Source: JTA Jewish News Archive
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) recently launched their Jewish News Archive, a powerful reference tool that offers a perspective on current events and modern Jewish history that is not available anywhere else. With free access to nearly a century of reporting about global events affecting world Jewry, the Archive will not only serve as a rich resource for both the casually curious as well as students and scholars of modern Jewish history, it will also transform the way the next generation of Jewish leaders and activists learn about their heritage.
Until now, there has been no authoritative site that provides a comprehensive chronicle of modern Jewish history, as seen through the eyes of journalists. From the aftermath of World War I, to the rise of Nazi Germany, through the Holocaust, the creation of the modern State of Israel and right up to today, JTA journalists have been reporting on stories and issues affecting Jews around the globe. The JTA Jewish News Archive holds over a quarter-million articles, which provide a unique lens through which to view world events that no other news organization provides.
It has long been JTA’s mission to document the narrative of modern Jewish history. JTA was founded in the waning days of World War I by Jacob Landau as a mechanism for transmitting vital information about what was happening in Jewish communities in various parts of the world. Orginally named the Jewish Correspondence Bureau, it was, in fact, the first news agency that not only gathered but also disseminated news in every part of the world.
The tag line on the logo, "Writing the first draft of Jewish history since 1917" reflects the reality that the correspondents reported what they could confirm at that time. It is possible that some of the facts in these articles were proven erroneous when more deliberate research became possible. As a news service, though, JTA reported events that would have otherwise not been documented. That is the nature of news reporting, particularly during times of war or political repression.
The archive allows access to articles using an advanced search engine allowing search by key words, article titles, authors' names and by date. The articles may also be browsed by date of publication.
The Archives currently contain a number of Topic Pages to aid with its use.. Each page includes a brief essay about the Archive’s treatment of the topic in question, along with hyperlinks to important articles. These links are intended to show the breadth and depth of the coverage, suggesting a variety of aspects of the topics you might explore. The JTA plans to create links for various aspects of each of these topics in the near future.
The Archive currently has pages for the following topics:
- Israel
- Holocaust
- Soviet Jewry
- Jews and Civil Rights
- Women
- Obituaries