Published on: 8 May 2026 Digital resources bringing Jewish archives to life Jewish remembrance poppies - AJEX Many archives now include a digital element, from online catalogues to digital collections. Some projects expand this use of the digital space to tell deeper stories and make connections with items in their collections, opening them up to more people and different audiences. We’ve recently added a Digital Resources page to our website, which highlights how different members of the Hidden Treasures network have brought collections, or whole archives, to life in innovative and engaging ways through digital projects. Here are some of our favourites: Jewish Service Records During the Second World War, in excess of 70,000 Jewish men and women served in the British Armed Forces. The Jewish Chaplaincy Service travelled from one military unit to another, around battlefronts and across war zones. They kept a record of the Jewish Service Personnel they encountered on small handwritten index cards, many of which are now held by the Jewish Military Association (AJEX) as part of the Jewish Military Collection. However, the cards are becoming increasingly fragile and difficult to read and this website was created as part of a pilot project to project the records while making them more accessible to relatives, researchers and the general public. The short record cards include information such as a person’s name, rank, military unit, a home or contact address and any Jewish provision made for them, such as a prayer book. Sometimes, it may have their parents’ names or other personal information but this depends on how much information was written down in the time they had to meet the chaplain. While the index cards do not cover all of the men and women that served, they go a long way to recording many of them. Using volunteer support alongside funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, AJEX has digitised the first 10,000 records and hopes this new resource will enable people to explore the first part of the collection and access further information and interpretation. AJEX’s Education and Outreach Officer, Paula Kitching told us, ‘The work has been hard and there have been a few ups and downs but we are now at a stage where they can launch the website which is exciting. Our volunteers and staff will continue to digitise the records while we also develop the next stage of the project.’ Unlocking North East Jewish Heritage This digital resource grew out of the Lahav Jewish Heritage Project, which explores the history of the Jewish Community across North East England. The website uses a map enabling users to view items of interest, from local synagogues to adverts for Jewish businesses, which are pinned to the places to which they relate. Through this map you can see the spread of Jewish communities throughout the North East, as project coordinator, Julie Ballands, told us, ‘This allows the stories to be seen and understood in their geographical, social and civic context.’ She says the map acts as both a geography of significant sites and a portal into where archival collections are held, a ‘joining of the dots through different institutional collections.’ The JMI Archive The Jewish Music Institute recently catalogued and digitised its collection – read more about this in our Archivist in the Spotlight with Edoardo Marcarini. They also launched a new website with a portal devoted to their archive where visitors can explore items through links simply entitled Read, Listen and Watch. The archive also features an active element where different curators select items from the archive to create a ‘playlist’. It’s currently Alan Dein, an oral historian, writer, musicologist, and award-winning BBC radio documentary maker is currently featured. He has chosen a Ukrainian-born Yiddish singer from the early 20th century, a track from the golden age of American klezmer music and a singing group recorded in 1978. Raphael Knapp, Education & Development Manager at the Jewish Music Institute says this new portal offers audiences unprecedented access to rare recordings, films, and writings. Unlocking hidden stories of Yiddish culture via A.N. Stencl’s Yiddish magazine Loshn un lebn Unlike most of the other resources in the list, this Manchester Metropolitan University site focuses on just one individual publication. Loshn un lebn (Language & Life) the Yiddish literary magazine was created by Polish-born Yiddish poet A.N. Stencl (1897–1983). Starting as a series of literary pamphlets in 1940, it became a monthly magazine published until 1981. Each issue featured Stencl’s poetry and essays alongside contributions from other Yiddish writers with articles on literature, politics, and everyday life. It remains an important archive of Yiddish life and culture even today and Professor Rachel Lichtenstein, who led the project and has also written a number of Collection Encounters for Hidden Treasures, told us the aim was to celebrate this magazine. On the website, visitors can browse copies of Loshn un lebn, read them with English translations for the first time, watch recorded discussions and discover related media including radio broadcasts and other readings. A Memory Map of the Jewish East End This digital mapping project is hosted by University College London, and like Unlocking North East Jewish Heritage, it uses a map to bring to the forefront archives, objects, buildings and places relevant to the history of London’s Jewish East End. There are also a number of oral histories included on the map, preserving the memories of the people who lived there and tying them to a location. Developed by Professor Rachel Lichtenstein alongside the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, the purpose was to preserve the history of the area. The Jewish population had begun to dwindle even before World War Two and as the project team write, ‘The Jewish East End has become a lost landscape, which is in danger of slipping out of living memory’. British Jews in World War One – We Were There Too We Were There Too is a digital project that celebrates the lives of both Jewish soldiers and civilians on the home front during World War 1. It includes around 2,500 personal records and 90 History Windows, which feature different aspects of British Jewish life at the time. The site also hosts around 50 collections from institutions and private collections, over 15,000 images and the only open, digital source of the 1922 Jewish Book of Honour. The project trained volunteers to collect the materials included on the site. They also provided support to family members interested in researching Jewish relatives who lived in Britain during the war. Volunteers helped build personal records researching names in the British Jewry Book of Honour, on Synagogue Memorial Boards, gravestones and other memorials. Visitors can search these records to discover more about people’s lives and experiences during the war. Jewish History in Northern Ireland Another project using a map to present Jewish archives, places and history across a geographical area. This one records the presence of Jewish communities, Jewish industries, and sites related to Jewish Northern Ireland with detailed descriptions, contextual information, and related images. The map shows the connections and diversity of the Jewish community across Northern Ireland, an area of the UK not widely associated with Jewish life. It creates a visual and well-documented illustration of Jewish culture and presence both in the urban centre of Belfast and extending into other towns and villages like Strabane and Fivemiletown. The Brady Photographic Archive This is an online photography, memorabilia, and oral histories archive documenting the history of the Brady Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. Established in 1896 and 1925 respectively, the clubs were places of community, friendship and mentoring to thousands of predominantly Jewish young people in the East End of London. The project is based on a cache of several hundred photographs that had been ‘lost’ for many years having been stored in an attic. An exhibition hosted by the Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University resulted in former ‘Bradians’ donating their own photographs, memorabilia and memories. The online project gives viewers access to an array of material, including photographs, films and audio as well as digital copies of some of the items held at Tower Hamlets Library and Archives. Brady Photographic Archive Communal Records | Jewish Life | Local HistoryPartially online The Brady Photographic Archive is an online photography, memorabilia, and oral histories archive documenting the history of the Brady Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. Archive Description […] Memory Map of the Jewish East End Family History | Jewish Life | Local HistoryOnly online The Memory Map of the Jewish East End is a digital mapping project hosted by University College London and accessible to the […] Northern Ireland Jewish Heritage Local HistoryOnly online Northern Ireland Jewish Heritage is an online history project administered by Belfast Jewish Heritage. It contains information and images about local Jewish […]