Jamaican Vital Statistics Collection
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
Contact information: phone number
001 513 487 3000
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
Reference number
MS-465
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Jamaican Vital Statistics Collection
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
American Jewish Archives
Date(s)
1786/1950
Language(s)
dut
eng
fra
heb
Extent
3 boxes
Type of material
Textual Material
Physical condition
Good
Scope and content
This collection comprises copies of birth, marriage, death, circumcision and other vital records from the Jewish communities of Jamaica and Saint Thomas. The bulk of the collection consists of 19th-century documentation, but it also includes a few late-18th-century records, some related to Sephardim. The collection contains the following materials:
Box 1:
- folder 1: Birth registrations (Jamaica), 1786-1846;
- folder 2: Ashkenazic Congregation (Kingston, Jamaica), 1788-1845;
- folder 3: Ashkenazic Congregation (Kingston, Jamaica), 1804-1844;
- folder 4: Birth records: English and German Synagogue (Kingston, Jamaica), 1809-1841;
- folder 5: Graves registration (Kingston, Jamaica), 1809-1850;
- folder 6: Marriage records (Kingston, Jamaica): includes a few 18th-century records;
- folder 7: Birth records (St. Thomas), 1796-1837;
- folder 8: Confirmation and birth records (St. Thomas), undated. Mirrored copies;
- folder 9: Birth, marriage, and death records (St. Thomas), undated. Mirrored copies;
- folder 10: Death records (St. Thomas), 1852-1949;
- folder 11: Marriage records (St. Thomas), 1840-1869.
Box 2:
- folder 1: Marriage records (St. Thomas), 1841-1869;
- folder 2: Marriage records (St. Thomas), 1841-1869;
- folder 3: Marriage and birth records (St. Thomas): typescript list compiled by Malcolm H. Stern of marriage records from 1841 to 1869, and a few birth certifications dating from 1853, 1871 and 1914;
- folder 4: Birth, marriage, and death records (St. Thomas), 19th century. Mirrored copies;
- folder 5: Birth, marriage, and death records (St. Thomas), 19th century. Mirrored copies;
- folder 6: Birth records (Jamaica?), 1852-1945;
- folder 7: Birth records (Jamaica?), 1912-1950;
- folder 8: Birth records (St Thomas?), 19th century. Several mirrored copies;
- folder 9: Circumcision records (St. Thomas), most records are undated, but the few dated ones are from the 1800s-1820s.
Box 3:
- folder 1: Death records, 1796-1824 (French);
- folder 2: Marriage records (Jamaica?), 1852-1949 (several records are undated);
- folder 3: Unspecified records (Jamaica), undated. Mirrored copies;
- folder 4: Birth records (St Thomas?), 19th-20th centuries;
- folder 5: Birth records (St Thomas?), 19th century. Includes a birth certificate of Camilo Duran Bueno issued by the Civil Registry of Costa Rica on November 6, 1900, and some miscellaneous records related to Jamaican Jewish communities;
- folders 6 and 7: Birth records (Jamaica), 19th century. Mirrored copies;
- folder 8: Marriage and birth records (Jamaica), 19th century. Mirrored copies.
Box 1:
- folder 1: Birth registrations (Jamaica), 1786-1846;
- folder 2: Ashkenazic Congregation (Kingston, Jamaica), 1788-1845;
- folder 3: Ashkenazic Congregation (Kingston, Jamaica), 1804-1844;
- folder 4: Birth records: English and German Synagogue (Kingston, Jamaica), 1809-1841;
- folder 5: Graves registration (Kingston, Jamaica), 1809-1850;
- folder 6: Marriage records (Kingston, Jamaica): includes a few 18th-century records;
- folder 7: Birth records (St. Thomas), 1796-1837;
- folder 8: Confirmation and birth records (St. Thomas), undated. Mirrored copies;
- folder 9: Birth, marriage, and death records (St. Thomas), undated. Mirrored copies;
- folder 10: Death records (St. Thomas), 1852-1949;
- folder 11: Marriage records (St. Thomas), 1840-1869.
Box 2:
- folder 1: Marriage records (St. Thomas), 1841-1869;
- folder 2: Marriage records (St. Thomas), 1841-1869;
- folder 3: Marriage and birth records (St. Thomas): typescript list compiled by Malcolm H. Stern of marriage records from 1841 to 1869, and a few birth certifications dating from 1853, 1871 and 1914;
- folder 4: Birth, marriage, and death records (St. Thomas), 19th century. Mirrored copies;
- folder 5: Birth, marriage, and death records (St. Thomas), 19th century. Mirrored copies;
- folder 6: Birth records (Jamaica?), 1852-1945;
- folder 7: Birth records (Jamaica?), 1912-1950;
- folder 8: Birth records (St Thomas?), 19th century. Several mirrored copies;
- folder 9: Circumcision records (St. Thomas), most records are undated, but the few dated ones are from the 1800s-1820s.
Box 3:
- folder 1: Death records, 1796-1824 (French);
- folder 2: Marriage records (Jamaica?), 1852-1949 (several records are undated);
- folder 3: Unspecified records (Jamaica), undated. Mirrored copies;
- folder 4: Birth records (St Thomas?), 19th-20th centuries;
- folder 5: Birth records (St Thomas?), 19th century. Includes a birth certificate of Camilo Duran Bueno issued by the Civil Registry of Costa Rica on November 6, 1900, and some miscellaneous records related to Jamaican Jewish communities;
- folders 6 and 7: Birth records (Jamaica), 19th century. Mirrored copies;
- folder 8: Marriage and birth records (Jamaica), 19th century. Mirrored copies.
Administrative / Biographical history
The American Jewish Archives (AJA) resulted from the initiative of the historian Jacob Rader Marcus (1896-1995). In 1947, Marcus persuaded the President of the Hebrew Union College (HUC), Nelson Glueck (1900-71), to authorise the establishment of the AJA in the original library building of HUC in Cincinnati, Ohio. Glueck appointed Jacob Rader Marcus as director, Rabbi Bertram W. Korn (1918-79) as associate director, and Selma Stern-Teubler (1890-1981) as archivist. The AJA was founded with the aim of collecting, preserving, and making available for research materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, in particular in America. Therefore, over its history, the AJA has sought to obtain records of congregations and Jewish organisations, genealogical materials, papers of rabbis, and key figures in American Jewish history, among other Jewish-related materials. Since 1948, the AJA has published a semi-annual journal, The American Jewish Archives Journal, which is one of the major referred periodicals on American Jewish history.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Linked resources
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| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives | Collections (official language of the state) | |
| The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives | Collections (official language of the state) |