This past July, JewishGen entered into a cooperative agreement with Ancestry.com, part of The Generations Network (TGN). While I can’t give a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations that led to the agreement, I can describe the principles that guided us throughout this process, which was marked by mutual respect and goodwill on both sides.
First, we were determined to remain faithful to the basic tenet that the records available on JewishGen would remain free and freely accessible. Second, we were determined to find a way to ensure that JewishGen was technically stable, indeed robust, and that it had sufficient bandwidth to serve a growing and demanding public. Third, we sought a way to improve the functionality of JewishGen and ensure that we can get more data online more quickly.
Our driving concern was to continue to serve our public, and this agreement is in keeping with that focus. We are also pleased that JRI-Poland and Litvak SIG joined with us and permitted some of their data to be included in this agreement.
For JewishGen, the benefits are tangible and crucial. It will allow us to continue offering all of the resources of JewishGen as a free public service to the community. In addition, JewishGen will receive desperately needed technical support and enhancements to the JewishGen website that will increase functionality, speed, and the overall “JewishGen experience.”
The agreement specifies that Ancestry subscribers will be able to search public JewishGen databases on the Ancestry website. These databases will be clearly identified as coming from JewishGen and access will be offered at no charge. Special hyperlinks will be placed on Ancestry guiding researchers to JewishGen for further, more extensive information not available on Ancestry.
While public databases will be linked on the Ancestry website, no other information, especially private information contained on the JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) and Family Tree of the Jewish People (FTJP), will be linked or displayed on the Ancestry website. Privacy of personal information is of key importance to us. Information about JewishGen registrants will not be shared, and JewishGen will continue to administer the JewishGen website, mailing lists, and affiliates.
As I understand Ancestry’s business model, they profit from this agreement because they know that if people are engaged in family research, they will end up at Ancestry. The ability to link to public JewishGen databases will increase their subscribers and expand their overall customer base.
When I hear that people are concerned—and in some cases gravely concerned—about this new agreement, I say to myself that, rather than being concerned, everyone should be relieved. I certainly am. I am relieved since the agreement, which should be fully implemented by the end of the year, serves both to stabilize JewishGen and help to secure its future. As I said at the IAJGS meeting in Chicago, the relationship between JewishGen and Ancestry represents a confluence of interests that benefits everyone: JewishGen, Ancestry, and most important, the public. There are no losers.
The public will continue to have access without charge to JewishGen content, except the content will be delivered from a much more stable and robust platform and through a larger and faster pipe. In addition, JewishGen will be in a position to focus nearly all of its resources on finding more data and delivering it to the public. Finally, we are hopeful that the many new users introduced to JewishGen as a result of this agreement will recognize the value of JewishGen and generously contribute to our cause.
For the first time since the Museum assumed responsibility for JewishGen, I am truly hopeful that we will be able to achieve the kind of synergy and cross-pollination that we had hoped would result from our association with JewishGen. As an example, although the public has always had the opportunity to access JewishGen in the Museum’s Resource Center, we have just begun serious planning for the Museum’s Keeping History Center, which will be an interactive gallery on the Museum’s third floor overlooking New York Harbor. In this space, the public will be able to mine the Museum’s collections and resources—including JewishGen.
With JewishGen’s administrative offices now onsite in the Museum, I have already seen significant new connections between the various departments of the Museum and JewishGen. A more creative and comprehensive integration of JewishGen into the fabric of the Museum and its programs—and vice versa—is only to be desired. I look forward to a bright future.
Dr. David G. Marwell is Director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. JewishGen is an affiliate of the Museum.
