Do you have Jewish ancestry or are you helping someone with Jewish ancestry?
A major research resource was updated this past week when the Knowles Collection expanded from 75,000 records to 115,000. This used to be Knowles Jewish records in the British Isles but the Knowles Collection has now expanded to become 5 collections:
1. Jews of the British Isles
2. Jews of the Americas
3. Jews of the Caribbean
4. Jews of Europe
5. Jews of Africa and the Orient
What is the Knowles Collection?
Use this record to find the genealogy of many Jews from the British Isles. The great advantage of the Knowles Collection is that it links together into family groups, thousands of individual Jews (over 75000 as of Jan 2010). Until now, these records were available only at the Family History Library through a complex indexing system devised by the late Isobel Mordy whose collection forms the basis of the Knowles Collection. (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/The_Knowles_Collection:_the_Jews_of_the_British_Isles )
Todd Knowles is a consultant working on the British Reference Floor at the Family History Library in SLC. He has a blog which tells you why he started this collection as well as giving you news about his collection. http://knowlescollection.blogspot.com/
How do I access the Knowles Collection?
Either:
1. Through FamilySearch Community Trees which is a searchable database. Go to labs.familysearch.org and click on Community Trees or use the following link:
http://histfam.familysearch.org/
Then click on Advanced Search and select any one of the 5 sections of the Knowles Collection that appear on the menu in the Tree field.
or:
2. Through the Jewish Family History Resource Section on familysearch.org (in the lower centre of the FamilySearch.org home page or through the following link: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp?page=home/welcome/site_resources.asp%3FwhichResourcePage=Jewish
The FamilySearch page gives you a link to download the collection as either a PAF file or a GEDCOM. Remember this collection is now over 115,000 records – you may just want to search in Community Trees.
