Connecting Fragmented Archives into Usable Jewish Heritage Data

Historical records relating to Jewish individuals and communities are dispersed across archives, languages, and jurisdictions. Although preserved, they are rarely usable together.

This Sephardic Research Foundation project develops a structured method to extract, standardise, and link archival data, enabling individuals, families, communities, and places to be reconstructed across sources.

Using the Western Sephardic diaspora as an initial pilot, with London as the current proof of concept, the project demonstrates how records from different archival systems can be connected into coherent, evidence-based historical data.

This project turns preserved but fragmented archives into connected Jewish heritage data.

Work is already underway, with ongoing extraction and structuring of London material and early demonstration of cross-source linkage.

What the project does

  • Links records across archives, jurisdictions, and languages
  • Creates structured, searchable Jewish heritage data
  • Connects individuals, families, and communities to specific places
  • Establishes a scalable method for wider application

Why this matters

A substantial body of Jewish archival material survives across Europe and beyond. However, its value remains limited by fragmentation.

By connecting records across sources, the project makes existing archives more usable and more meaningful. It enables individuals and communities to be understood through identifiable lives and relationships, rather than through isolated references.

This strengthens the interpretation of Jewish heritage by linking people to places. Historic buildings, neighbourhoods, and artefacts can be understood within connected human histories rather than in isolation.

The project complements existing digitisation and built heritage work by adding the human and community layer that archival catalogues and physical sites often lack.

The structured data also supports mapping and spatial visualisation, linking individuals, families, and communities to specific places across time.

Next steps

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