The data on this site are based on lists of emigrants who contacted information bureaux in the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century before emigrating. The first database, that of the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA), contains 6,000 names of emigrants who contacted the JCA agent in their place of residence and requested financial assistance to join relatives in another country. The documents were found in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, ICA section, and were processed by Dr. Gur Alroey. The second database is that of the Jewish Territorial Organization (ITO) which, in 1907, established its own information bureaux in Kiev to send emigrants to the port of Galveston, Texas. This database contains a total of 5,000 names. The file of the immigrants' names to Galveston is in the ITO section of the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem.

  When the immigrants' names were entered into the database, an attempt was made to retain the full names as written by the bureau clerk and not as they are usuallly customarily spelled today. For this reason, for example, the name Cohen is spelled Kohen on this site, and America is spelled Amerika. Therefore, when looking for a relative on the site, try a few possible spellings of the surname.

  The database includes a card for each immigrant, with all his or her personal information. In addition, the archival document on which the immigrant’s name appears has been scanned.

The University of Haifa Data Archive (UHDA) is a resource center that acquires, disseminates, preserves and promotes quantitative data files, databases and projects such as statistical data, data tables, pictures, digital audio/video and other files used for research or are of academic interest.

The MJMD was built with the efforts of:
Dr. Gur Alroey, researcher and database owner.
Mr. Raz Tzabari-Topaz, the MJMD Project Producer and system characteristic (UHDA).
Mr. Metbey Beinenson, research assistant.
Mr. Igor Gufeld, programmer and web-site builder.