JCat
Building JCat Phase 1!
Search the JCat catalog’s descriptions of Jewish documentary heritage – record collections that lead to discoveries of Jewish ancestors and about their lives.
While we are conducting records discovery surveys in countries throughout the Diaspora for more than 350 historical record types, we are releasing JCat Phase 1 with an initial catalog of more than 10,000 Jewish Newspaper and Yizkor Book titles. We have many more titles awaiting entry into JCat.
Try searching for your town or region of interest! Check back often as the uploading of new data continues.
Thank you to the early contributors to the Jewish Newspaper and Yizkor Book Compilations in JCat Phase 1: Hebrew Union College – American Jewish Periodicals Collection, Jewish Public Library (Montreal), Library of Congress, National Library of Israel, Ohio State University and Joseph (Yossi) Galron-Goldschlaeger, University of Florida, Yad Vashem with many more in queue.
Tips for Using JCat Phase 1
Search
Fuzzy search is not yet implemented. You can try shorter character strings to facilitate a successful match.
Filter
Use filters to narrow your search results. To find the filters, click on the icon at the top right of the table that looks like three lines in the shape of a triangle with its tip pointing down. You can search on one or more of 9 column filters: Rec Type, Digital, Restricted, Title, City, Country, Language, Repository, and Source. All filters have a selectable “mode”. For filters that offer a list of mode options (e.g., filter mode: equals), click on the grey text to select from the list. For filters that search for a string of characters (filter mode: contains), click on the triangle icon for that field to choose the kind of search you would like to do.
Note that to refine or start a new search you may need to clear a previously selected filter and/or the filter’s mode.
Town and Region Names
Town and region names are exactly as provided by the information source. In a future phase, we will have alternate town and region names, historical and by language, and or normalized town and region names to facilitate searching.
Acronyms Defined
Download
Under “Bulk Actions” you can select to download your search results. You may want to download results (1) because the number of columns for each entry makes it difficult to read everything on the screen, (2) to hide columns that are not of interest, and/or (3) to sort, analyze, and manipulate the data in different ways using CSV or Excel. JSON format may be helpful if you are going to use the results in another application. We do not recommend using the PDF or XML formats at this time.
Hyperlinks
The database does not store URL’s as active (hot) links, only as a text field. To follow a link that is provided in an entry, highlight and copy the link. Paste it in a new window and go to that link. Alternatively, you can select the link text and right click on it. Most browsers will offer an option to “Go to the link”.
LTR/RTL & Other Anomalies
Because of the mix of languages in the data in JCat and the way various applications deal with left-to-right and right-to-left languages, you may see some anomalies. We will continue to improve consistency in the handling of the character sets. If you find other anomalies, please let us know via the feedback button below.
We Want to Hear From You!
Let us know about your experience with JCat Phase 1. Tell us your suggestions for improving JCat.
Tell us about a Jewish Newspaper collection, Yizkor Book, or other historical record collection that should be included in JCat.