CJH to Host Program about the Shapell Roster, an Exciting New Database

Meticulously compiled since 2009, the Shapell Roster of Jewish Service in the American Civil War gives the public access to the records of thousands of men who served in the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies from 1861 – 1865, both those previously recognized for their participation and those who have remained, until now, unidentified. In this program, Adrienne DeArmas, Director of the Shapell Roster, and Professor Jonathan Sarna, Lincoln and the Jews: A History, co-authored with Benjamin Shapell, will talk about how guests can utilize and benefit from this new research tool.

"The Center for Jewish History is proud to partner with the Shapell Manuscript Foundation for the launch of this outstanding resource on Jewish soldiers in the American Civil War, said Dr. Miriam Mora,” Director of Public Programs at the Center. “Until now, the authoritative study on the topic has been Simon Wolf’s seminal 1895 publication, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen. With the roster, and the years of work that have gone into it, global audiences now have access to thousands of documents of Jewish soldiers and sailors in the Civil War, buttressing and improving upon Wolf's publication with documentary evidence. In creating the roster, the Shapell Foundation has done a great service to both future researchers and those descended from Jews who served."

The event, which will take place at the Center on Monday, December 12th at 7pm, will also feature the launch of the new book, Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army, by Professor Adam D. Mendelsohn. Dr. Mendelsohn was given early access to the Roster for his research. He will be in conversation with Professor Deborah Dash Moore (University of Michigan), current Editor-in-Chief of the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, and author of GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation.

The Center for Jewish History illuminates Jewish history through archival preservation, public engagement, and digital access to the largest archive for the Jewish experience in the world outside Israel. The collections of the Center’s five in-house partner organizations – the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research – comprise over five miles of archival documents in dozens of languages and alphabet systems, over 500,000 volumes of books, 6 million digital items, and thousands of artworks, ritual objects, textiles, and recordings, all spanning 5,000 years. The Center opens these collections to the public and activates the stories they hold. www.cjh.org