New York, U.S., Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum Records, 1878-1969

The Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum was established in 1878. It later became the Jewish Youth Services of Brooklyn and later merged with the Jewish Child Care Association. Records of this orphanage include:

• Admission and discharge registers (1879-1960)


• Histories of the asylum (1878-1939)


• Certificate of incorporation (1878, 1900, 1926)


• Constitution and by-laws (1894)


• Board of Trustee meeting minutes (1921-1953)


• Correspondence


• Annual reports (1878-1958)


• Plaques and awards


• Scrapbooks (1912-1940)


• Papers of the asylums merger with the Jewish Child Care Association (1960)

The records most pertinent to genealogy research are the admission and discharge ledgers. These registers listed the names of children admitted to or discharged from the orphanage and could record the following information:

• Date of admission or discharge


• Age and/or birth date


• Nativity or birthplace


• Gender


• Color


• Physical condition


• Mental condition


• Address of where taken from


• Names of parents


• Nativity of parents


• Religion


• Occupation of parents


• Where transferred


• To whom discharged


• Remarks

NOTE: There is a 75 year restriction (based on the date of admission) requested by AJHS on the posting of their records. Therefore, we cannot show the images for those children whose names appear on the same page as those under the 75 year restriction. We encourage you to contact AJHS directly to obtain a copy of that page for your records at www.AJHS.org.

Please note that ages or birthdates may not be accurate. Some orphans returned to the orphanage several times and may be found in the records more than once. If addresses are listed, the borough is often listed, but sometimes addressees listed in New York City were actually located in the Bronx.

Ancestry.com has reproduced these records courtesy of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) where this collection is available on microfilm.