Stephen Wise Free Synagogue (New York, N.Y.)

This collection of mainly anti-Semitic material was compiled by a Jewish librarian of German descent who infiltrated the pro-Nazi community developing in New York City in the years leading up to World War II. The bulk of the collection consists of publications and printed matter, with the notable exception of narrative reports that describe first-hand experiences and observations of Nazi-affiliated events. Document types include advertisements, event announcements, books, clippings, correspondence, magazines and newspapers, travel guides, political memorabilia, and other print ephemera.

Consists of correspondence, articles, speeches, travel notes, ephemera and other documents pertaining to the career of a civil-engineer Jacob Xenab Cohen, who retired from that profession in 1924 to become a practicing rabbi. Includes materials from Cohen's campaigns against employment discrimination and Nazi persecution of Jews in Europe from 1932 to 1945.

The papers consist of biographical information on Rabbi Klein, including publications of his sermon excerpts and press releases issued for his 25th anniversary as leader of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue (SWFS). The collection also contains correspondence concerning the rabbi's activities and his testimony in 1964 against Bible reading in schools as Chairman of the Church and State Commission of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Other items of interest include a prayer for Rabbi Stephen S. Wise's funeral and Klein's article and a SWFS publication in memory of him, a report on the care of Jewish Tuberculosis patients (1923), information concerning Young Adventurers Club for developmentally disabled children in SWFS, and a signature appeal for a 1967 candlelight vigil against the Vietnam War.

The collection has been arranged according to the following broad subject areas: personal affairs; speeches, sermons, and articles, both manuscript and published; the Free Synagogue in New York City; the Jewish Institute of Religion; American Jewish affairs; relations between the Jewish and non-Jewish communities; New York City affairs; United States affairs; the press (both Jewish and non-Jewish); world affairs; the American Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress; refugees; Zionism; Palestine and Israel; arts and letters; and individual corrspondence of a general nature.