Hadassah Medical Organization

The Annual and Mid-Winter National Conventions Records document the proceedings and outcomes of the conventions and conferences attended by Hadassah’s National Board as well as by convention delegates from the various regions of Hadassah. The conventions in particular are where local and regional leaders meet with each other and the National Board and learn about Hadassah’s various projects and committees. This record group also includes annual reports from 1926-2001.

The materials in the record group mostly consist of reproductions of building plans of the Hadassah hospitals on Mount Scopus and Ein Kerem from the 1920s to the 2000s. Other properties documented in the record group include buildings managed by Youth Aliyah, Hadassah Youth Services, Young Judaea, Hadassah Israel Education Services, the National Office, and the Hadassah Medical Organization. These records document a core Hadassah function, the building of medical and social service facilities in Palestine/Israel.

This record group is made up of mostly audio and moving images materials, including ¼-inch open audio reels, 16mm film, filmstrips, cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs, LPs, 3.5 inch floppy disks, and other media, dating from the 1920s up to 2010. The films and audio recordings document Hadassah's efforts to publicize themselves to their members and those outside of Hadassah, by raising awareness of their history, fundraising efforts, and projects in United States and Israel, especially the Hadassah Medical Organization and Youth Aliyah projects and programs. Hadassah also used recordings to document important proceedings, including departmental and board meetings, Midwinter Conferences, and National Conventions.

This record group documents the work of the Hadassah national board through board and executive committee meeting minutes, board member subject files, correspondence and reports, as well as minutes and materials generated by Hadassah ad-hoc and non-Executive committees, from 1912-2012. This record group also includes files from milestone anniversaries of Hadassah and legal documents pertaining to its projects.

This record group includes documents created and maintained by the Office of the President, the Office of the Executive Director and the Chair of the Division Coordinators/Directors Committee. Prominent is the Henrietta Szold series, containing correspondence by and to Szold as well as printed materials written by and about her. The files in this record group were created by a national president or executive director, or for their use, or maintained in their office during their years in office. Included are correspondence, minutes, memos, publications, reports and subject files on topics with which these individuals were involved.

Hadassah Functions and Operations Records represent the bulk of aid and services provided to Hadassah's membership, from the 1920s to 2011. Materials found in the record group include correspondence, clippings, press releases, manuals and kits for chapters and members to implement programming and chapter structure, fundraising campaigns, scripts, study guides, programming for local and national meetings, biographical files, and training documentation. Departments documented in the record group include Public Affairs, Education, Women's Health, American Affairs, Zionist and International Affairs, Speakers Bureau, Fundraising, Program, Organization, Outreach and Tourism Departments. Materials related to the general administration of Hadassah are also in the record group; these materials include research and development of projects, archives department correspondence and other materials, Hadassah House administration, and strategic planning. The record group also documents Hadassah's efforts to expand membership outside of the United States, by the development of Hadassah International.

The Hadassah Archives documents the activities of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. Founded in 1912, the organization engaged hundreds of thousands of American Jewish women in the Zionist project. Materials include extensive records of its social welfare projects in Palestine and later Israel, such as Youth Aliyah and the Hadassah Medical Organization. Administrative records document the organization's governance, operations, and functions. The collection also includes the papers of Hadassah founder, Henrietta Szold, as well as the organization's national presidents, executive directors, and other important individuals. Additional materials also document Hadassah's organizational activity in the United States such as annual and midwinter conventions and the dozens of active local chapters from all over the United States. Hadassah maintained an active publishing schedule, and the records include hundreds of published newsletters, flyers, and magazines. Other materials include thousands of photographs, extensive audiovisual material, and hundreds of artifacts.

The Hadassah subject file record group is a collection of files of organizations, events, and genre subjects originally arranged alphabetically by Hadassah’s central filing department. These files served and serve as a ready reference source that represents both the direct and indirect involvement of Hadassah in both national and international affairs. This collection includes correspondence, clippings, newsletters, photographs, and other ephemeral documents.

This record group contains meeting minutes, correspondence and reports of the Hadassah Council in Israel (originally the Hadassah Emergency Services and the Hadassah Council in Palestine), the Hadassah Youth Services (originally the Palestine Council of Hadassah) and the Hadassah Youth Services (HYS) successor organizations, Hadassah Vocational Education Services (HVES) and Hadassah Israel Education Services (HIES). The records represent the activities of Hadassah's representatives in Palestine/Israel, from 1927 to the 1990s. The Hadassah Youth Services focused on providing services to underserved youth in Palestine/Israel, most notably with their school luncheon and Guggenheimer playground programs. After HYS changed its working name to HVES in 1952, it began to focus on vocational education projects in Israel. Legally, however, the name of the organization in Israel remained Hadassah Youth Services. The Hadassah Council in Israel acted as an advisor and liaison between Hadassah's American offices and Hadassah's Israel projects, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, Youth Aliyah, and Hadassah Youth Services.

The E. Michael Bluestone Collection contains primarily the professional writings and correspondence of Michael Bluestone--one of the foremost authorities in the field of medical care and hospital administration--and his associates. Most of the materials in this collection are in bound volumes and scrapbooks arranged by E. Michael Bluestone.

The Hadassah Microfilm Collection consists of 16mm and 35mm reels containing images of various Hadassah publications, administrative documents, and personal archival material. Content includes on-site photographs, membership and organizational documents, regional chapter lists and histories, items relating to Hadassah’s Zionist political history, and a near-complete run of Hadassah Newsletter/Magazine. Other than the newsletter/magazine run, all images are unique within the collection.

The Hadassah Oral Histories consist of audio cassette recordings and typed transcripts of oral history interviews as well as related correspondence and research documents. Interviewees include notable members of Hadassah’s National Board, the Honorary Council, Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO), Youth Aliyah, Machon Szold, and Hebrew University, among others. Discussions cover such topics as Hadassah roles and achievements, Jewish upbringings, education, and family.

This record group consists of printed materials and publications, produced by Hadassah projects and departments, Young Judaea, and other Zionist organizations from 1911-2011. Materials in the record group include periodicals, newsletters, greeting cards, certificates, invitations, brochures, pamphlets, catalogs, and other professionally produced printed materials. Besides Young Judaea, projects documented include Hadassah Magazine, the Hadassah Medical Organization, Youth Aliyah, the Jewish National Fund, and Hadassah Israel Education Services.

Contains two manuscript letters to Florence N. Levy of New York about social life in Baltimore (1904), and one dealing with Miss Levy's contribution to a forthcoming American Jewish year book (1906); and a manuscript letter to Mrs. David W. Amram thanking her for her praise of the article, "Elements of the Jewish Population," which appeared in "The Russian Jew in the United States" (1905).