## ***A NAÇÃO HEBRAICA*** **UNLOCKS THE EARLIEST TREASURES OF THE LONDON SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY**Among the few manuscript sources to have survived between the Resettlement in 1656 and the erection of Bevis Marks in 1701 are the Annual Account Books. Bevis Marks’ legendary Haham and historian, Moses Gaster (1856-1939), remarked that if he hadn’t been limited by his work, he would print excerpts of the Annual Accounts, and that this “*would form a most beautiful chapter and a most eloquent testimony of the lofty spirit, of the true Jewish character, which animated the founders of this Synagogue and their successors for a least one hundred years*.”For centuries this treasure lay hidden in the archives of the Congregation, until they were digitised, together with other manuscripts, for the National Library of Israel. Even then, they were truly accessible only to the keenest scholars capable of reading handwritten seventeenth century Portuguese texts.Now, *A Nação Hebraica* (The Portuguese Hebrew Nation), a project by some members of Facebook GroupThe Sephardic Diaspora, has unlocked the treasures of the Annual Accounts by transcribing and publishing the two earliest books, more than 300 pages, covering the Hebrew years 5436-5440 (1676-1680).The Account Books give us the names and contributions of members and visitors supporting the community on religious and family events, and for charitable causes.They give insight into religious observances and spending on ritual and ceremonial objects, salaries and supplies and aid and medical care for impoverished members and visitors. The community also paid for the poor to travel abroad in search of opportunity and for ships’ captains bringing refugees from the Portuguese Inquisition.Of great interest to genealogists, the books contain extensive lists of names of the Congregation’s members, as well as those receiving relief. The accounts identify previously undocumented arrivals in London, births, and circumcisions.The transcriptions are fully searchable on the Read & Search platform, accessible through any web browser at https://anacaohebraica.transkribus.eu/ and supported by discussion on the A Nação Hebraica Facebook Group. An example page and transcription are attached.A Nação Hebraica uses Transkribus, innovative AI-driven handwriting recognition software developed by the Read-Coop organisation based in Innsbruck, Austria, and which is in use in major archives throughout the world. While Transkribus’ machine-learning algorithms speed up the transcription process, human guidance and intervention is needed to assure correctness.We welcome volunteers with Portuguese language and computer skills, and an eye for detail, who relish the challenge of deciphering early modern palaeography. Training in Transkribus is available for dedicated volunteers. If you would like to help, please email us at anacao@anacaohebraica.org.”