Where to Begin

General Search

We are currently in the process of organizing the Upper Midwest Jewish Archives materials in order to have them available to search through the University of Minnesota's online finding aid database. Not all UMJA collections are currently available through the finding aid database.

Some of the collections that currently have online finding aids are:

The Jewish Historical Project of North Dakota records
The St. Paul Jewish Community Center records
Mount Sinai Hospital records
Mount Sinai Hospital Auxiliary records
Jewish Camping collection
Burton Burnstein papers
Frank and Arthur Eisenberg papers
Irma Firestone papers
Amos S. Deinard papers

Until the transition is complete, all of our collections are searchable here: via the database hosted with the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest. Please do note that the information found in this database may not accurately reflect all of our holdings. Begin your search with this database, but be sure to contact the archivist to make sure the materials found are available to researchers.

Once you have searched the database and found what materials you are interested in, contact the archivist, Kate Dietrick, at diet0134@umn.edu to set up an appointment. See "Plan Your Visit" for more information.

Digitized Materials

• Photographs
  A portion of the photographs in the collection have been digitized on Minnesota Reflections, a digital repository hosted by Minnesota Digital Libraries. You can view digitized photographs specific to the UMJA collection along with other photograph collections across the state. Please note that the photographs are listed under Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
  
  
• Oral Histories
  Another collection that is being digitized is our oral histories, which are also available through Minnesota Reflections. Both of these projects are spearheaded by the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest and will be updated regularly with new materials.

Genealogy Search

While we may have collections that can assist in genealogy research, we do not hold certain types of materials. The Upper Midwest Jewish Archives does not hold any Birth, Death or Marriage records. These records are held with the county department of public health. We also do not hold census records or naturalization records. These items can be found at the Minnesota Historical Society’s Library in St. Paul. See Links/Related Sources for more information.