weddings. Our extensive collection of photographs provides views of New Haven over the past century.
Contribute to the Collection
Do you have documents, photos, videos, films or things that illustrate some aspect of Jewish life in New Haven?
Papers and objects that might not seem important to you, may help us fill in gaps in our collections and help us provide a fuller portrait of Jewish life in New Haven over the centuries. Talk with us about donating your material to our collection.
Updates
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Join us at the New Haven Museum on Sunday, March 2 at 2 PM for a program on the lives of seven local Jewish women who we interviewed as part of an oral history project in 2008. From running the family business and managing homefront challenges to serving in the Navy’s WAVES and working in factories as “Rosie the Riveters,” their stories highlight resilience, courage, and ingenuity. Using oral histories and historical documents, this event will bring to life the personal narratives of these women. Learn more and register here!
If you want more information on Jewish Women in WWII, join us for one or both of the movie screenings in our film series: Pride, Honor & Courage: Jewish Women Remember WWII and Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Join us at the Whitney Center on Saturday, March 1 for a screening of Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. Please plan to arrive a few minutes early as the film will start promptly at 7:30 PM.
About the film:
This film explores Lamarr’s life which included escaping a loveless marriage on the eve of Nazi Germany’s conquest of her nation to a new career in Hollywood. Only after years of career and personal decline in her troubled life would Lamarr learn that her staggering aptitude created brilliant engineering concepts that revolutionized telecommunications, which forced the world to realize the hidden abilities of a woman it had so unfairly underestimated.
Pride, Honor & Courage: Jewish Women Remember WWII
Join us at Beth El-Kesser Israel on Sunday, January 26 at 10:00 AM for a screening and discussion of Pride, Honor & Courage: Jewish Women Remember WWII.
About the film:
A documentary produced by Alexis Bravos for the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford in 2009 that combines historic video footage with first-hand accounts from oral history interviews conducted by JHSGH. Following the viewing, stick around for a lively discussion.
A Call for Oral History Volunteers
Are you interested in the process of oral history and want to learn more? JHSGNH is currently working to make our 400+ audiovisual material available to the public and resume collecting oral history interviews. There are many ways to get involved, from transcription and tagging, to conducting the interview or being interviewed! If you’re interested, please reach out to us!
An Ethnic History of New Haven
A publication of The Ethnic Heritage Center of New Haven
Click to read or download the PDF document.
Jews In New Haven
Walk New Haven
JHS Newsletter
We are a member agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven
and a historical society of the Ethnic Heritage Center
We thank The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Andrew Eder for their financial contributions towards the construction of this website.
