Sanford A. Gradinger (1936-2017) Papers
Scope and Content Note
Sanford A. Gradinger Papers consist of two scrapbooks, a recording of radio show featuring Mr. Gradinger, an oral history interview with Mr. Gradinger, news clippings, a movie script based on the Refusenik Zapesochny family, featuring the character of Sanford Gradinger. The materials document Mr. Gradinger’s contacts and visits with the members of U.S. government in Washington D. C., his trips to the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia, participation in demonstrations and vigils, organization of benefit concerts in US and Europe and other activities on behalf of the Soviet Jewry. Materials include photographs, videocassette, CDrs, correspondence, clippings, ephemera and travel memorabilia.
Dates
- undated, 1980-1988, 1993-1995, 2005, 2007, 2009-2010
- Majority of material found within 1993 - 1995
Creator
- Gradinger, Sanford, 1936-2017 (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
The Papers of Sanford A. Gradinger (1936-2017) represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movements of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.
Sanford A. Gradinger, a Rochester, NY businessman became involved with the movement in 1977 when he learned about the plight of a recent Soviet émigré, who was teaching physics at the University of Rochester. Edward Lozansky was struggling to reunite with his wife and daughter, left behind in the USSR, who were denied exit visas by the Soviet authorities. Gradinger joined in with the group of other Rochesterians to help the Lozansky family and other Refuseniks. In 1978 Sanford Gradinger co-founded the Andrei Sakharov International Committee to focus international attention on the prominent human rights activist Andrei Sakharov (repressed by the Soviet government), help reunite separated Soviet Jewish families and demand the release of Soviet Jewish Refuseniks like Rimma Bravve and Ida Nudel.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (2 manuscript boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Papers of Sanford A. Gradinger cover the period from mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s and document the activities of the Rochester, NY businessman on behalf of Soviet Jews, his involvement with the Andrei Sakharov International Committee and his travels to Washington D. C., Soviet Union and Former Soviet Union. Materials include photographs, videocassette, CDrs, correspondence, clippings, ephemera and travel memorabilia..
Arrangement
The collection is organized into one series arranged alphabetically.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Sanford A. Gradinger in 2008.
- Antisemitism
- Bonnėr, Elena, 1923-2011
- CD-Rs
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Emigration and immigration
- Former Soviet republics
- Human rights
- Jews, Soviet
- Lozansky, Edward D. (Edward Dmitrievich), 1941-
- Minutes (administrative records)
- Nudel, Ida
- Photographs
- Prisoners -- Legal status, laws, etc
- Publications (documents)
- Refugees
- Refuseniks
- Sakharov, Andreĭ, 1921-1989
- Scrapbooks
- Soviet Union -- Politics and government
- Typescripts
- United States
- Videotapes
- Title
- Guide to the Sanford A. Gradinger Papers (1936-2017), undated, 1980-1988, 1993-1995, 2005, 2007, 2009-2010 *P-880
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrey Filimonov
- Date
- © 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Revision Statements
- October 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository