What is the Jewish Cemetery Expedition and Archive?
The Jewish Cemetery Expedition and Archive (JCEAA) is a non-profit organization, established in 2003. The purpose of the organization is to identify Jewish cemeteries throughout the world, record their location, conduct a basic imagery survey of the cemetery, and provide a representative sample of the collected images to the public, primarily via the Internet. The complete archival materials and images of JCEAA are retained permanently.
JCEAA has created an imagery archive of Jewish cemeteries and burial grounds, based on its own on-site surveys. This archive is the result of visits to Jewish cemeteries, non-denominational cemeteries with Jewish sections, national veteran's cemeteries, and other burial sites where Jewish graves are present. Since 2003, JCEAA has focused its work on visits in the United States and Europe, having visited hundreds of cemeteries. Only a small portion of the archive is presently available to the public via the Internet.
One objective of the imagery (photographic) survey of cemeteries is to collect gravestone images which are representative of the cemetery, and display a small sample of these on the Internet. The quality of the images collected by JCEAA is intended to be sufficient for transcription by the Internet viewer, whenever possible. If requested, an on-line image can be provided to a requestor at a greater resolution than the Internet image, if one exists in the archive. The JCEAA archive collection often contains additional images of each cemetery, which have not been published on the Internet. Additionally, not all cemeteries surveyed by JCEAA are listed publicly.
Subcategories of research that are of special interest to JCEAA include:
- Jewish military veteran gravestones
- Abandoned and neglected burial sites
- Isolated sites
- Suspected burial sites
- Cemeteries especially vulnerable to vandalism or environmental damage
- Urban cemeteries in danger of destruction, encroachment or relocation
- Pre-19th century gravestones
- Holocaust-related gravestones or cemetery-related memorials
- Burial sites located in regions subject to especially significant anti-Semitism
- Burial sites in areas currently, previously, or imminently subject to military hostilities
- Sites located outside the United States of America
JCEAA does not collect information for traditional genealogical purposes, though its images may be useful to individuals engaged in such research. The images of gravestones collected by JCEAA are used to provide a general perspective of the cemetery, rather than a record of the burials. A Directory of Gravestones is maintained by JCEAA, and published on this website. However, it only includes the names from a small subset of the archive images, and is used for another JCEAA research project. JCEAA welcomes inquiries, and will always assist researchers if possible. Contact JCEAA via email at jceaa@earthlink.net.
As the organization is building its database of Jewish cemeteries, based on its own site visits, information from other sources, projects, or research efforts is not used for entry into the JCEAA database. However, this type of information may be considered when preparing for a site visit, or used to assist in locating a cemetery. JCEAA does not accept images from other individuals or organizations for inclusion in the archive, or to display on the Internet.
The organization is a non-profit, non-commericial entity and does not accept unsolicited donations or contributions. JCEAA is not funded by any government agency or commercial activity.
Administrative offices for JCEAA are in Arlington, Viriginia (USA).
This page was last modified on 14 April 2010 20:22