Moriah Amit is the Senior Reference Services Librarian at the Center for Jewish History‘s Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute. For more than 5 years, Moriah has provided on-site and remote reference service at the Genealogy Institute, orienting family history researchers at all levels of experience to the Institute and to genealogical research methods, as well as directing them to relevant genealogy resources at the Center and beyond. For the past 3 years, she has coordinated the Institute’s operations and outreach activities.

Moriah earned a Master’s degree in Library Science (M.S.L.I.S.) from Pratt Institute in 2010.

“Mapping the Historical Synagogues of New York City: A Case Study in Geospatial Genealogy” (Thurs-116), 12:30 – 1:15 P.M.

Geospatial genealogy is a burgeoning field which embeds traditional genealogical and historical data within online mapping programs to recreate the communities in which our ancestors lived. By placing people, institutions, and/or events in their spatial and temporal context, these maps reveal relationships –social, cultural, economic, etc. –that would otherwise be lost in the clutter of data.

For the many American Jews whose immigrant ancestors settled in New York City, I endeavor to open a new window into the religious networks that permeated their lives by mapping the city’s documented synagogues from 1900-1939 (currently in data entry, but will be live prior to the 2016 conference).

Using my project as a case study, I will elucidate how I developed this immersive historical map, from my initial objectives and deliberations, through the challenges of implementation, to my final assessment of the project’s insights and plans for the map’s future development.

Topics: Immigration and migration over the ages, Technology in support of genealogical research, New York City history