Gallery of Family Trees
The increase in the use of genealogy software programs,
like ILANOT, has
almost removed the need to design family trees manually. Yet, no matter
how sophisticated the printing options of these software programs are,
they cannot possible match the complexity and originality of traditional
graphic family trees and the impact they produce upon the viewer.
Graphic family trees or pedigree charts have been
associated with genealogy since its earliest written records. Impressively
decorated charts displaying many generations of ancestors became very
popular with the European nobility during the Middle Ages. Even when
larger sections of the population started to take an interest in
genealogy, following the decline of the feudal nobility after the 15th
century, constructing lavishly adorned charts continued to remain highly
popular.
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Jacob Athias Robles,
head of the Jewish Community of Panama,
displaying his family tree that goes back to Amsterdam and Spain,
Panama, 1980
Photo: Micha Bar-Am
The Visual Documentation Center - Beth Hatefutsoth
Courtesy of Mordechai Arbell, Israel |
Jewish families of Sephardi origin were probably the
first to boast imposing decorative family trees as early as the 16th
century. Later on imposing graphic family trees became fashionable among
members of all Jewish communities. Most Jewish families have chosen to
decorate their pedigree charts in the shape of a tree alluding to the
biblical Tree of Life (Genesis, 1:9). Today, period pedigree charts of
artistic quality are a highly sought after collector's item.
The collection of graphic family trees of the Douglas
E. Goldman Jewish Genealogy Center at Beth Hatefutsoth holds numerous
items of different artistic and historical interest. The linked
slide show contains a selection of
graphic family trees from the collection.
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