Janette Silverman

The special collections section of the Library at the Jewish Theological Seminary is the repository of some remarkable items. Among them are memorbuchs, ketubot and milah books. Many of these items date back hundreds of years. Not only can we find names of people and their parents, dates and place names, but often illustrations and notes give clues to how our ancestors lived, and help us contextualize heir lives. Milah books include the prayers that a mohel would recite at a brit milah, the names of the babies and their parents, and often other information on their families. The beautiful illustrations on ketubot provide information on the time period the bride and groom lived and the wording of a ketubah may give us insight into their lives. Memorbuchs not only include local prayer services and information on prominent people in the community and their families.