History

The North American Jewish Data Bank is the central repository of social scientific studies of North American Jewry. The Data Bank's primary functions are to (1) acquire, (2) archive, and (3) disseminate demographic and other quantitative studies of the North American Jewish population, both contemporary and historical, as well as to (4) encourage utilization of the Data Bank holdings. Our goal is to aid in the understanding of the Jewish community, and to improve the quality and usability of research conducted about North American Jewry.

The NAJDB was established in 1986 by the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF), now United Jewish Communities, and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Development of the Data Bank arose from CJF's long-term involvement in demographic research and the interest by CUNY faculty in applied research concerning the Jewish community. CJF, the association of Jewish Federations in the United States and Canada, had sponsored the 1971 National Jewish Population Study. In addition, Federations in over 60 Jewish communities across North America conducted local demographic studies during the 1960s and 1970s. Population data acquired in these studies helped Federations better serve their constituencies and aided scholars of contemporary Jewry, journalists, religious leaders and others interested in the socio-demographics of North American Jewry.

By the early 1980s, population research and other quantitative social research had become an increasingly valuable and necessary part of Federation planning. Utilization of the research was, however, often hampered because survey data were often inadequately analyzed and methodological differences across surveys made it difficult to compare studies. Federations did not have the resources to do much of their own analysis, nor even to retain the original data files (then on tapes). A CJF colloquium for planners and demographers in 1984 led to the creation of the North American Jewish Data Bank.

CUNY served as the initial home for the Data Bank and, during the 1990's, the archive was based at CUNY's Center for Jewish Studies. One of the key tasks of the Data Bank during this period was to transfer data from the various Federation studies and the National surveys of Jews into formats that could be used on personal computers. In addition, Data Bank staff checked the quality of the resulting datasets.

In the summer of 2004, the Data Bank was moved from Brandeis University, its second home, to the University of Connecticut where it is currently housed.


Mandell L. Berman Institute North American Jewish Data Bank Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, University of Connecticut 405 Babbidge Rd, Unit 1205, Storrs, CT 06269-1205 email: info@jewishdatabank.org - phone: 860-486-2271 - fax: 860-812-2032