Burial registers from several Philadelphia area Jewish cemeteries record details about the interred and grave location for burials. However, these records do not include the deceased’s Hebrew name or the Hebrew given name of the person’s father that is typically found on Jewish gravestones.
Chevra Bikur Cholim (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records, SCRC 397
Burial register, 1864-1970, lists name of decedent, grave lot number, and date of burial. Entries are listed by grave lot number.
Har Jehuda Cemetery (Upper Darby, Pa.) Records, SCRC 394
Separate men’s and women’s burial registers, 1903-1948, list name and age of decedent, home address (or lodge), date of burial (English), date of burial (Hebrew), and grave plot location. The women’s burial register is in Yiddish only. Entries are listed by first letter of surname and generally chronological by date of burial.
Hebrew Mutual Burial Association (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records, SCRC 395
Burial register for burials 1862 to 1970, lists name of decedent and grave lot number. Entries are listed by first letter of surname.
Mount Lebanon Cemetery (Collingdale, Pa.) Lot Purchase Ledger Photocopy, SCRC 393
Lists lot purchaser’s name and address, the number and location of lots, and cost.
Congregation Rodeph Shalom (Philadelphia, Pa.), Acc 1955 [unprocessed collection]
Burial registers, 1855-1972, list name of decedent, age, disease [cause of death], date of death, date of burial, remarks, and grave lot number. Entries are listed chronologically by date of burial.
In some cases, records documenting life cycle events for congregation members were kept by the rabbi, not the synagogue.
David H. Wice Papers, SCRC 642
Reform rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Shalom 1947-1981
Index card files, 1930-1980s: child naming, circumcisions, conversions, marriages, funerals
Levinthal Family Papers, SCRC 531
Contains records from Bernard L. Levinthal, Orthodox rabbi at Congregation B’nai Abraham 1891-1952 and served on the Beit Din or rabbinical court
Gittin or Jewish divorce papers, 1894-1943 (in Hebrew)
Marriage licenses 1915-1943
Pinchos J. Chazin Papers, SCRC 39
Conservative rabbi at Temple Sholom 1948-1991 in Northeast Philadelphia
Marriage licenses 1952-2002
There are approximately 2 dozen collections from different synagogues in the Greater Philadelphia area in PJAC, however many of these are limited to minute books and records that do not provide any information on congregation members. This list represents some of the larger synagogue record collections that at a minimum contain newsletters which highlight some member activities and in some cases membership lists and records of life cycle events--births, bar-bat mitzvahs, confirmations, marriages, divorce, and/or death/burial.
Adath Shalom (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records SCRC 486
Beth Am Israel (Penn Valley, Pa.), Records SCRC 5
Bristol Jewish Center (Bristol, Pa.) [unprocessed collection]
Congregation Emanu-El [unprocessed collection]
Congregation Rodeph Shalom (Philadelphia, Pa.), Acc 1955 [unprocessed collection]
Reform congregation established in 1795. Has the most comprehensive documentation about its membership going back to 1802 including burial registers, cemetery plot book, and marriage registers.
Germantown Jewish Centre Records, Acc 2040 [unprocessed collection]
Suburban Jewish Community Center B’nai Aaron (Havertown, Pa.) [unprocessed collection]
Temple Beth Zion Beth Israel [unprocessed collection]
Merged congregation of Beth Zion (est. 1945?), Beth Israel (est. 1840) and Neziner (est. 1889?) synagogues; minimal records about members except for dues payments.
